joejvj
New Member
I have a private residential well that was put in 15 years ago, and has always produced clear, good tasting, and safe to drink water.
A few months ago, we woke up to find deep orange colored water coming out of the tap. Smelled kind of metallic and stained everything. From the research I've done, I am pretty sure this is iron bacteria. I called a well company to come out and take a look at it. They were to come out at the end of the week. But two days later, the water cleared up on its own and looks clear and tastes great. Nevertheless, the well company came out and they convinced me that I needed water treatment or the problem will come back. I'm not familiar with water treatment equipment, but they put in a venturi valve, some sort of air removing tank to go with it, and a large cylinder containing a ph neutralizer and iron removing media. They said my iron was at 4 ppm, pH was 5.0, and hardness was 3 grains. I spent $2,000 based on their recommendation.
Two months later, the same thing happened. Orange water out of the faucets and in the toilet bowls. This time I called a different water treatment/well company. They came out, tested the water, then told me I need this $5,000 Halovac system to disinfect the water. I was at wits end, so told them to do it and scheduled it for the following week.
Another day goes by and the water turns back to normal. Clear as a bell and good tasting. So I called the company back and told them what happened. They told me that this would happen if I ran a lot of water through the system (which I didn't, just normal every day usage). They said the orange water would come back in a few days. Well, it’s been a week now and the water is still crystal clear.
This may be a coincidence, but it seems to happen a day or two after very heavy rains. We have been in a drought for almost two years here (Western North Carolina) and in the past few months we are breaking all rainfall record totals. Don’t know if this has anything to do with problem.
Anyone have any recommendations or ideas on what’s going on- and what I need to do to correct this problem?
Thanks for your replies.
A few months ago, we woke up to find deep orange colored water coming out of the tap. Smelled kind of metallic and stained everything. From the research I've done, I am pretty sure this is iron bacteria. I called a well company to come out and take a look at it. They were to come out at the end of the week. But two days later, the water cleared up on its own and looks clear and tastes great. Nevertheless, the well company came out and they convinced me that I needed water treatment or the problem will come back. I'm not familiar with water treatment equipment, but they put in a venturi valve, some sort of air removing tank to go with it, and a large cylinder containing a ph neutralizer and iron removing media. They said my iron was at 4 ppm, pH was 5.0, and hardness was 3 grains. I spent $2,000 based on their recommendation.
Two months later, the same thing happened. Orange water out of the faucets and in the toilet bowls. This time I called a different water treatment/well company. They came out, tested the water, then told me I need this $5,000 Halovac system to disinfect the water. I was at wits end, so told them to do it and scheduled it for the following week.
Another day goes by and the water turns back to normal. Clear as a bell and good tasting. So I called the company back and told them what happened. They told me that this would happen if I ran a lot of water through the system (which I didn't, just normal every day usage). They said the orange water would come back in a few days. Well, it’s been a week now and the water is still crystal clear.
This may be a coincidence, but it seems to happen a day or two after very heavy rains. We have been in a drought for almost two years here (Western North Carolina) and in the past few months we are breaking all rainfall record totals. Don’t know if this has anything to do with problem.
Anyone have any recommendations or ideas on what’s going on- and what I need to do to correct this problem?
Thanks for your replies.