Iron filter for irrigation system

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Flower Power

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i have a existing point on the property and want to use it for lawn irrigation. Unfortunately it has a lot of iron and will stain my house and cement driveway. Is there an affordable way to filter the water. Large area so needs 25 gpm to supply sprinklers.
Rookie so any help is appreciated.
Thanks
 

Reach4

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Affordable? Enough Katalox Light plus equipment to handle 25 gpm might be cheaper than a used Cessna. 8 gpm with zones would be more economical. Or maybe you could just process the water for sprinkler heads that were within range of the concrete.

More affordable would be several gallons of concrete stain.

Artificial turf.... subsurface drip irrigation... https://www.lawnsite.com/threads/wh...h-subsurface-drip-irrigation-for-turf.337559/

Did you mean "point", as in sand point, or did you maybe mean pond?

There was a thread where somebody was planning to use more than one tank of Katalox Light to avoid rust stains from irrigation, but I can't find it.
 
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LLigetfa

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Subscribing to this thread to see what affordable iron filter can do 25 GPM. I guess what is "affordable" depends on your disposable income and the tightness of your fist.

I piped many of my outside hosebibs after my iron filter but then I doubt it is capable of more than 5 GPM. My house has white siding so the preferred way to irrigate near the house is with soaker hoses. The lawns are at the mercy of Mother Nature to get rained on, so too the concrete patio and sidewalks.
 

ditttohead

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Irrigation at 25 GPM... are you sure this is accurate? Can you break this down into smaller stations. Flow rate is expensive when it comes to water treatment. We would also need a water analysis to determine the best method of iron reduction.
 

Matt Peiris

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How much iron are we talking about? Better to get an analysis from a local lab rather than perform a simple field test since treatment equipment is going to be a big investment.

Do you also need this water to be potable?
We would like to see the following.
  • Appearance when draw
  • Iron concentration
  • pH
  • Alkalinity
  • Sulfate
  • Chloride
  • Arsenic
  • Nitrates
  • TDS
  • Bacteria
Like Reach4 mentioned, Katalox Light should do it. In fact, you may be able to use two KL 1665 units in parallel with 5810 XTR2 heads, each with 4.5 cu.ft of media to get the 25 gpm flow you need. Again, this depends on what's in your water.

If the iron concentration is really high or if water doesn't have enough oxygen, we can use the same KL units, but will need to discuss ways to add KMnO4, Cl or H2O2 to oxidize the contaminants. Dosing pumps, contact tanks and pumps will be needed in this case.

KDF-85 media is also rated to remove iron. Three 1252 units with 1 cu.ft of media in parallel should do it (max iron concentration 5 ppm).
 

ditttohead

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I would avoid using KDF85 for ion reduction. We sell many systems with KDF85 for this purpose but the backwash rates are considerable. A 12" diameter tank would typically need a 25 GPM backwash flow rate.

A proper and thorough water test is needed to make any real recommendations. NTL Labs is one of the best and are reasonable. http://www.kdfft.com/pdfs/kdf_POESheet.pdf

http://watercheck.myshopify.com?aff=5
 
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ACWxRADR

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Flower,

I personally would not treat the irrigation water (to remove the iron) with any special media. I would investigate natural aeration within a "precipitation" tank. My idea specifically would be to buy a VERY LARGE plastic water storage tank (above ground or buried) and pump the well water into the tank through "spray jets" or nozzles to violently aerate the water. This will elevate the O2 content in the water and any ferrous iron will oxidize to ferric iron and precipitate out to the bottom. Then you can place a dip tube with a lake screen and sock filter down into this vessel and, using a separate irrigation pump, pull the reduced iron water out to irrigate with. You could apply a simple (manually operated) backwashable sand filter to trap the remaining ferric iron before it hits the sprinkler heads, too. Manually backflush the sand filter when you detect a loss of flow and pressure.

Drawback would be how often you wish to water and how much volume you need as it will still take time for any ferrous iron to oxidize and settle out to the bottom of the tank. However, the long-term cost savings and efficiency would be much greater. No consumable products other than the pumps themselves would be needed. The sand for the filter would be inexpensive if not free if it ever needed to be replaced. You could apply a pool filter in this case which would handle a greater delivery volume with less pressure drop.

Gordo
 

ditttohead

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Using a tank to drop out a considerable portion of the iron works but be aware that depending on many variable, the tank can get nasty. I usually design these with the draw being a few feet off the bottom of the tank and the bottom of the tank to be purged regularly. You also need to have easy access to cleaning the tanks.
 

Reach4

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A conical bottom tank on a stand makes that cleaning easier.
 

ACWxRADR

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Very good points from Ditto and Reach.

