Helping my wife

[zerodroprob]

My wife has atopic dermatitis, basically eczema. Over the past few years taking showers has caused flare ups and worsening conditions. We have a well with a softener. I don't want to keep throwing parts and focusing on treatment of the water if that's futile so she is going to confer with a dermatologist, but I wanted to ensure the water quality is good. We've had the same set up for years and I'll detail that below. I appreciate any feedback, shared experiences, and suggestions from this group. I'll attach a most recent water test done by water check/national testing lab. My question(s) is am I missing something, or should be filtering or doing more to help her.

Current Setup:
Fleck 5600SXT - recently replaced
1.5 resin tank
Brine tank is standard, blue tub around 30"tall
Two sediment filters- first is 20micron second is 5micron
Current hardness setting is 26(I can give more on regen and other settings if needed)

I've replaced the resin, the well has been shocked using information from this forum. I use Diamond Crystals normal salt. The softener and filters all seem to be working on using strips and water quality using the dishwasher, taste, and washing clothes. I feel the filtration and condition of the system is as good as it was prior to this being a problem so I'm stumped whether it's truly the water and something I'm missing or something she needs to address separately.

 

[Andrea Love Forum MGR]

Hey I’m not much water filter help but I am a Nurse
Dermatitis is tough- a few thing
hot = inflammation
Water= dry
These two together (aka a shower/bath) can be extremely hard for those with dermatitis of any kind.
Before the shower apply a barrier balm to protect the moisture of the skin. Ensure your shower temp isn’t blazing hot.

Avoiding creams and treatments with any fragrances, essential oils etc.
medi honey is great for healing, vitamin e oil, vitamin d. Manuka honey, collidial oatmeal etc.

Also- see a dermatologist.
Anti inflammatory creams as well as steroid cream rotated in can be used but there is also a longer term treatment that is used with incredible success, it’s called dupixent. My own child was on this and with in a few weeks he was so much better ❤️ got us to a point where we could manageable and now literally can’t tell. If this is allergy related doing what you can to control the exposure and treatment. Daily allergy meds etc.

Anyways best of luck! Feel free to reach out!

 

[Sponsor]

 

[zerodroprob]

Hey I’m not much water filter help but I am a Nurse
Dermatitis is tough- a few thing
hot = inflammation
Water= dry
These two together (aka a shower/bath) can be extremely hard for those with dermatitis of any kind.
Before the shower apply a barrier balm to protect the moisture of the skin. Ensure your shower temp isn’t blazing hot.

Avoiding creams and treatments with any fragrances, essential oils etc.
medi honey is great for healing, vitamin e oil, vitamin d. Manuka honey, collidial oatmeal etc.

Also- see a dermatologist.
Anti inflammatory creams as well as steroid cream rotated in can be used but there is also a longer term treatment that is used with incredible success, it’s called dupixent. My own child was on this and with in a few weeks he was so much better ❤️ got us to a point where we could manageable and now literally can’t tell. If this is allergy related doing what you can to control the exposure and treatment. Daily allergy meds etc.

Anyways best of luck! Feel free to reach out!

Thanks a lot, I’ll pass this on to her. I posted here because she seems to only have the issue here and not when we travel. She thinks she had it in a saltwater pool so maybe it’s the salt in the softened water and potassium is what I should try. It’s odd that chlorinated city water seems to be fine but not our well water which is hard but softened causes the issue. I was wondering if it’s something else but can’t truly digest the report provided and know how any of it would affect skin the way it does.

 

[Bannerman]

You posted only the cover page of the lab report, not the actual lab report results for your raw well water.

Although you said the softener contains 1.5 ft3 of resin, you did not specify the current settings.

 

[zerodroprob]

You posted only the cover page of the lab report, not the actual lab report results for your raw well water.

Although you said the softener contains 1.5 ft3 of resin, you did not specify the current settings.

Thanks for the heads up on the attachment, I thought it was the whole image with results and have fixed it. I put the hardness setting in the original post, it's at 26 currently, hardness is 430mg/L so I divided that by 17.1 and get 25.14 but I have read to add for iron, but not sure if that's valid or not. I can post my softener settings from start to finish if it helps.

