HELP NEEDED! Update whole-house water filtration system (well water)

[Andre01]

Hi,
I need help updating my system.
Here is a summary of my well water:

PH: 8.5
Hardness 183 ppm (about 11)
Phosphate 2260 ppb
Iron: 0
Alkalinity: 349
Sulpher smell (rotten egg)
Tannin 0.6
cyanuric acid 2 ppm
TDS 460

I currently have 2 - 120 gallon holding tanks with a chlorinator to get rid of the sulphur smell, a sediment filter, a carbon filter and a Mark 89 as a water softner. (in order of water filtration) (all pipes are 3/4)

The Sediment filter control broke and the local company wants to charge me $2,500 (to replace the controller and rebed the three filters). The system is 11 years old and was a refurbished when first installed. (the last owners pad for this system)

I want to modernize my system and I was hoping at getting some professional neutral advice on this thread. Locally, I've received a lot of different advice and costs ranging from $2,500 (above) to $15,000.

I'm very handy and would do this myself.

Thanks for your help.

 

[Reach4]

The Sediment filter control broke and the local company wants to charge me $2,500 (to replace the controller and rebed the three filters).

What is the sediment filter? Is that a backwashing sand filter, or what? The two pressurized settling/contact tanks would settle out most sediment, and the GAC tank would pick up the remaining bigger stuff, right?

I would follow that with a 20x4.5 BB cartridge filter to take out the smallest stuff.

The GAC media is overdue for being changed. Usually you want coconut GAC for that job. Swapping out GAC should be a good DIY job.

 

[Sponsor]

 

[Andre01]

What is the sediment filter? Is that a backwashing sand filter, or what? The two pressurized settling/contact tanks would settle out most sediment, and the GAC tank would pick up the remaining bigger stuff, right?

I would follow that with a 20x4.5 BB cartridge filter to take out the smallest stuff.

The GAC media is overdue for being changed. Usually you want coconut GAC for that job. Swapping out GAC should be a good DIY job.

Thanks.

I have no idea what the sediment tank is. the last owners just paid for it and it's currently on bypass because the fleck 5600 12 day control unit broke. for the Carbon media, I was going to buy catalyctic carbon to help remove the sulphides. Is it worth paying more over the coconut?

Also, I've been told that I need a tannin filter to remove the brown from the water. Is this true or can the carbon filter fix that?

Finally the, Mark 89 is really old. Can I just replace the head with a digital head or should I change the entire water softener unit?

 

[ditttohead]

What chemical injection pump do you have?

I would say it is time to replace.

PH: 8.5 Good considering the low tds
Hardness 183 ppm (about 11)
Phosphate 2260 ppb
Iron: 0
Alkalinity: 349
Sulpher smell (rotten egg)
Tannin 0.6 Tannin reduction media may work, pilot testing is recommended and an understanding of the pros and cons of tannin reduction resins.
cyanuric acid 2 ppm
TDS 460
As to the Tannin issue, sometimes tannin is easily removed with a tannin selective resin but since tannin is derived from organic compounds in the water it can really depend on what the organic source is as to the effectiveness of the tannin selective resin. Local water treatment companies are usually familiar with the most effective control method in your area. Sometime chlorination or h2o2 injection and carbon filtration is effective, other times tannin selective resin works. I prefer simply installing a small filter and do some testing to see which method is effective for your water source.

Chlorination or h2o2 injection, possibly a small contact tank to allow the chlorine to do its job on the tannin (basically bleaching it) and then catalytic GAC backwashing system and a softener should do you well.

 

[Andre01]

Thanks Dittohead.

I have a pulsar. I'm thinking of keeping my chlorine injection system for now (until it breaks) and then the catalytic GAC system and softner.

Do I still need the sediment filter?

Also, I'm trying to size my softener. would 50,000 grain be overkill?

 

[ditttohead]

A sediment filter is fine. I usually recommend a Lakos twist to clean prior to any equipment as a junk catch. Check out the video here. https://www.impactwaterproducts.com/videos

A 48,000 grain system would be adequate, certainly not overkill.

You could also blend a tannin resin into the softener tank. While I am not a fan of this design, it tends to be ok in low hardness applications. I prefer to not do it with hardness exceeding 7 GPG, but 8 should be ok.

I assume you have a small pulsafeeder. Is it a peristaltic or diaphragm pump.

 

[Andre01]

A sediment filter is fine. I usually recommend a Lakos twist to clean prior to any equipment as a junk catch. Check out the video here. https://www.impactwaterproducts.com/videos

A 48,000 grain system would be adequate, certainly not overkill.

You could also blend a tannin resin into the softener tank. While I am not a fan of this design, it tends to be ok in low hardness applications. I prefer to not do it with hardness exceeding 7 GPG, but 8 should be ok.

I assume you have a small pulsafeeder. Is it a peristaltic or diaphragm pump.

Hi,
It's a pulsafeeder, but I have no idea if it's peristaltic and diaphragm. How do I know?
Someone came today and offered to convert my chlorine system to Peroxide H2O2 and add a flocculant such as Cat-Floc-T to get rid of the tannin. Then I would have a Sediment Filter, Carbon catalytic filter and a high efficiency water softener.

Any ideas on using a flocculant?

 

[ditttohead]

Floc on Tannin... sometimes effective. The problem with tannin is that it is different everywhere. Your local guy probably knows better about what can fix your tannin problem than any guy selling equipment on the internet. I have tried flocculants to get rid of tannin in our test facility, the results have been mixed but promising. Sometimes tannin selective resin works, sometime h2o2 or bleach. I see no reason why your local guy would not know, but you may want to get a performance guarantee from him. Also do the math yourself, be sure you are injecting between 2-5 ppm. Start at 2-3 and raise it no more than 5 ppm if needed.

A peristaltic pump will have rollers that squeeze a pump tube by rolling the tube to create suction. A diaphragm will make a clicking noise when it pumps. A little crude but you should be able to tell which one you have with that bad description.

Diaphragm pumps are not typically recommended with h2o2, they lose prime too easily. Some will have degassing valve(air relief) but these fail and leak regularly. I used to be a fan of diaphragm pumps but about 10 years ago the peristaltic pump companies really upped their game with the quality of the tubes and design. The newer pumps tube sets can be changed in under a minute and will last for a year even under heavy use.