Help with water treatment system

[Druid]

First, I'd like to thank everyone for all the info on this site. It's been very helpful over the years..

Hoping to get some help with a water treatment system. We don't drink the water but we brush our teeth with it and would like to be able to use it for cooking.

I built my home 20 years ago and have a shore well on Lake Ontario where I had to blast into limestone to get down about 12 feet below the lake level.

The water has an annoying smell that is kinda like sulfur but I tested it and it came up negative. It doesn't really smell like the lake so I think it's something from the bedrock. I was using a pellet chorinator on top of the well that seemed to help but I could never get that adjusted right and eventually the plastic got brittle and started breaking so I decided to yank it. I have about a 12" tank with 1 cu ft of activated carbon that's about 20 years old but I pretty much left it in bypass the whole time because I didn't want to ruin it with the excessive chlorine.

I got a deal on a lightly used Stenner pump, tank and 1ppg meter and was thinking of using it to inject h2o2 but I'm not convinced it is needed. I've read a little about adding so much h202 per ppm or iron and sulfur but my tests don't show any of either. So I was thinking I could just take a water sample, add h2o2 and compare the residual to what it should be with the same quantity of distilled water. The difference would be how much I have to inject plus maybe a residual. So I got a 17 gallon tub and filled it with unfiltered water plus 1 teaspoon of 7% h202. The smell went away and the residual tested at about 5%.

So my questions are:

1. Does it make sense to calculate it like this?
2. Do you think aeration or rounding errors would make this method too inaccurate?
3. How do I calculate what the residual would be with distilled water? I think 17 gallons is 13056 teaspoons and my math shows 1 teaspoon of 7% h2o2 diluted with 8192 teaspoons of distilled water would be 8.5 ppm and 4.3 ppm for 16384 teaspoons.
4. The Stenner pump is an ECON E20PHH71S7 which is 30 GPD max. Should I downsize the tube and/or rollers to a lower rate?
5. Should I add a retention tank?
6. I also want to add a 5810 xtr2 softener. Should I just use the meter on the softener instead of using the one that came with my Stenner?
7. What size softener would you recommend? We only have 3 people living there now but I was thinking of over-sizing it a little since I have no iron.
8. Does the xtr2 come with the software to program and monitor from my pc?
9. Do you think I should replace the activated carbon if it's been sitting almost 20 years? Flow seems good and it seems to get rid of most of the odor by itself.
10. Should I plumb it up with just the carbon filter and softener first and add the injection if it still smells? I generally like to do things right the first time but I can leave room for h2o2 equipment and it wouldn't be too much work redoing a little pex if needed.

We currently have a meter inline and our actual water usage over the past 3 months is 197 gals per day. Three toilets, 2 showers and a soaker tub that's used daily if that matters.

Anions
Bromide ND PPM
Chlorides 9.48 PPM
Fluoride 0.46 PPM
Nitrate - IC 0.77 PPM
Orthophosphate 0.50 PPM
Sulfate 24.9 PPM

Cations
Arsenic - ICP ND PPB
Barium 61.8 PPB
Beryllium ND PPB
Boron ND PPB
Cadmium ND PPB
Calcium 66.4 PPM
Chromium ND PPB
Cobalt ND PPB
Copper - ICP 29.1 PPB
Iron ND PPM 0.3
Lithium 39.2 PPB
Magnesium 16.7 PPM
Manganese ND PPB
Molybdenum ND PPB
Nickel ND PPB
Phosphorus, Total 12.8 PPB
Potassium 1.69 PPM
Silicon 4340 PPB
Silver ND PPB
Sodium 8.5 PPM
Strontium 2180 PPB
Vanadium ND PPB
Zinc 15.3 PPB

Other Tests
pH 7.6 pH
Total Dissolved Solids 257 PPM
Tannin/Lignins ND PPM
Calculated Values
Hardness 14 Grains
Silica SiO2 9 PPM

 

[ditttohead]

Do not use a 20 year old carbon tank.

If the carbon tank works, then get a new one. Do not go with the cheap carbon units, stick with something quality. Carbon needs contact time to reduce odors, in general we like to size carbon tanks at no more than 3 GPM per ft3, but slower is better. A standard house can see peak flows of 6 regularly so a 2 ft3 carbon tank would be a good minimum.

 

[Sponsor]

 

[Druid]

Thx for the reply!
I measured the carbon filter tank and it's closer to 10x54. It's packed with this gravel and this carbon and has a mechanical fleck valve with a 1" yoke. Would that tank handle more carbon or would I need a larger one? Would you recommend different media?

 

[Bannerman]

A 10" X 54" tank is appropriate for 1.5 ft3 media whereas a 12" X 52" will be required for 2 ft3. Gravel under bedding is a standard requirement.

Perhaps post some photos of your current Fleck valve.

 

[Reach4]

• Does it make sense to calculate it like this?

• Do you think aeration or rounding errors would make this method too inaccurate?

