New House, New Well, Need Help With Filtration

[Jay Vining]

Hello TLF (this will be long sorry)

Been lurking here for along time, and quickly learned every situation is different, and I should just bite the bullet and ask.

So,
New construction house (~2ksqf, 3bed, 2.5bath just me and the wife) with a new well.
The well is ~260' (lined for 200') Makes 40gpm, constant pressure Grundfos pump, produces "crystal clear odor free water" per the well co. I have confirmed minus a bit of bleach smell which is probably from them....it is how they say.

I had a vendor not local to me but has done some stuff for friends with sucess and offers free water testing.
-The results:
pH -7.46
TDS-*600* ppm
Hardness-239.4 ppm
Iron- Trace
Iron bacteria- Not performed
Manganese- Not Detected
Copper- .15ppm
Nitrates- Trace
Sulfides- Not Detected
Tannins- Not Detected.

Their recommendation was a 10" big blue kit, 48k softener with 5600sxt and a 50gpd undersink RO.

I'm the overkill guy unfortunately....and I dont feel this is enough. Should I do a katalox light setup as well? Or a high quality carbon filter here as well?

Was thinking: big blue-katalox-softener-big blue-uv?

I also dont want the RO. Unless I'm doing the entire house RO and we cant swing that.

We would like to consume this water after filtration. Also with them drilling for 2.5days before deciding to line, and the amount of shale and muck collapsing down there could that inflate the TDS? I have heard some negatives to katalox and it making the pH crazy high. Still on the fence about alot of things but I know we need something. And what fleck valve to use boggles my mind..... i just want "newest & best" because I am a sucker for things like that.



Any and all suggestions welcomed, and if you want to pm me a quote I am open to that as well. Thanks again! This forum has helped me a ton along the way in the new house deal!
-J

 

[Reach4]

I think a softener to handle trace iron is fine. You might ask what trace means numerically. I would not call 0.2 ppm just a trace, but a softener could handle that pretty easily. You did not mention H2S (sulfur) smell. Few lab tests measure that. Your nose, and especially younger noses, detects that readily. Many iron filters also handles H2S. H2S was my main motivation in getting my iron+sulfur filter. It was not a heavy smell, but I did not want it.

1.5 cuft is sized properly, and would typically go about 21 days between regens using 120 gallons per day with your hardness.

I would not go with UV unless I had too. Positive coliform tests after a well has been sanitized is usually the result of bad sampling procedure contaminating the sample. https://terrylove.com/forums/index....izing-extra-attention-to-4-inch-casing.65845/ is my sanitizing writeup.

RO is not needed usually IMO, unless there is some other contaminant.

============================================
https://www.isws.illinois.edu/chemistry-and-technology/public-service-laboratory/water-testing
testing for IL only.... Here is some text from an older version of their website:

For $35.00 we will analyze an untreated sample (something that comes from your well and does not go through treatment).
For $50.00 we will analyze the untreated sample and a treated sample (something that goes through a softener or some type of treatment)
For $65.00 we will analyze the untreated sample, the treated sample and a reverse osmosis sample (you
usually have a spigot separate from the kitchen sink tap)
The turn-around time for water samples listed above is a minimum of 6 weeks, but is dependent upon staff and instrument availability. The cost charged for these analyses does not reflect the true cost, but is charged to help offset the cost of shipping, consumables, and supplies. This is a service provided for the citizens of Illinois by the State of Illinois, which provides financial support for the bulk of the cost of these analyses of private wells,
​

They will probably not be as fast as a private lab.

 

[Sponsor]

 

[Jay Vining]

Thanks for the reply.

I will go ahead and ask them their definition of "trace". Theres is definitely no smell of H2S I am positive of that. Unfortunately about 6 miles up the road at my friends new pad his water smells so bad of it...I can smell the hose from the field over.

Any particular reason to not just do UV other than the maintenance of bulbs/ballasts?

Still kind of confused on flecks lineup and what is the best options there.

