50 micron prefilter plugging up way too fast

[Peave]

Hi. I have a well system in my home and I have two cartridge filters on it. This first is a 50 micron and the second is a 5 micron. The 50 micron is plugging up every 3-4 weeks and I have to change it. When I do the filter looks brown/orange. I am trying to figure out how to get better life out of this filter. The system goes as follows in order: Well pump - in line hydro charger - 81 gallon pressure tank - 40/60 pressure switch - 50 micron cartridge filter - Rainsoft Sulfron media filter (for Iron and Sulphur) - 5 micron cartridge filter - UV light - house water system. I get about 8.5 GPM flow coming to the pressure tank and everything works great until the filter starts to plug up and we start losing pressure in the house.

I was wondering if I should put the Rainsoft Iron/Sulphur filter ahead of the 50 micron cartridge filter. My thinking is that the iron in the raw water is coming out of solution with the introduction of air from the hydro charger and I should take it our with the Rainsoft unit instead of the cartridge.

What do you guys think? I am looking for advice from the experts before I start re-plumbing things. Thanks.

 

[Reach4]

Yes, I would put the greensand backwashing filter ahead of the 50 micron cartridge filter.

 

[Sponsor]

 

[bordercollie050]

I would look into why you're pulling up so much sediment - my well has this problem after the pit floods out, otherwise it's crystal clear.

On the other hand cleaning the filter every 3-4 weeks isn't that bad if you're using a lot of water or the well is older (how old is the well? how deep? pit/no pit?

 

[Smooky]

What type of sediment filter do you have and what size is it?

 

[Reach4]

I would look into why you're pulling up so much sediment - my well has this problem after the pit floods out, otherwise it's crystal clear.

The well seals often leak.

You want to extend the casing a foot or so above ground, and get a pitless adapter installed. This usually involves removing the top of the pit, and depending on local regulations, demolishing the pit rather than just filling it in.
You can work around the problem temporarily by putting a utility pump on the pit floor with a float switch. But you might as well act soon. I tried various workarounds that did not work.

What you get put in will depend on the casing diameter and materials.

I had scrubbed out my pit with a lot of laundry detergent. I realized my workaround efforts were not working when I saw soap suds in my water.

 

[Peave]

Thanks guys. The well is over 200 feet deep and was drilled about 25 years ago. I had the original driller come out 2 summers ago to pull the pump and clean out the well. We got a lot of sand out at that time but I still go through a lot of the 50 micron pre filters. I figured out in the last couple days my pressure tank (81 gallon Challenger) had been compromised and had water above the diaphragm. I was only getting 10 gallons of drop down on a 40/60 pressure switch! It has a lot of crap in it that looked like iron and maybe so diaphragm residue. It it now changed out with an Well-X-Trol WX 350. I have also moved the 50 micron filter to go after the iron/sulphur tank. All my pipes coming before the filter show a lot of iron residue on them so I am suspecting that is what has been plugging the 50 micron filter. Also low pressure from defective tank might not be helping. I seem to be backflushing OK on the iron/sulphur filter. Time will tell if these changed have addressed the issue fully or not. Any other thoughts/suggestions?

 

[Reach4]

You don't mess around.

If you are pumping sand that is so big that it will not backwash out of the iron_sulfur filter, you might want to put a Twist2Clean filter after the pressure tank. That filter is especially easy to backwash. If the sediment filter was just collecting the orange paste rather than much sand, I would leave it as you have it now.