I need a hand with my mom's well

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Trojanwater

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My mother lives in midwest Alberta and would like her bathroom renovated. She has her own well (@40/60 with 7.8gpm flow rate), but the water is nasty and will foul the new bathroom, so I offered to look into it for her and am finding a lot of conflicting and diverse choices instead of sound counsel.
Could you guys help me with this?

This is the latest water quality analysis:
Water Quality 2022.jpg


I am primarily concerned with the amounts of lead, iron, and manganese in the water.

I thought to add a prefilter, some Katalox-Light, and an activated carbon filter for the main household with a couple RO membranes at the bathroom and kitchen faucets, but I don't know if this is right.

I'm not even sure if this is a good system; its easier for me to think of the problems by component:

1- Prefilter- I was recommended Pentek DGD Series cartridges (DGD-5005 or DGD-2501), but aren't spindown filters better? Should I use more than one?

2- I was planning on an Ozone Enhanced Filter ( 1.0, 1.5 or 2.0 cu.ft Katalox-Light Filter Media). The ozone would kill the iron reducing bacteria (irb) and possibly aid in oxidation (idk). I don't know much about the ozone device. I also used WatchWaters Calculator for Katalox-Light and it recommended
1662075094907.png


Isn't that excessive amount of KL?
I'm also worried about the GPM for service and for backwashing.
If I order a 2cuft tank, would this work or is the 7.8 gpm flow rate too low?

Also, since we are on the subject, what about the Vortech tanks? Are these truly a benefit?

I was leaning on using a 12x52" Vortech tank for 2.0 cuft of KL, but am concerned about the backwash.
Alternatively, the small 10" tanks would reduce the service rate gpm, would it not?

3- Activated Carbon. This seems simple enough, but I don't know what size to get. 1.5 cuft enough? Ever hear of Catalytic-MG? I reached out to the company (same WatchWater company that makes KL) and may opt to use this, if I can get my hands on it.

Could someone chime in and confirm/correct my treatment plan?
 

Reach4

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Interesting. I suspect that you also have H2S smell, but that is not normally tested for.

Careful with KL. Most sellers tend to under-backwash.

You list a 7.8gpm flow rate. Did you do that test yourself? Nice.

At that flow rate, you might be looking at 1 cuft of KL in a 9x48 tank to be able to backwash it. 3.5 cuft does seem excessive. You may have entered too high of a flow rate. I think 5 gpm would be a good number for house use.

My H2S+iron filter uses 1.5 cuft of Centaur Carbon in a 10x54 tank with a 5 gpm backwash. I got it mainly for the H2S, and it may be passing some iron to the softener to let that finish pulling out the iron. Not sure. Your water is not hard, so you may not have a softener planned.
 
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Trojanwater

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Hi Reach4, thanks for the input.

You list a 7.8gpm flow rate. Did you do that test yourself? Nice.
I asked my brother, I'm a province away. I hope he did that well. I wanted him to test it again but to drain the pressure tank first. We'll see if he can manage it.
Careful with KL. Most sellers tend to under-backwash.
Its really confusing. Some say backwash doesn't need to use that high of a flowrate, including one of the manufacturer's pamphlets
1662098837882.png

and considering the loss of flow rate with the smaller vessels, I think a couple 09x44 in parallel would solve the problem, but it would cost too much for the individual controllers.
Your water is not hard, so you may not have a softener planned.
I don't. I initially thought to use strong anion exchange resin (A300E), but the manufacturer warned me it would be wasteful with such high amounts of sulfate. In this case, the sulfate would be exchanged for chlorine, which could be recharged similarly to a water softener, but for anions, not cations. The benefit, I thought, would be that a carbon filter would capture much of the chlorine, but given the numbers are so high, it would be a doubly wasteful since the carbon would need replacing often. Instead, I plan to use a couple RO membranes at the point of use.

Do you have any information of the other products I mentioned, ie. the vortech tanks and the catalytic-mg? It would be nice to recharge the carbon, but I feel like I'm overthinking this.
 

Reach4

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If he could have 2 hoses putting out 8 gpm total, he could see if the pressure at the tank levels off, or if the pump continues to cycle. If it holds at 40 or cycles, the pump and well system are delivering 8 gpm.
 

Trojanwater

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I think someone needs to invent a multiport valve system that would allow for independent controls, so I could just buy one valve head that controls two (or more) smaller filters.

I found some catalytic-mg. There are WatchWaters distributor/manufacturers in the US. One of the companies are piecing out a system for me atm.
 
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