 

[Reach4]

Any particular reason to not just do UV other than the maintenance of bulbs/ballasts?

Just that plus the electricity.

For easy math, if it takes 100 watts to power the light, that could be $100 per year. Now for most places, including Illinois, that would be an over-estimate. For some places it would be an under-estimate.

What do you do after a power outage? Gonna sanitize your plumbing? You may think that when the power goes off, so does the pump. But remember there may be 10 gallons of water from your pressure tank still supplying water for a while.

You also need a 5 micron filter before the UV light to keep beasties from hiding behind a particle. I don't know if that has to be an absolute 5 micron filter.

If you had a shallow well or used river water, that is different. But a proper deep well is just not going to have pathogenic bacteria once you sanitize after well work.

 

[Jay Vining]

10-4

Fortunately, like you said, our rates are affordable for now.

I'm still really trying to figure out this TDS issue as that's what is really wiggingmy brain out when it comes to consuming it. I had someone here PM me saying that it doesnt add up with the given info and to send it to a full scope lab. Which I am not opposed to. Could always give that nice couple in Somonauk a call.

Could all that shale and bedrock collapsing into the well for those 2.5 days have modified that number? I sent the sample out about 5 days after install.

 

[Reach4]

I'm still really trying to figure out this TDS issue as that's what is really wiggingmy brain out when it comes to consuming it.

The hardness stuff counts toward TDS, but so does sodium , chlorides, silica, sulfates, and some other non-harmful things.

 

[Bannerman]

As you made no mention of bacteria other than an iron bacteria test which was not performed, we don't know if your free test actually tested for any other types of bacteria, or if a 0 amount was listed so you didn't mention it.

If there is an existing bacteria issue, it is usually recommended to address that problem by other methods, prior to a softener or carbon filter. As UV is normally utilized as the final stage of water treatment, it would then provide an additional precaution. Belt and suspenders.

If there is no existing bacterial problem, a UV system would provide a mostly redundant precaution to reduce the spread of bacteria should one develop.

For lab testing, National Labs WaterCheck is often recommended on this forum. http://watercheck.myshopify.com/?aff=5

As you mention a chlorine odor currently present in the water, any testing should be performed after residual chlorine has dissipated and bacteria has had opportunity to develop.

 

[ditttohead]

Not sure why someone would assume the TDS would not add up... I don't see sodium, chloride, potassium, and many more that would all easily add up to the 600 your well is testing for. Definitely pay for a real water test, see the link above for a great test. Get the standard well test, price is reasonable, test results are usually fairly quick and accurate. No reason I can see for KL in your application. Carbon could be used for certain chemical reduction if they were present in your water as well as tastes and odors.

 

[Jay Vining]

Thank you for all the support and responding. I'm not trying to be hardheaded, just want to be thorough in my research.

I will be sending another sample out for a more detailed analysis. I do believe my well company upon mandate of the county does a basic test for bacteria and sanitizes it if I remember correctly... I can always shoot them an email as well.




As far as valves go. 5600sxt vs 2510sxt...I'm sure it depends on resin and backwash rates I guess so no true answer. But from what I've seen, they are both good units.

I will update with a better lab test in time.


Thanks again!!

 

[Reach4]

As far as valves go. 5600sxt vs 2510sxt...I'm sure it depends on resin and backwash rates I guess so no true answer. But from what I've seen, they are both good units.

5600SXT on a softener is a pretty good match for 3/4 inch plumbing supply. Backwash rate for a softener is no problem, but a filter has a higher backwash rate. So the 5600SXT is usually not a good match for being a backwashing filter, although my backwashing filter uses the 5600SXT and does well. My media is fairly light -- 5 gpm backwash for a 10x54 tank. A softener uses 2.4 gpm backwash for that size tank.

The 5810SXT is a good match for 1 inch plumbing.

 

[ditttohead]

If you are using the same company your friend used then I would ask them which valve they recommend. Most companies will recommend the valve they are most comfortable with so they will be able to assist you with better troubleshooting based on their knowledge.