Well water quality problems....solution needed, please help.

[Mrmichaeljmoore]

Need some help with the water quality of my mother's well water.

She got her well water tested this week. She is located in Delaware.

Here are the results:
Hardness - 5 GPG (grains per gallon)
Iron – 3.8 ppm (ferrous, dissolved)
pH – 5.6 units
TDS (total dissolved solids) – 108 ppm

She has been getting some brown staining on her bathtub, sinks and other fixtures. Other problems are she claims the water is making her clothes look and feel "dingy", especially colors. Also, when showering, the water gives that extremely hard, squeaky clean hard water feel.
(I have a softener at my house, so my water feels just the opposite).

The main problem is this. She is a widow, with not a lot of cash. Plus, there is a chance that within the next few plus years (hopefully) she will be put on city water (but I'm not holding my breath on that one).

She currently has one inline filter that I change regularly. We usually use one of the pleated or string or carbon type filters from Lowes. I think it is one of the smaller 1" type filters.

Note: The sample was taken from the sink, so it is after the current inline filter.

So, how can she improve her water??
Different type of filter?
Additional inline filter?
Is the low Ph a problem?
Doesn't look like she needs a softener, water doesn't seem to be that hard, right?

If you need more info to offer a solution, let me know and I'll get it.

Thanks for the help.

 

[NHmaster]

She needs a softener.

 

[Sponsor]

 

[Gary Slusser]

I've answered this on my forum but, she needs to buffer the acidity and then a softener.

For 20 years I have used a slightly special softener that successfully removes up to 5 ppm of iron, and recently with a special resin etc., up to 10 ppm of iron.

 

[Mrmichaeljmoore]

Follow up....

Let me ask a quick question upfront: Are there any health hazards to continue using this water as is?
I understand the high iron can cause staining on surfaces (it already has) and the acid can ruin copper pipes (although most of her pipes are PVC or some sort of plastic), but can it cause health problems?

Also, this condition of high iron is recent.
Over the summer, the water from all taps started sputtering, seemingly cause of air in the lines.
The plumber/well guy came out and tried the simple, cost effective solutiuons first.
1. Compressed air in the well to clean the well screen. She has a shallow well. He did this quite a bit. The screen was dirty and we thought that solved the problem....Nope.
2. Changed the pump, retention tank. Nope.
3. Then changed all the piping from the well to the retention tank.
The problem in the end was a collapsed pipe that ran from the well to the tank.

Could the repeated use of the compressed air down the well (in order to clean the well screen) caused some sort of change in the water, like an influx of iron? The iron (at least to the naked eye) has decreased somewhat since the summer, although it is still there as evidenced by the water test. A couple of months ago the iron would settle out of a cup of tap water within a week....now you put a cup of tap water on the counter and the orange iron sediment settles out in a few weeks.
But the water still smells like a cup of loose change....the metal smell.

Thanks.

 

[Speedbump]

Let me ask a quick question upfront: Are there any health hazards to continue using this water as is?

Quite a few people in my area here in Florida have shallow wells. Twenty foot or less for total depth. This water has a PH of around 5.5, hardness of practically zero and depending on the area can be either clear, blackened or reddish in color. Most of it smells bad too. Filtration companies will sell these folks lots of equipment to remedy the problem of staining and stink. Problem is, this is surface water and anything the animals in the vicinity or farmers do to that groung is in this water in high concentrations. Sure, we can clean it up aesthetically, but what about safely? None of the equipment these filtration folks sell will remove the chemicals. And without chlorine injection, the bacteria living in this water may be harmful as well.

I see some of my neighbors out after sundown and they actually glow in the dark. Amazing!

bob...

 

[Mrmichaeljmoore]

Speedbump....

Thanks for replying.
The water has been tested for bacteria and other stuff (nitrates?). The test showed zero.....so that's good.

Knowing that as long as there is no bacteria in the water, it is not harmful, we can take our time a bit to figure out a plan to address the other water quality issues (with money being a big factor right now).

thanks again.

Quite a few people in my area here in Florida have shallow wells. Twenty foot or less for total depth. This water has a PH of around 5.5, hardness of practically zero and depending on the area can be either clear, blackened or reddish in color. Most of it smells bad too. Filtration companies will sell these folks lots of equipment to remedy the problem of staining and stink. Problem is, this is surface water and anything the animals in the vicinity or farmers do to that groung is in this water in high concentrations. Sure, we can clean it up aesthetically, but what about safely? None of the equipment these filtration folks sell will remove the chemicals. And without chlorine injection, the bacteria living in this water may be harmful as well.

I see some of my neighbors out after sundown and they actually glow in the dark. Amazing!

bob...

 

[Speedbump]

That's good news. The PH will have to be raised above 7, then an iron filter and softener may be in order. Depending on how high the PH filter raises the hardness, an iron filter might be the best consideration in my opinion. Everyone but me says Water Softeners are used for removing iron. In my experience, they are not the best solution. If you want to remove iron, get an iron filter. Makes sense to me.

bob...