 

[Andrea Love Forum MGR]

Thanks a lot, I’ll pass this on to her. I posted here because she seems to only have the issue here and not when we travel. She thinks she had it in a saltwater pool so maybe it’s the salt in the softened water and potassium is what I should try. It’s odd that chlorinated city water seems to be fine but not our well water which is hard but softened causes the issue. I was wondering if it’s something else but can’t truly digest the report provided and know how any of it would affect skin the way it does.

Well water sets my skin off! Hope u find a remedy! Be preventative in the mean time ❤️

 

[Reach4]

Epsom salt is often suggested for inflammation.
https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/321627

It is magnesium sulfate, and a softener removes magnesium and calcium.

I would not like to think that softened water irritates some skin, but it does seem plausible.

How about also testing the pH? I like the cheap yellow electronic pH meters. You calibrate them in a buffer solution, which you make with a packet of buffer salt and distilled water. Those are often packaged together. I would look at something like https://www.ebay.com/itm/333591716983 But that one does not seem to include a screwdriver. Some sellers include a small flat blade screwdriver to adjust the calibration.

Store the device with the sensor soaking in buffer solution. You can put solution into the cap, and store the unit cap-down.

Start saving a lidded glass jar for your buffer salt calibration solution. I think you add the packet to 250 ml of water, which I measure with a kitchen scale. 250 ml of water weighs 250 grams. Put the empty jar on the scale, tare the scale, and pour in distilled water until the weight has increased by 250 grams.

The only packet you will probably use is the 6.86 pH.

Too high of pH would be more likely to cause skin irritation than lower pH (acidic). Skin is usually acidic on its own.

I mention pH because it is easy and cheap to measure, and not because I am thinking it probable that is the problem. Worth checking. I am not a pro.

 

[MaxBlack]

... maybe it’s the salt in the softened water and potassium is what I should try...

I think this would be good to try although in theory of course the briny water is rinsed-free from the softener's resin before it is put into service again.

I have a different-but-similar problem with my own wife, whose hair comes-out at one house and does NOT in another. In her case we have well water at our winter house (six months of the year) that is softened with a Culligan softener and Sodium Chloride, and we have a summer house (the other six months) where we have a small Waterboss softener and use Potassium Chloride which I had decided upon just for environmental purposes (the brine goes into a septic tank and is pumped up to a drain field in our heavily forested lot).

The water at the summer home comes-up from only 35 feet or so, and is just 8 grains-per-gallon of hardness, but is otherwise Fantastic i.e. while softened water goes to our shower, hard water goes to our kitchen for cooking and drinking and it is icy cold and tastes great.

At our Winter home comes from 250ft under shale/rock, is 35gpg of hardness, and is stinky (iron bacteria I think) and we don't drink it instead doing RO filtration.

The punchline is that wife's hair is Happy with the winter home's bad water, softened with sodium, but her hair comes-out badly at the summer home, despite it's "better" water and potassium chloride; the water is just not as "slippery" there.

I'm planning to switch from Potassium to Sodium chloride softener salt at the summer home to see if it "gets slippery" but don't have any confidence that is the issue, because, well, rinsing of resin beads. I also ordered a cheap "17 in 1" water test kits of strips just this morning and plan to test the water at each house to see how they might be different chemically.

But again, for you to switch to Potassium Chloride is easy enough to try. BTW I was told by the Waterboss people not to mix the two i.e. get all the sodium chloride salt out before introducting the potassium.

This is what I ordered. Obviously cheap, but I'm only looking for DIFFERENCES to see if anything jumps-out at me:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0CN6N1DVY

 

[Bannerman]

the briny water is rinsed-free from the softener's resin before it is put into service again.

That will occur when correct settings are utilized, which was the reason for requesting a list of the current settings (Capacity, Backwash, Brine Draw, Rapid Rinse & Brine Fill),

Specify which injector is installed, and also include the BLFC flow rate, both of which will be usually specified on a label located nearby to the brine line connection.

 

[MaxBlack]

Sure, hopefully the OP's system is rinsing properly. If not, that would become a prime suspect.

I might expect though that if the rinse is not thorough enough that someone might be able to taste the saltiness. I'm no chemist but a quick surf on this suggests testing for NaCl is nontrivial.

