New Iron Filter Losing Air Pocket

[Rocket69]

We recently installed a new 10' Air Injection over media filter to deal with our iron problem (2 PPM) (7.0 PH), water tasted fine, no odors or other issues, just that every 2-3 days my wife has to clean our toilet bowls from brown/orangish staining. When they first installed it, it worked for about a week then stopped removing any iron, water is back to the way it was before and we noticed that after the regen cycle there is nearly no air pocket, just a small bit at the top where the shoulder radius is.

Our water guy came back and changed out the "flow buttons" air check value. Still no luck, it was still losing it's air pocket. No leaks anywhere noted. Water guy came back Friday and replaced the whole head unit with a new one, no joy same issue. When it's going thru it's regen cycle we have good flow (6..5 gal a min I think he said), during the air draw stage we have a large air pocket all the way down the the media level, even toward the end it burps air to the drain line. Then the rinse stage and once it goes back to service, you can tap the tank and all the air is gone??

Setup:
Shallow well of 30-35 feet, when we built the house we had sand draw issues that required them to install a flow restrictor down to 2.5 gal min which was to low to feed the house.,
This required an garage install storage tank of 1000 gallons, that has a pressure pump that goes to the pressure tank, then into the iron filter, then a 10" spin on Carbon filter and then into the house.
Water coming straight from the well is very clear, then after it sets for 20-30 min it changes color as the iron oxidizes. Doesn't seem to be any Tannins as there is no color at all coming out from the well.

Clack WS1 value with Katalox light
I think the setting are below.
15 min backwash
40 min air draw
11 min rinse ( he said he always uses the same setting, question? do you need a rinse cycle on katalox, cause that seems to be where it's losing the air.

Water guy is not going to be happy Monday when I call him again, any idea's?

Another option, he said he ran a test with a o'zone generator and it removed the iron, but since the tank is in the garage it would need to be vented, I really would prefer for this katalox setup to work and it's simpler, plus less work for him to do.

 

[Bannerman]

I would eliminate the Rapid Rinse cycle or at least set it to the minimum time setting to determine if the air pocket will remain.

How often is the unit regenerating?

Ensure the water connections are correct. When facing the controller from the front, the incoming raw water should be entering through the rightmost connection whereas the filtered water to home fixtures is on the left.

 

[Sponsor]

 

[Rocket69]

Connections are correct and water tight, it regens every 3 days

 

[Skyjumper]

the water guy may not be happy, and that means he's in the wrong business. he should be more worried about his customer not being happy with the malfunctioning equipment he sold you.

I have one these filters. it did the same thing you describe. you can search my posts going back a couple years to see what I went through.

short story:
1) get rid of the rapid rinse cycle as bannerman said. that just flushes out your air bubble.
2) backwash every day. if that works, switch to every other day. don't go longer than that no matter what the water guy says.
3) if every day doesn't work switch to ozone. it's a small ozone generator attached to the valve. it sucks in ozone with the air. it should completely fill the entire tank. this helps the katalox remove the iron and also kills off the iron bacteria if you have it. this is what I did and it works. nothing else worked for me. you will probably have to switch the valve again it requires special metal parts that wont corrode from the ozone.

get a good iron test kit you will need it, and will use it many many times over the coming years. also ask the water guy to install a test spigot right after the iron filter and before the softener (assuming you have one) so you can quickly and easily test the filtered water.

the good news is you have Clack WS1 which is the best valve you can get for this application. you just don't have the right mix of oxidation & backwashing.

 

[Rocket69]

Thanks, will start with turning the rinse cycle off and shortening the regen days. I'll have to confirm the backwash rate with the water guy. He is a good guy, already eat the shipping on the new valve since his lical source was out. He said he never has this type if issue, and it worked great for a few days, guess we just need to get it set up different

 

[BIGBREW]

I backwash mine every two days, but after reading this I think I am going to try getting rid of my RR cycle myself. My air pocket seems small lately and I have just replaced every gasket and o ring on my Fleck 2510.