• How do I calculate what the residual would be with distilled water? I think 17 gallons is 13056 teaspoons and my math shows 1 teaspoon of 7% h2o2 diluted with 8192 teaspoons of distilled water would be 8.5 ppm and 4.3 ppm for 16384 teaspoons.

However you start, I would follow with measuring the residual before the GAC tank.
Sensafe Low Range Peroxide Check
https://sensafe.com/visual-tests/?_bc_fsnf=1&Parameter=Peroxide is a search on their website.

https://sensafe.com/waterworks-peroxide-check-lr/ is the low range stand-alone strips.

https://sensafe.com/exact-strip-micro-hydrogen-peroxide-low-range/
uses a device to make the readings more accurate. The photometer is expensive.
Check which photometer model it takes. 525nm I think.

• Should I add a retention tank?

• I also want to add a 5810 xtr2 softener. Should I just use the meter on the softener instead of using the one that came with my Stenner?

Think contact tank vs retention. A tank should have a blowdown port. https://terrylove.com/forums/index....on-ph-7-5-tds-589-now-what.82635/#post-595729

Not sure about which metering to use.

Activated carbon is said to be good for about 5 years, but I am sure that varies. Coconut GAC is said to be the best for chlorine and H2O2 removal. I have seen 4 ppm suggested as a good residual target pre-carbon, but with a good contact tank I suspect that could be reduced.

 

[Druid]

Thx everyone!

Bannerman, Attached is the fleck valve on my current carbon filter. Not sure if it makes sense to re-use it on a larger tank even if it would work. Unless your guys could guide me through what to use for a basket, tank, media etc to assemble a filter from scratch.

Reach, I used the sensafe low range strips to measure the residual on my manual tests. I kinda wanted to get a ballpark of what I'll need to inject with the Stenner pump in case I need a different tube or rollers. Also, I have read that I should have between point 2 and point 4 ppm before the filter. Could you be mistaken about 4 ppm? Or do you need more for sterilization?
From what I understand, h202 reacts fast enough where you don't need a contact tank unless you have bacteria but I was thinking it might help the injection be a little more consistent. I saw an old post from Gary with a broken link to one of those smaller tanks that are comparable to 120 gallon. Something like this or this. Any experience with those tanks?

 

[Bannerman]

Your valve is a Fleck 5600 with 12-day timer. While the 5600 is capable of up to 7 GPM backwash, the Fleck sales literature specifies it is suitable up to 10" diameter filters.

The newer Fleck 58xx series is capable of higher backwash flow rates required for larger diameter filters and softeners.

https://view.publitas.com/impact-water-products/2018-catalog-final/page/38-39 There appear to be typos as the 12" X 52" tanks are indicated as 1.5 ft3, but should be suitable for 2 ft3 of media.

https://view.publitas.com/impact-water-products/2018-catalog-final/page/44-45
https://view.publitas.com/impact-water-products/2018-catalog-final/page/50-51

 

[Reach4]

Reach, I used the sensafe low range strips to measure the residual on my manual tests. I kinda wanted to get a ballpark of what I'll need to inject with the Stenner pump in case I need a different tube or rollers. Also, I have read that I should have between point 2 and point 4 ppm before the filter. Could you be mistaken about 4 ppm? Or do you need more for sterilization?

I have no experience or research on that. My comment was based on one person who is an experienced user of H2O2, and he tries for 4 ppm. 2 ppm residual sounds good to me if there is sufficient contact time.

From what I understand, h202 reacts fast enough where you don't need a contact tank unless you have bacteria but I was thinking it might help the injection be a little more consistent. I saw an old post from Gary with a broken link to one of those smaller tanks that are comparable to 120 gallon.

I suggest you use the search box above and search for baffled tank.

 

[ditttohead]

LOL, yep, old typo. I should be relinking some updated pages in about 2 weeks that have the corrections.
H202 in general should not be used for bacteria, I recommend sodium hypochlorite.

H2o2 tends to react quick enough that in many cases a contact tank is not needed. The contact tank can be used to precipitate large amounts of iron rather than relying on the filter tank to do all the work. Baffled tanks are preferred as they work far better than non baffled tanks. A simple static mixer can also be used. Some of the goofy designs include a static mixer inside a contact tank, but the static mixers tend to foul up so easy replacement is important. I am not a fan of putting them inside the tank.
https://view.publitas.com/impact-water-products/2018-catalog-final/page/152-153
https://view.publitas.com/impact-water-products/2018-catalog-final/page/154-155

 

[Druid]

Baffled tanks are preferred as they work far better than non baffled tanks. A simple static mixer can also be used. Some of the goofy designs include a static mixer inside a contact tank, but the static mixers tend to foul up so easy replacement is important. I am not a fan of putting them inside the tank.

How does the purge work on those MixMaster tanks? Are you only able to purge the bottom chamber? And is the Clack tank in your catalog different than a mixer inside a tank?