 

[Reach4]

A TDS meter is usually cheap. A softener will swap hardness salts with sodium salt, and in the process there is a slight increase in TDS expected. Residual brine in the water after a regeneration, with insufficient rinsing, would show as a significantly higher TDS. That should only occur if there has been a recent regen.

 

[Bannerman]

the hardness setting in the original post, it's at 26 currently, hardness is 430mg/L so I divided that by 17.1 and get 25.14

The 26 gpg hardness setting, does not include compensation for iron or manganese or the capacity depleted during regeneration. As each 1 ppm of I or M will deplete ~85 ppm (5 gpg) of hardness capacity, with almost 1 ppm of I & M combined, the hardness setting should be further increased by 5 gpg. In addition, a further 6 gpg should be added for hardness compensation, thereby resulting in a hardness setting of 37 gpg.

Once we review the current settings after they are posted, additional programming adjustments maybe recommended.

 

[zerodroprob]

Epsom salt is often suggested for inflammation.
https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/321627

It is magnesium sulfate, and a softener removes magnesium and calcium.

I would not like to think that softened water irritates some skin, but it does seem plausible.

How about also testing the pH? I like the cheap yellow electronic pH meters. You calibrate them in a buffer solution, which you make with a packet of buffer salt and distilled water. Those are often packaged together. I would look at something like https://www.ebay.com/itm/333591716983 But that one does not seem to include a screwdriver. Some sellers include a small flat blade screwdriver to adjust the calibration.

Store the device with the sensor soaking in buffer solution. You can put solution into the cap, and store the unit cap-down.

Start saving a lidded glass jar for your buffer salt calibration solution. I think you add the packet to 250 ml of water, which I measure with a kitchen scale. 250 ml of water weighs 250 grams. Put the empty jar on the scale, tare the scale, and pour in distilled water until the weight has increased by 250 grams.

The only packet you will probably use is the 6.86 pH.

Too high of pH would be more likely to cause skin irritation than lower pH (acidic). Skin is usually acidic on its own.

I mention pH because it is easy and cheap to measure, and not because I am thinking it probable that is the problem. Worth checking. I am not a pro.

I'll give that a shot. The PH currently is 6.8

 

[zerodroprob]

That will occur when correct settings are utilized, which was the reason for requesting a list of the current settings (Capacity, Backwash, Brine Draw, Rapid Rinse & Brine Fill),

Specify which injector is installed, and also include the BLFC flow rate, both of which will be usually specified on a label located nearby to the brine line connection.

The 26 gpg hardness setting, does not include compensation for iron or manganese or the capacity depleted during regeneration. As each 1 ppm of I or M will deplete ~85 ppm (5 gpg) of hardness capacity, with almost 1 ppm of I & M combined, the hardness setting should be further increased by 5 gpg. In addition, a further 6 gpg should be added for hardness compensation, thereby resulting in a hardness setting of 37 gpg.

Once we review the current settings after they are posted, additional programming adjustments maybe recommended.

I'll get out today and get the current settings and post them.

 

[zerodroprob]

The 26 gpg hardness setting, does not include compensation for iron or manganese or the capacity depleted during regeneration. As each 1 ppm of I or M will deplete ~85 ppm (5 gpg) of hardness capacity, with almost 1 ppm of I & M combined, the hardness setting should be further increased by 5 gpg. In addition, a further 6 gpg should be added for hardness compensation, thereby resulting in a hardness setting of 37 gpg.

Once we review the current settings after they are posted, additional programming adjustments maybe recommended.

I see a 1 for injector but nothing written for BLFC. Below are the current settings. I'm thinking I need to up the H like you stated and also test the water inside with a hach test, not just a strip.

Fleck 5600SXT Settings:
DF = Gal ; Units
VT = St1b
CT = Fd ; Meter Delayed regen trigger
NT = 1 ; Number of tanks
C = 30.0 ; capacity in 1000 grains
H = 26 ; Hardness
RS = rc ; 10%
RC = 10% ; Reserve capacity gallons
DO = 7 ; RT = 2:00 ; Regen time (default 2 AM)
BW = 10 ; Backwash (minutes)
Bd = 60 ; Brine draw minutes
RR = 10 ; Rapid Rinse minutes
BF = 6 ; Brine fill minutes
FM = __T__0.7