Whole House Backwash Carbon Filter Questions (bacteria etc.)

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Ruadh80

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I am considering adding a whole house carbon filter (back-wash type) and have a few questions and concerns.

First, my biggest concern is that removing the free chlorine from my water lines will make them susceptible to bacteria growth. However I have an interesting idea and wanted to see what you guys thought of it. What if I put the whole house carbon filter right before the water softener? Then it would only be used for the softened lines (excludes outside spigots and kitchen cold lines). I already have an under counter type filter in the kitchen for consumption. The idea being that the water used for consumption will remain chlorinated all the way up to the point of use, thus reducing the risk of bacteria in the drinking water. It also means that everything after the carbon filter can be easily disinfected routinely. Obviously I should still strive to keep the softened lines free of bacteria, but it would make any increase in bacteria less of a health threat.

What do you think? Is it even worth having the whole house filter on the soft water line? Should I just not mess with it and just use an under counter filter in the kitchen? The chloramines are not good for the softener, and some say it is not healthy for showering, but I'm not sure whether it is worth adding a whole house filter.

Next, here is the FUN question. What got me thinking about adding the whole house filter is that I just replaced my water softener. The old one needed the resin replaced and it was a little under sized. It was also one where everything is shoved inside the brine tank and encapsulated with plastic that makes any kind of service a PITA. Since the control valve was still good, I kept the control valve and resin tank and threw out the rest. I am considering converting it to a whole house back-washing carbon filter. Obviously the regular softener recharge cycle is not ideal for back washing carbon, but I am a software engineer, so it wouldn't take much to throw out the existing control board and replace it with a $10 micro-controller that has been programmed to skip all the unnecessary stages and only perform the backwash and flush stages. So in theory, I could throw together a whole house back-washing filter for $10, a couple hours of programming, and the cost of a cubic foot of catalytic carbon.

Anything I am overlooking with that idea? If I decide to do it, I will need to research the ideal back-wash/flush timing and intervals, but I see no reason the softener control valve wouldn't work other than dumping a little extra water down the drain while it turns past the unnecessary stages.

Thanks for any input!
 

Reach4

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You want to find out if your water treatment facility uses chlorine or chloramines.

You can sterilize your plumbing by bypassing the backwashing filter for a while to let the chlorine kill stuff. If you get it killed, it will not grow back until you do some more plumbing supply work. You want to sterilize the softener, WH, pipes etc too.

I suspect you meant that you kept the control valve and brine tank.
 

Ruadh80

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They use chloramines, which is why I mentioned getting catalytic carbon.

Is bypassing the filter for a while to allow chlorinated water to fill the pipes enough to kill off any bacterial contamination? I would think that the chloramines in the water would be enough to prevent contamination, but not necessarily enough to be effective against bacteria that has already become established. Kind of like the difference between regular chlorine levels in a pool vs shocking it. Regular levels are enough to prevent bacteria from becoming established during normal use, but any time a larger than normal amount of bacteria has been introduced, it needs a "shock" of chlorine to kill off the bacteria back to levels that normal maintenance levels of chlorine can keep at bay.

If that really is all that is needed to ensure the water lines past the carbon filter don't become contaminated, how long should it be bypassed and how frequently?

Is there reason to be concerned about bacterial growth within the filter itself? Should back washing prevent that?
 

Ruadh80

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No, I threw the brine tank away, that wouldn't be helpful for a whole house carbon filter. I kept the control valve and the resin tank (aka mineral tank). I figured I would just plug the line on the valve that goes to the brine tank and program it to skip the fill and brine draw stages and only perform the back wash and flush. Some water will get wasted down the drain while it moves the valve cylinder past the fill and brine draw stages, but it shouldn't be much.
 

Reach4

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I am just thinking it through. I don't have expertise.

When you handle the resin etc, you could get bacteria in the water to my thinking. There is test paper that can let you measure the residual. Unfortunately I am not sure if the low-range total chlorine (including chloromine) will distinguish disinfecting chloramines from something else. Maybe you can see what you find.

I would order some low range total chlorine test paper such as http://www.lamotte.com/en/drinking-water/test-strips/2963lr-g.html That should let you check your water now and after you do add your backwashing filter.

You could shock your plumbing by adding bleach into your cartridge filter housing. I don't have a procedure for you. Shocking/sanitizing usually uses higher levels of chlorine than what comes in through the pipes. Higher levels need less contact time to do the job.
 
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