New to me house, old well, need advice

[thaumaturge]

Bought a smallish 50 yr old 4br house that hadn't been lived in for over a year and we have still not occupied. When shown prior to closing, the fixtures and water looked okay but with painfully low pressure. It's well and septic. I have not had to deal with a well et al in 25 years, but can DIY anything.

Given the ancient GE big box water softener, I figured that was problem #1. Problem #2 was an ancient metal pressure tank, but that's been replaced now. Once the softener is taken out of the loop, the pressure/volume is okay but the iron bacteria slime and staining are back with a vengeance (no surprise). The water is visibly yellowish when viewed in a clear container and the toilets show the characteristic iron settling out. I haven't shocked the well with chlorine yet to zap the bacteria anticipating new equipment installation.

Having done my homework I am trying to figure out if separate iron removal is really warranted at these levels, or if inefficient softener iron removal is good enough. We have no bad smells/gases to deal with so far.

The house is a downsize for 2 empty-nesters so the main thing is getting rid of the Iron and making sure the pressure doesn't drop in the process. I am in the process of ripping out fixtures so pipe condition is still unknown. As an aside, we actually hate too-soft water that many folks seem to love. My preliminary softener sizing came out to a 20,000 grains/week factoring in 150 gal/day use and compensating for the Iron.

Here are the NTL test results of note:

Calcium: 37.4 mg/L
Iron: 1.35 mg/L
Magnesium: 38.78 mg/L
Manganese: .009 mg/L
Potassium: 3.4 mg/L
Silica: 15.5 mg/L
Sodium: 42 mg/L
Zinc: .055 mg/L

Alkalinity: 350 mg/L
Hardness: 250 mg/L
Total Dissolved Solids: 350 mg/L
Turbidity: 19.0 NTU

pH: 7.6


Thanks in advance for any advice and system recommendations.

 

[ditttohead]

If the hardness doesn't bother you then a simple iron reduction system might be all you need. With the higher pH and elevated iron level, the softener will take quite a beating from the iron, but if you can probably get away with just a softener with chemical drip feed system for the brine tank. I am not a fan of specialty resins for iron reduction but many of our large custeomrs swear by the fine mesh resin for iron reduction and a simple citric acid or similar cleaning helps.
As to the sanitizing of the plumbing, do it now. Don't wait. You may need to do it a few times to get everything cleared up. It is a simple process and since the house has not been occupied for a whole, cleaning and sanitizing the plumbing a couple times wont hurt.

 

[Sponsor]

 

[Reach4]

You will want to sanitize your well and plumbing too.

Usually you want to sanitize after doing plumbing changes, but well sanitizing involves putting a lot of water into the ditch. Best done before the cold weather. https://terrylove.com/forums/index....izing-extra-attention-to-4-inch-casing.65845/ is my sanitizing write-up.

 

[thaumaturge]

...probably get away with just a softener with chemical drip feed system for the brine tank.

Thanks for the quick reply. Can you give me an example or recommend such a system?

 

[thaumaturge]

You will want to sanitize your well and plumbing too.

Usually you want to sanitize after doing plumbing changes, but well sanitizing involves putting a lot of water into the ditch. Best done before the cold weather. https://terrylove.com/forums/index....izing-extra-attention-to-4-inch-casing.65845/ is my sanitizing write-up.

Thanks for the link. That is a much more thorough method than I had seen before.