Starting from scratch with an NTL Test Report

[Ps42]

Howdy! First Post - after looking around here, I decided to start here, rather than with water treatment system sellers. Thanks for all the value y'all have provided, and thanks in advance for your kind assistance. Here's a bit of context...

We have been living here for about 18 years, and our well water is fairly good. There is no smell to the water, and it tastes great! Even unfiltered.

We use a carbon filter at the kitchen sink for our drinking and cooking water, otherwise, the only other treatment at the moment are two sediment filters (cheap ones you get at the big box store), one before the pressure tank, and one after, which I added when I replaced my pressure tank and found what seem to be large pieces of rusty flakes which I think may be from my well casing.

We have some green staining in the bathtub where the water drips, and a whitish "crust" accumulating on some of the "brass" Zircon PEX fittings I installed about 10 years ago. (I've read here that there was an issue with that manufacturer's fittings about that time, so maybe that's the problem.) Some of those fittings are leaking, and seem to be easily broken. (I pushed on a line in the cellar once, and it snapped at the fitting.)

Because of the rusty flakes mentioned above, I was concerned about the potential failure of the well casing. So, I had another well drilled. We are currently connected to that well, and the NTL test report is attached. Since we've been using the water from the new well, we're also getting brownish stains on the fixtures. I wasn't sure what this was at first (iron?), but after further reading and the test results, I think its "turbidity", or what I consider fine dust suspended in the water. Could that be correct interpretation?

I'm an electrician and my "pipes" are "arranged to drain" as the code says. That's why I'm not a plumber, and like water related stuff to be very simple! So, for a water treatment system, (which I was trying to avoid if possible) my main goals are:

1. protect my plumbing system, fixtures and appliances from
   • corrosion, and
   • getting clogged up with solids suspended in the water,
2. protect the new tankless water heater I'm going to install from scale
3. eliminate the green stains on the bathtub

Do I need a water conditioner, or can some kind of filters solve these issues?

Again, thanks in advance for your good help!

 

[Reach4]

Your two main problems are Manganese (Mn 0.123 mg/L) and pH (6.0). Probable solution will be an acid-neutralizing calcite tank, preferably backwashing, followed by a softener to remove Mn and iron (Fe 0.156), and the hardness including the hardness added by the calcite.

I was surprised to see the secondary MCL (SMCL) for iron listed as 0.020 mg/L in that test report. https://www.epa.gov/sdwa/secondary-drinking-water-standards-guidance-nuisance-chemicals shows 0.3 as the secondary nuisance standard. Either way, it will be nice to get the iron taken out, but even nicer to get the bittier taste of the Mn taken out.

It would be nice if the water could bypass the calcite during softener regen, but they don't normally do that, and maybe never do that. You may want to add some acid back to the brine tank somehow, at least during periodic maintenance.

 

[Sponsor]

 

[ditttohead]

Is you plumbing copper or Pex/CPVC? This type of water can be problematic for copper piping systems. A simple polyphosphate injection system may be a good solution.

 

[Ps42]

Thank you both for your replies! My plumbing is mostly PEX, and there is some CPVC which I will eventually replace with PEX.

The water has no smell, and tastes great. So, the main concern isn't even the stains so much as the potential damage to washing machine, and water heater, especially with my planned switch from a tank water heater to a tankless water heater.

What about the treatment I've read recommended for the water before the tankless water heater. Is a filter for scale needed in my situation? Would it be necessary if I had other treatment components ahead of it?