Advice on Well Water Filtration

[Starman314]

Just got my latest round of well water test results back. The full results are attached. The key metrics are:

pH - 6.3
TDS - 76
Turbidity - 1.4
Hardness - 40

We have not had any major issues with the water, but we are experiencing sediment build up in the faucet aerators and toilet tanks. The plumbing in the house is almost all CPVC. The well flow rate is ~6 GPM. The house is fairly large (5 BR/6BA, 6 full-time occupants).

I had a couple of water treatment companies come out. One thought we should get an acid neutralizer to raise the pH and a 20x4.5 big blue to filter the sediment. The other thought we didn't need an acid neutralizer because our plumbing is CPVC and that we should just get a 20x4.5 big blue.

I would appreciate any advice you can provide. Do you think we need an acid neutralizer? If we decide to just go with a big blue filter, would it be better to get just a single filter or a double or triple filter system?

 

[Smooky]

If there isn't an issue with the pH, I'd go with a single big blue with a carbon filter.

 

[Sponsor]

 

[SShaw]

Your water chemistry is very similar to mine, which is from a shallow bored well. You might consider a neutralizer to protect piping and appliances.

Mine is:
pH - 6.5
TDS - 66
Hardness - 20.5 ppm

I'm told this chemistry (low pH, TDS, and hardness) is corrosive, especially to copper piping. An acid neutralizer was recommended to me when I bought the house. I didn't have much copper piping and I liked the taste of the water, so I let it be for eight years. I did have some minor issues with blue-green staining in the showers (from some copper piping), some corrosion of the metal faucets, and one section of outdoor copper pipe (for the garden) that burst in multiple places. I recently installed an acid neutralizer, primarily because I installed a geothermal heat pump with a copper heat exchanger for domestic hot water, and I didn't want that to corrode prematurely and leak.

 

[SShaw]

I forgot to mention one other significant issue with the low pH well water. The water is really hard on clothes in the laundry. Garments last a fraction of the time they would compared to washing with city water.

 

[ditttohead]

Most modern faucets, fixtures etc. have little if any metal contact with the water. Shower valves excluded but with modern brass with less than .25% lead by weight, these rarely have any issues with slightly lower pH. The turbidity seems to be the main issue. You have a small amount of iron but if it not staining anything I would ignore it. In my opinion, a simple high quality (Stay away from anything other than Pentek or Atlas Filtri) Big Blue should suffice with a high quality sediment filter cartridge. Many of the real cheap cartridges will foul up quickly since they surface load rather than having a properly engineered depth filtration. There are a couple of USA made melt blown filter cartridges that cost slightly more than the cheaper imported filters but tend to last much longer.