Making a system like this work is greatly dependent upon space (land space) and overall water quality coming out of the well. I would think that a rather large storage tank would be required. The positive perk here is the lack of need for any special media.

With such a large volume of water to be utilized for irrigation purposes, I believe that any media designed for iron removal specifically would not be able to keep up and become cost prohibitive.

If you promise not to laugh at the idea, my ideal setup for such a system would be to construct a wooden water tower with an open top. Model it after the old steam engine locomotive refill stations like on the TV series "Petticoat Junction" so that it is aesthetically pleasing. The outer appearance would be rustic wood siding like a giant oak cask, but internally it would actually be a rotational molded plastic vessel with a purge drain at the bottom and an open top.

In this case, the vessel would be elevated so you would therefore not require a separate pump, it could gravity feed the irrigation system.

With an open top, rainwater would assist in keeping it full, depending upon the season and local rainfall. In the fall you could purge all the iron and other sediments out the bottom drain while preparing it for winter in case there is a threat of freezing in the climate zone. The open top would also help in aeration to remove more iron. In the warmer months, one might even utilize it as a swimming pool!

I have contemplated such a project for my cabin for many years, but not for the purpose of iron removal for irrigation purposes. I just thought it would be neat to have an "elevated" swimming pool that looked like the water tower on the TV show so that I could invite three girls over to swim in it and throw their petticoats over the side! Hee Hee

Gordo
 

LLigetfa

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If you plan to go with a large storage tank, then you could also filter out the iron on the line filling the tank at a slower GPM. The tank then just buffers the outflow GPM.
 

ditttohead

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Do not use an open top tank. The rain collection potential is basically nothing. But the number of dead birds, squirrels and all other matter of organic debris will collect in the tank. Gravity feeding is a simple math equation. To simplify it every 2 feet of elevation will give you about 1 PSI.. Since most irrigation systems work best at pressures in excess of 40 psi, the bottom of the tank should be 80' above ground level. A simple pump might make more sense. :)
 

Brother Jack

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Affordable? Enough Katalox Light plus equipment to handle 25 gpm might be cheaper than a used Cessna. 8 gpm with zones would be more economical. Or maybe you could just process the water for sprinkler heads that were within range of the concrete.

More affordable would be several gallons of concrete stain.

Artificial turf.... subsurface drip irrigation... https://www.lawnsite.com/threads/wh...h-subsurface-drip-irrigation-for-turf.337559/

Did you mean "point", as in sand point, or did you maybe mean pond?

There was a thread where somebody was planning to use more than one tank of Katalox Light to avoid rust stains from irrigation, but I can't find it.

Reach....you might be referring to my thread a couple years ago. System still works fairly well. Have modified a bit by adding H2O2 injection. Still get some bleed thru of iron (1.5ppm)but not near the amount of the raw water almost 8ppm. This is used for irrigation only and pumps close to 15 gpm. Been dry this Summer so the system runs for close to 5 hrs per day every other day. That's 4500 gallons per day when running. I backwash daily when in use.

https://terrylove.com/forums/index....-removal-system-recommendations-update.62628/
 

WorthFlorida

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If you really want to remove iron, Potassium permanganate is about the best there is. Sears used to sell it as their iron remover for domestic water systems. A chlorine blending tank with a sand filter, then a charcoal filter was another option. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Potassium_permanganate


Other than reallocating the sprinklers heads and adjusting them by preventing the water from hitting the home and concrete helps greatly. At least for S. Florida, Home Depot and Sears sold a product to "prevent" the iron from oxidizing. At least for Sears, where I worked for a time, it was a local product. Home Depot also had the similar product and again, may have been a local product.

During the housing boom of the 60's to the 80's's in Florida, wells for irrigation were usually around 40 feet deep. You knew a home had an irrigation well by all of the iron stains everywhere, even on cars that got over spray. I cannot remember the product name but it was sold in concentrate liquid in one gallon jugs. Bought separately a plastic tank of about 30 gallons. A hose from the tank to the suction side of the pump was connected to the pipe with a special fitting. For each gallon of solution you put into the storage tank you added about 5 gallon of water. When the irrigation pump turned on it would draw the solution into the pump where it was further diluted. I have to say Sears sold a ton of it until Home Depot started to sell the same product under a different name. However, HD product was less concentrate and you only added 3 gallons of water.

It sold extremely well because the HOA's would demand the iron stains to be cleaned up and there was a iron stain remover sold, even today Home Depot sells the stain remover but not the iron stain preventor. You'll still see iron stain homes in the older developments in Florida

It all faded away because the well drillers started to drill to around 70 feet where the water changed to sulfur water. You will never get iron stains from sulfur water, it sure stinks but it kept the kids away.
 
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