JSAlaska
New Member
I have browsed the forum for a while and read up on other sites but I'm still pretty confused on what I need. I've met with three different vendors who sell setups. Unsurprisingly, I got different information from all three. I am on a private well and, after meeting with the vendors, sent my water out for an independent test. The house is 2.5 baths with two adults and one kid.
My water is as follows:
Total Dissolved Solids = 221 mg/l (which I think is 12.92 grains per gallon)
Hardness total = 170 mg/l (company said they'd consider 180 "very hard")
Calcium = 52 mg/l
Iron = .47 mg/l (recommendation is .3 or less)
Magnesium = 8.7 mg/l
Manganese = .49 (recommendation is .o5 or less; one of the vendors tested out manganese at 21 times the max recommended limit)
Langelier corrosivity is .11 (good)
Alkalinity = 97 mg/ CaCO3
pH = 7.84
From my research, I think I need both an iron/manganese filter and a water softener. A plumber recommended doing a spinning or centrifugal filter before the iron/manganese filter to get out the biggest chunks. I'm not clear what that is.
My understanding is that salt free softener will not actually remove the hardness but merely polishes the calcium and magnesium which will eventually build up in our hot water heater and boiler. So I'm leaning toward a salt-based system notwithstanding the added maintenance and salt cost.
One vendor tried selling me a Kinetico claiming it would also remove the iron and manganese. I think it would at first but that the manganese would eventually coat the resin even with washing with a cleaning solution. I like the Kinetico for it's efficiency in terms of salt and water recharging, but it's expensive.
I'd like to get a system that is efficient with salt and water recharging and is a larger system that will recharge less frequently. My thought is to do the centrifugal filter, then iron and manganese filter, then the salt based softener. I've considered Pelican's Greensand filter for iron/manganese and salt water softener.
Can anyone recommend specific units for an iron/manganese filter and water softener. Sorry for the long post, I've just gotten a series of different answers from different vendors. Not sure what to think
My water is as follows:
Total Dissolved Solids = 221 mg/l (which I think is 12.92 grains per gallon)
Hardness total = 170 mg/l (company said they'd consider 180 "very hard")
Calcium = 52 mg/l
Iron = .47 mg/l (recommendation is .3 or less)
Magnesium = 8.7 mg/l
Manganese = .49 (recommendation is .o5 or less; one of the vendors tested out manganese at 21 times the max recommended limit)
Langelier corrosivity is .11 (good)
Alkalinity = 97 mg/ CaCO3
pH = 7.84
From my research, I think I need both an iron/manganese filter and a water softener. A plumber recommended doing a spinning or centrifugal filter before the iron/manganese filter to get out the biggest chunks. I'm not clear what that is.
My understanding is that salt free softener will not actually remove the hardness but merely polishes the calcium and magnesium which will eventually build up in our hot water heater and boiler. So I'm leaning toward a salt-based system notwithstanding the added maintenance and salt cost.
One vendor tried selling me a Kinetico claiming it would also remove the iron and manganese. I think it would at first but that the manganese would eventually coat the resin even with washing with a cleaning solution. I like the Kinetico for it's efficiency in terms of salt and water recharging, but it's expensive.
I'd like to get a system that is efficient with salt and water recharging and is a larger system that will recharge less frequently. My thought is to do the centrifugal filter, then iron and manganese filter, then the salt based softener. I've considered Pelican's Greensand filter for iron/manganese and salt water softener.
Can anyone recommend specific units for an iron/manganese filter and water softener. Sorry for the long post, I've just gotten a series of different answers from different vendors. Not sure what to think