Iron Bacteria - Hot Water Side
- Thread starter Dave Bowers
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I disagree with that article taken as a whole. Yes, mixing bleach and vinegar directly is a very bad idea. But reducing the pH of the water with vinegar to 5.0 to 5.5 before adding the bleach for well sanitizing is a great idea IMO. It makes the bleach much more active. For WH sanitizing, that probably takes more care, but still the principle holds.
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Dave Bowers
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Well my hands stink of chlorine, but the hot water tank is being sanitized! I did not add the vinegar this round. I did drain the tank twice, and then filled with water and chlorine. I plan on giving it 10 hours or so, and then I'll drain, flush, and drain again. Hopefully, this will keep the tank clean for a little while until I get a whole house solution in place.
Thankfully, the process of adding chlorine to the tank via hose and syphoning from another hot water laundry outlet worked great! If I need to sanitize the HWT monthly, I don't think it will be a huge problem. I am curious about the proper amount of bleach to add. While looking online, I saw from 4 cups to 3 gallons for an 80 gallon HWT. That's a huge difference! Any thoughts here on the proper dosing?
Thankfully, the process of adding chlorine to the tank via hose and syphoning from another hot water laundry outlet worked great! If I need to sanitize the HWT monthly, I don't think it will be a huge problem. I am curious about the proper amount of bleach to add. While looking online, I saw from 4 cups to 3 gallons for an 80 gallon HWT. That's a huge difference! Any thoughts here on the proper dosing?
I suggest maybe 25 ppm free chlorine on the recirculating water that does not include going through the softener. Maybe I am too much into overkill. My well sanitizing writeup mentions one that is 200 range.
Don't put that on the good grass and avoid putting a lot into the septic. If it is going into the septic, maybe reduce the strength to 5 ppm and use more time. Lower pH makes whatever chlorine level you use more effective.
My reason for going high in the well is that I figure there are border areas that will not get full soaking, so better overkill than underkill to my thinking. I am not a pro, and my thinking could be flawed.
The ones for pools don't go high enough for this purpose IMO.
So 2 tablespoons into the brine tank and regenerate. That is an easy and operational prescription. When talking pipes and WH, I tend to think that some bleach gets consumed doing the job. So measuring the ppm seems easy enough rather than trying to name a volume needed.
Dave Bowers
New Member
well the test strips I purchased:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07WRSLZWL?ref=ppx_yo2_dt_b_product_details&th=1
Only go up to 200 ppm. Needless to say, when I tested the water, the test strips came back black which is listed as 200ppm. Could be more than that I guess, but definitely not less!
At this point, I have not sanitized the water softener. Honestly, the only place we're really seeing the problem is on the hot water side. I did have a company pull a sample from the hot water side, and pre-softener earlier this week. Hopefully, I'll have those results today on the iron, and it may or may not help!
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07WRSLZWL?ref=ppx_yo2_dt_b_product_details&th=1
Only go up to 200 ppm. Needless to say, when I tested the water, the test strips came back black which is listed as 200ppm. Could be more than that I guess, but definitely not less!
At this point, I have not sanitized the water softener. Honestly, the only place we're really seeing the problem is on the hot water side. I did have a company pull a sample from the hot water side, and pre-softener earlier this week. Hopefully, I'll have those results today on the iron, and it may or may not help!
Those strips look fine. 200 ppm is overkill maybe, but as I like to say, overkill is better than underkill. I have gone 4.5 years since my well and plumbing sanitizing. I thought I was going to need it this last summer, but I found it was my water bottle that needed sanitizing. But I also have the Ceranode powered anode.
That should have killed things nicely. You would also run each hot faucet just enough to smell or detect chlorine.
But getting rid of 50 gallons of 200+ ppm chlorine should not go into the septic tank IMO. Sending that via garden hose to the ditch or a downhill weed patch would be the right thing IMO.
If you will be putting much down the septic tank, I think you should experiment with the lowest effective dose. I am thinking maybe 5 ppm. The "shock" level for swimming pools is only 5 to 10 ppm.
So less chlorine and more vinegar. And do more research until you are not afraid of using some vinegar. Just don't mix the undiluted things.
That should have killed things nicely. You would also run each hot faucet just enough to smell or detect chlorine.
But getting rid of 50 gallons of 200+ ppm chlorine should not go into the septic tank IMO. Sending that via garden hose to the ditch or a downhill weed patch would be the right thing IMO.
If you will be putting much down the septic tank, I think you should experiment with the lowest effective dose. I am thinking maybe 5 ppm. The "shock" level for swimming pools is only 5 to 10 ppm.
So less chlorine and more vinegar. And do more research until you are not afraid of using some vinegar. Just don't mix the undiluted things.
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