High iron in well water...

[rzims]

I searched and actually found a thread about this, but it was 2 years old and closed for comments so I'm starting another thread. Sorry if its a long post...

We live in the California foothills and are on a well. Our well is really high in iron - 10ppm - and is staining the toilets, sinks, washers and my wife's hair.
We had an existing system (calcite to neutralize and green sand to remove iron) but it was 23 years old and hadn't been maintained prior to our buying the place.
I just installed a new system that treats the water before it comes into the house and it seems to be working well.
My concern is the iron bacteria down in the well and that it might ruin my well pump.
Is anyone else dealing with something like this and what did you do? My thought is to inject chlorine into the well head vent with a small chlorine injection system, but not sure if just sticking the tube into the vent will accomplish my goal?

Thoughts?
Thanks in advance for your input....

 

[Leaflessshadetree]

The way it was explained to me is that chlorine causes the iron to rust which makes the particles larger so the filter can trap more of it.
I inject some bleach as the water comes into my house then have a "holding tank" so it can work before going through the softener and filters.
They do make dispensers that will drop pellets into the well.

 

[Duker]

I searched and actually found a thread about this, but it was 2 years old and closed for comments so I'm starting another thread. Sorry if its a long post...

We live in the California foothills and are on a well. Our well is really high in iron - 10ppm - and is staining the toilets, sinks, washers and my wife's hair.
We had an existing system (calcite to neutralize and green sand to remove iron) but it was 23 years old and hadn't been maintained prior to our buying the place.
I just installed a new system that treats the water before it comes into the house and it seems to be working well.
My concern is the iron bacteria down in the well and that it might ruin my well pump.
Is anyone else dealing with something like this and what did you do? My thought is to inject chlorine into the well head vent with a small chlorine injection system, but not sure if just sticking the tube into the vent will accomplish my goal?

Thoughts?
Thanks in advance for your input....

We have the same issue on our well. We use a Stenner Chlorinator pump and tank to inject the chlorine into the well tank not the well. It kills the iron bacteria in the holding tank. Because of our heat in the summer the chlorine can break down faster so I have to occasionally monitor the flow rate to keep it at a level that kills the bacteria but also so you can't smell the chlorine. You will probably have to watch any rubber seals to (toilets, faucets etc.)as they can breakdown over time. I have now replaced all three of my toilets with good quality (no Big Box store stuff) flappers resistant to chlorine. It works fine and is just one of the joys of living in the country!

My only well issue is I get air in the tank that will blow through but I have checked all backflow preventers/regulators and it may be the iron bacteria creating gas (fortunately not methane) in the tank. I would love to figure that one out!

 

[pcmeiners]

Continuous chlorine , liquid or tablet down the well would not be a good idea, upon breaking down it product salt which rusts almost all metal, stainless 316 is resistant but most pumps are 304 stainless which is not impervious to rust, and if the casing is steel it will rust that. That said I have a good bit of iron and iron bacteria, if I shock the well occasionally it kills the bacteria for months.

"My only well issue is I get air in the tank that will blow through"

Best to have an air eliminator such as in the link, large and rated for well water/psi

1" Sweat, Spirovent Jr Air Eliminator - Spirotherm

Spirovent Jr (Junior) series horizontal air eliminator by Spirotherm for microbubble elimination in hydronic and radiant heating. 1" solder inlet and outlet connections.

www.pexuniverse.com

 

[chris142]

I have been on a well 50 years. We just clean the toilet often.

 

[ybnormal]

I have been on a well 50 years. We just clean the toilet often.

I would hope so...

 

[pcmeiners]

I guess shoes were not as much a concern as the Tyvex suit was .

 

[My Old Tools]

The other ways to get the iron out of suspension are air over water tanks (no bladder), hydrogen peroxide injection, and ozone generators. The idea is the same, cause the iron to oxidize into iron oxides and fall out of suspension. We have an 800 gallon air over water tank on our well followed by big filters. It isn't 100% but it gets a lot of the iron. I have been studying the ozone generators for a bit. It looks promising as it also kills bacteria and such.

 

[rzims]

Continuous chlorine , liquid or tablet down the well would not be a good idea, upon breaking down it product salt which rusts almost all metal, stainless 316 is resistant but most pumps are 304 stainless which is not impervious to rust, and if the casing is steel it will rust that. That said I have a good bit of iron and iron bacteria, if I shock the well occasionally it kills the bacteria for months.

"My only well issue is I get air in the tank that will blow through"

Best to have an air eliminator such as in the link, large and rated for well water/psi

1" Sweat, Spirovent Jr Air Eliminator - Spirotherm

Spirovent Jr (Junior) series horizontal air eliminator by Spirotherm for microbubble elimination in hydronic and radiant heating. 1" solder inlet and outlet connections.

www.pexuniverse.com

Thank you! this is the info I was looking for. I'll just plan on doing the shock treatment a couple times a year.

