Fleck 9000 Issue & Unusual Set-up?

[Water Pro]

hardness is usually measured in grains per gallon. the divisor for conversation is 17.1. 860/17.1=50.29 gpg, which is significantly hard. your total dissolved solids is also significant, as is your iron content. An under-sink (point of use) reverse osmosis would provide you with good (low TDS) water for drinking and cooking at A sink. I'd advise using the 9000 unit for softening. you'll need other equipment to treat the iron efficiently and effectively long term. your turbidity is an issue as well. what is the color of you water? bad smells (like rotten eggs)? if you fill a glass and leave it on the table (undisturbed overnight) does the cloudiness settle to the bottom?

 

[ClassicMuscle]

We actually do not drink our well water. I have tried running a reverse osmosis system after the softener but the salt taste was overwhelming. Later I tried one coming off of the hard water coming into the house running through an inline water filter, charcoal filter, and then into the reverse osmosis setup. The filters were plugging so quickly it wasn't practical. We now just haul 5 gallon jugs in. My goal is to treat the water for all of our other uses and hopefully remove all of the iron while using less salt.

As for your questions about the water, the water does not smell at all and actually appears clear out of the faucet (not cloudy) minus visible dirt specs here and there. But once you let the water sit it turns red and stains the container.

I have a rebuild kit coming for the 9000 already. Any guidance on how to handle the issues that you mention and how to set the softener up?

 

[Sponsor]

 

[ClassicMuscle]

Just Googled what turbidity is. Apparently clear is relative. If I am understanding turbidity, the lab is saying that my water does not appear very clear. So maybe I should say that the water out of the tap appears decently clear compared to other water sources around here

 

[Water Pro]

We actually do not drink our well water. I have tried running a reverse osmosis system after the softener but the salt taste was overwhelming. Later I tried one coming off of the hard water coming into the house running through an inline water filter, charcoal filter, and then into the reverse osmosis setup. The filters were plugging so quickly it wasn't practical. We now just haul 5 gallon jugs in. My goal is to treat the water for all of our other uses and hopefully remove all of the iron while using less salt.

As for your questions about the water, the water does not smell at all and actually appears clear out of the faucet (not cloudy) minus visible dirt specs here and there. But once you let the water sit it turns red and stains the container.

I have a rebuild kit coming for the 9000 already. Any guidance on how to handle the issues that you mention and how to set the softener up?

We actually do not drink our well water. I have tried running a reverse osmosis system after the softener but the salt taste was overwhelming. Later I tried one coming off of the hard water coming into the house running through an inline water filter, charcoal filter, and then into the reverse osmosis setup. The filters were plugging so quickly it wasn't practical. We now just haul 5 gallon jugs in. My goal is to treat the water for all of our other uses and hopefully remove all of the iron while using less salt.

As for your questions about the water, the water does not smell at all and actually appears clear out of the faucet (not cloudy) minus visible dirt specs here and there. But once you let the water sit it turns red and stains the container.

I have a rebuild kit coming for the 9000 already. Any guidance on how to handle the issues that you mention and how to set the softener up?

An RO has an affinity for salt, so properly pretreated water run through an RO should not taste salty. An RO also removes chlorides effectively. your RO may not have worked because the water prior to the unit contained hardness and iron. A softener exchanges hardness (mainly calcium and magnesium) for sodium, and when 50 gpg hardness is exchanged for sodium, a significant amount of sodium will be added to your water. Combine the sodium added to your softened water with a TDS of 1600 (which is mainly salt and chloride) and your TDS will raise even more (to maybe 1700 or more). That is why an RO will be needed for drinking and cooking.

 

[ClassicMuscle]

Water Pro,
In regards to what happens when the water sits, I filled a glass last night with water prior to running through the softeners and let it sit overnight. When the glass was filled last night it appeared clear. I just checked it now. It now has a visible red tint to it. It is cloudy now, but that could be the red tint. Nothing had visibly settled to the bottom of the glass.