 

[rzims]

The other ways to get the iron out of suspension are air over water tanks (no bladder), hydrogen peroxide injection, and ozone generators. The idea is the same, cause the iron to oxidize into iron oxides and fall out of suspension. We have an 800 gallon air over water tank on our well followed by big filters. It isn't 100% but it gets a lot of the iron. I have been studying the ozone generators for a bit. It looks promising as it also kills bacteria and such.

We had the ozone generator that was installed by the previous owner. Not very effective, but then again it was really small. Looks like it was originally made for a spa/hot tub.
We also don't have a large holding tank. It goes from the well to the pressure tank to the 60g contact tank.
We're hoping to put in a large 2000g holding tank in the future for stand by water when the power goes out and for use fire protection if needed.

 

[pcmeiners]

Thank you! this is the info I was looking for. I'll just plan on doing the shock treatment a couple times a year.

It seems if the bacteria in the well is allowed to multiple, and the bacteria colony becomes large, the "slime" problem becomes more noticeable the larger it gets. Once treated it takes a while for the colony to grow back. I would recommend using laundry bleach (sodium hydrochloride), not the "new" pool chlorine compounds (amines). A quart of bleach is likely all the well needs,. Obviously your well has a different amount of bacteria then mine. Twice a year sounds like a reasonable schedule.

"We had the ozone generator that was installed by the previous owner. Not very effective, but then again it was really small"

A small ozone generator, especially without a large holding tank is not going to treat a well system. Also ozone effects plumbing parts.

Personally I have (2) large UV lamps (75 watts each bulb), with a delay system which delays the well pump's turn on for 10 seconds while the UV lamp warm up, the lamp turn off when the system pressure switch turns off the pump. This keeps the lamps from heating the water unreasonably and saves on the lamp wattage used.

I have (2) Katalox light ( 10x54" tanks), and (2) activated charcoal filters (10x34" tanks), an aeration tank (16x60" tank), along with a >$2000 pre filter I got off Ebay, for the ferric iron ( and slime ), for about $300, and lastly (2) 20" stainless after-filters. Tested the water a couple of weeks ago, zero iron. Just cleaned out the pre filter after just 4 months of use, to see how much iron it was catching, I estimate the filter removed about a pound of ferric iron. Tested the output, zero iron, in either ferric or ferrous form,

Check out Katalox light for ferrous iron ( and heavy metals removal) removal.

Water Treatment Company, Iron and Manganese Removal from Water

Watch Water is a leading water treatment company having 35 years of experience in iron and manganese removal from water. Visit us today!

watchwater.com

 

[RoninB4]

I've been on a well for the last 7 years and went through installing a water filtration system after doing a lot of reading. I had the water tested at one of the few labs in the area within driving distance. I also have a lot of iron in my water as evidenced by fixture staining and all the usual symptoms expected. There's a lot of hype and snake oil being pushed in the marketplace for those that just want clean and healthy water. A lot of the highly touted systems either don't work as promised, lead to expensive contractual maintenance visits, or are marginal in beneficially treating the water. Be aware, research your water.

The constant presence of chlorine is supposed to be unhealthy and that's about all I have to say about that. I do use laundry chlorine to shock my well and then run the water out until it becomes clear again in a clean 5 gallon bucket. I estimated that I used about 300 gallons last time, need to do this again as stains are beginning to show up again. Everybody has different water and what works for me might not work for my neighbor. Test your water at a lab (test strips are often inconclusive or inaccurate) and relying on a big national company might just be money wasted.

 

[mepstein]

I've had a water softener on our well for the last 28 years. It's a pretty simple Culligen unit that was installed by a local guy. He maintenance it once and then replaced it with a new unit about 5 years ago. The newer unit uses less salt. The first install was about $800 and the second unit was about $1200 installed. I use the salt with iron out. With the water softener, the water is delicious. Without it, it's almost undrinkable and stains everything. My wife is very picky and she can easily tell if the salt is running out. Other than salt every couple months, we don't touch the system.
If you shock your well with chlorine and are on septic, run the water outside, not through the septic system.

 

[Semi-hole mechanic]

Grew up in Central Illinois with deep wells that tapped into the Mahomet River Aquifer, which is very high in iron, Dad just used an iron fighter salt in the water softener. Mom’s washer r’s tub was stained orange and Dad and I sometimes had orange underwear and socks because it always seemed like when the softener ran out of salt was when Mom washed whites. (It may have been on purpose.)

 

[58Yeoman]

We have a water softener and use a water softener cleaner about every four months to clean the tank. We still get some iron in the main bathroom toilet, so I use Iron Out tablets in there. Use Iron salt in the tank also.

 

[bob15]

I've used a water softener for 19 years. I replaced in the resin once (was super easy to do). I also have a 20" whole house filter before the softener. No iron issues.

Any reason you didn't use a softener as it is a proven tool to combat hard water?

 

[gsmith22]

OP, you have gotten some okay info but frankly, you would be better served asking your questions here: https://terrylove.com/forums/index.php?forums/water-softener-forum-questions-and-answers.22/

iron can be quite difficult to deal with in small quantities; your 10ppm is insanely high. add in the iron bacteria and you get a mess on your hands. Other than periodically shocking the well to get rid of the bacteria, I wouldn't add anything directly to the well on an ongoing basis. some general info I am aware of but by no means would I be considered an expert:
iron comes in two flavors - ferrous iron (iron is dissolved; clear water iron) and ferric iron (iron is already percipitated-rusty particles in water). you want to oxidize all your ferrous iron and turn it into ferric iron and then filter all the rustly percipitate out of the water before distribution through your plumbing system. oxidation can be done by chemcial injection into the water or running water through a media (in a tank like a softener). Common chemical injections to create oxidation of the iron are:
chlorine (bleach)
peroxide (H2O2)
air (oxygen)
after the chemical injection, you flow the water through a contact tank - large container that the water sits in so that time is provided to allow ferrous iron to oxidize. Chlorine may be your best bet. I would be very careful with H2O2 and air injection because both end up causing excess oxygen to be added to the water which feeds the iron bacteria and can inadvertantly worsen the iron bacteria/slime issue. chlroine wouldn't do that.

common media to flow the water through to create oxidation are:
katalox light (current most common recommendation)
greensand (old most common recommendation)
The problem with the medias are that they need very high backwashing flowrates to rebed them and most wells are not capable of the necessary backwash flow rate. the medias will stop working if the backwashing isn't done at a high enough rate.

Its entirely possible you may need to do a combination of things - oxidizing with a chemical, contact tank, and followed by running water through a media to oxidze any remaning iron. iron removal tends to be a trial and error procedure to find what works

Whatever you do, do not use a water softener to remove any iron - it will immediatley overwhelm it with your high value. You didn't mention water hardness so if you also need to soften your water, run the water through the water softener after all the iron has been removed.

you mentioned a calcite tank and greensand medias as being present already. calcite is usually used for raising the pH. iron removal via flowing through a media is genearlly best done at pH above 7 so possibly what they were doing was raising the pH (is your water acidic?) and using the greensand to oxidize the iron. you will need a comprehensive water test to know what else is in your water that affects the best way to remove the iron. ph, hardness, manganesse, sulfer, etc. I would post to the terrylove site I mentioned above and be prepared to provide a comprehensive water test results for best help

 

[pcmeiners]

"The problem with the medias are that they need very high backwashing flowrate"

Katalox light needs 6-7 gpm flow, requires approximately 8 minutes per tank ( with 10x54" tanks), which is a low requirement. It is not an issue with most wells unlike most other medias.

"Its entirely possible you may need to do a combination of things - oxidizing with a chemical, contact tank, and followed by running water through a media to oxidize any remaining iron. iron removal tends to be a trial and error procedure to find what works"

There is no need to chemically oxidize ferrous iron if you have sufficient Katalox light media. Basically all oxidizing agent additives have a bad effect on plumbing and the human body. Katalox adds no chemicals to drinking water, it is catalyst coating on zeolite .

As to medium-high iron content, agree it is rough to remedy. I have a very large filter such as linked, purchased new they cost but will filter out high amounts, with filter balls similar as linked...

Pardon Our Interruption...

Pardon Our Interruption...

XtremepowerUS 700g Sand Filter Ball​

"Whatever you do, do not use a water softener to remove any iron - it will immediately overwhelm it with your high value."

Agree, not only will iron overwhelms the filter but softening water with salt also pollutes the environment with approximately 500 pounds of salt per year and adds sodium to the drinking water, unless potassium chloride is used.

 

[rzims]

Thank you everyone for your input. The new systems seems to be working although I'm probably going to shock the well with the goal of knocking down the iron buildup in the well pump and casing....

 

[kj_mustang]

New drilled well 8+ years ago. Tested water then and it was .05 mg/L level for Iron and .118 mg/L for Manganese and a hardness rating of 15 which is high. Manganese bacteria is the main culprit for brown/black staining of toilets in mine. I run a whole house cartridge filter then a Katalox Light media tank with a Fleck 5600 air injecting controller and then a water softener.

 

[jives]

Late to the party because I wanted to have an evaluation of a new iron bacteria mitigation system we had put in place. From way back we had a pellet chlorinator installed over the well, water came into the house chlorinated and then the chlorine removed with charcoal filter. The chlorinator was fickle and expensive to run. After about a year of not having it work, and the iron bacteria slime building up and smelling, we finally got a new system. A greensand system with a UV sterilizer. About $2500 installed. It has taken a couple of weeks for gunk to flush out of the system (rust and ?? I've been cleaning out of faucet strainers), but it is looking good now. Water tastes fine, no smell. The well still has bacteria, but until the pump fails . . . I'm good.

BTW, having iron bacteria and having iron are not the same.

 

[66HertzClone]

The home I lived in prior to my divorce had a well with extremely high iron content. The 90 degree elbow that connected the well to the pressure tank failed several times, it was just eaten through by the corrosive effects of the water. I did kind of smile when I heard it happened while my X was away for the weekend shortly after I was out of there.