Thank you for the recommendations! In regards to them, quick questions. The reason I have struggled with this rust removal question in the past and basically gave up is that when I research I find so much conflicting information. I was researching the aio3 and aio systems last night. From what I understand, these are air injection filters. I am finding some horror stories surrounding the maintenance of air injection filters and issues with them clogging due to iron sludge build up. Is this actually an issue with these type of filters or am I just finding the exceptions? I also see some people recommending Hydrogen Peroxide injection and of course those having issues with it. Just curious what your experience has been with these filters?

Thank you for your help!

 

[Water Pro]

Water Pro,
In regards to what happens when the water sits, I filled a glass last night with water prior to running through the softeners and let it sit overnight. When the glass was filled last night it appeared clear. I just checked it now. It now has a visible red tint to it. It is cloudy now, but that could be the red tint. Nothing had visibly settled to the bottom of the glass.

Thank you for the recommendations! In regards to them, quick questions. The reason I have struggled with this rust removal question in the past and basically gave up is that when I research I find so much conflicting information. I was researching the aio3 and aio systems last night. From what I understand, these are air injection filters. I am finding some horror stories surrounding the maintenance of air injection filters and issues with them clogging due to iron sludge build up. Is this actually an issue with these type of filters or am I just finding the exceptions? I also see some people recommending Hydrogen Peroxide injection and of course those having issues with it. Just curious what your experience has been with these filters?

Thank you for your help!

They do require some maintenance.

 

[ditttohead]

Iron reduction is simply a little messy. The pictures you see online are usually the exception. We have some customers using the AIO3 to remove 20 PPM of iron, this is not good idea! I only sell equipment to my dealers, I can't tell them how to apply them. In general, we recommend AIO3 for a maximum of 5 PPM of iron. Anything more and H2o2 should be considered with a baffled contact tank so as to drop most of the iron out of the water prior to the KL media. It always comes down to budget, space, and water quality expectations. Many customers are happy to save a thousand dollars, but add a lot of extra maintenance and lower quality water. Others want the best possible water... if you look through my catalog you will notice we have hundreds of pages of equipment. Here is a link to the AIO3. We are doing some revisions to this design shortly, hopefully a big announcement in about 3 weeks, special Christmas gift for me! NEW PRODUCTS! | ImpactWaterProducts

 

[Water Pro]

also, an aio will oxidize the iron but will not kill iron reducing bacteria (which produce H2S or more commonly know as rotten egg smell).. Ozone units oxidize AND kill iron reducing bacteria (IRB). That is why AIO units are lacking compared to AIO3 units

 

[ditttohead]

What most people fail to understand is that the AIO3 systems only sanitize the media during the short regen cycle. Ozone has a very short life, typically less than 10 minutes after the ozone system turns off after the air draw cycle. Fortunately, biologic control can be as simple as intermittent sanitization. Just like using a stainless water thermos, cleaning occasionally is necessary... but certainly not every time you take a drink. All water contains biologics... it is more a matter of "colonization". If you never cleaned your stainless thermos, eventually it will look like a swamp... sanitizing regularly is a great solution to control the biological issues. AIO systems without the ozone can be very effective, but regular sanitization with bleach is highly recommended. Here is an interesting "warning" from the manufacturer, now consider how an AIO system works...

 

[ClassicMuscle]

Water Pro, I have reached out to ditto head via message and he has asked me to email him directly, which I have now done.

 

[Water Pro]

sounds good. let us know when you need help programming the equipment. cheers. how did the rebuilt on the 9000 go? if you haven't done it yet make sure you put silicone grease on each seal in the stack. you can purchase it at HF under the name "super lube". also the 20 micron cartridge filter I recommended is best to use a "poly spun" filter, as opposed to pleated or string spun. pentek makes good filters.

 

[ditttohead]

Pentek does a good job, but the USA made Hydro-Cure filters are exceptional. Depth gradient, competitively priced, and made in the USA... For lubricant, only use Dow release compound 7 or Chemplex 862. We used to use Dow 111, but this has been changed recently to include a binder which makes it more like a glue and is specifically prohibited by Pentair.