New well, water needs treatment

[kabri]

Hi, just found this forum, hoping to get some advice and opinions on what type of system we should be looking at.

New well drilled recently. Here are the "contaminants" from the lab report:

TDS 1564
Iron .722
Manganese .063
Chloride 764
Sodium 281
Hardness total (as CaCO3) 603
Conductivity 2660
Turbidity 8.7 NTU
Report did not have pH on it, I don't know why but we will get a testing kit and find out soon.

Besides household use, we will be using this water for irrigation of gardens/orchard and for livestock. We will also be off grid, so any water system will be powered via generator and we plan to have large storage capacity built for treated water (cistern)

I"ve been trying to read everything I can, especially on RO, but am wondering if RO system could be smaller (less expensive) if we pre-filter with greensand or softener to remove the iron/manganese first? Your input would be greatly appreciated!
Well is located on Olympic Peninsula in WA if that makes any difference?

[Akpsdvan]

Hi, just found this forum, hoping to get some advice and opinions on what type of system we should be looking at.

New well drilled recently. Here are the "contaminants" from the lab report:

TDS 1564
Iron .722
Manganese .063
Chloride 764
Sodium 281
Hardness total (as CaCO3) 603
Conductivity 2660
Turbidity 8.7 NTU
Report did not have pH on it, I don't know why but we will get a testing kit and find out soon.

Besides household use, we will be using this water for irrigation of gardens/orchard and for livestock. We will also be off grid, so any water system will be powered via generator and we plan to have large storage capacity built for treated water (cistern)

I"ve been trying to read everything I can, especially on RO, but am wondering if RO system could be smaller (less expensive) if we pre-filter with greensand or softener to remove the iron/manganese first? Your input would be greatly appreciated!
Well is located on Olympic Peninsula in WA if that makes any difference?

A softener might pull out the iron and the manganese because the levels are low.
Some thing that you might wish to do if you can do some thing every x number of days is a manual softener valve.
Fleck has a couple that are manual in cycle.. the owner moves the handle to the back wash for x minutes then the brine draw and rinse for x minutes and then the rapid rinse for x minutes and then the brine refill for x minutes.. no power needed save for the power needed to run the well pump.. but one has to put it on the calendar to do with out fail.

An R.O. that I ran years ago did better with the iron and hardness removed and the softener at the max salt setting per cubic foot.

[NH Master]

I agree, that a softener will take care of the iron and manganese. do I understand that you will be treating the water and then dumping it into a cistern for later use? At any rate, unless you have a constant power source for the softener, you will have to do as AK said and keep track of useage manually and run the cycles as you need unless, and Andy will correct me if I'm wrong here, you go with a Kinetico unit that does not need power to operate.

[Akpsdvan]

The Kinetico would not need power to clean , but it would turn the pump on when it started a cleaning cycle and that would be after x gallons.

If the power generator is always running then the well pump could turn on at any time other wise the twin would not have the water to run a cycle if the pump is not getting power.

Manual valve would mean that one would be turning on the pump to fill the tank and also clean the resin say every 4th fill of the tank.

[Andy CWS]

Andy will correct me if I'm wrong here, you go with a Kinetico unit that does not need power to operate.

No electricity, of course. The well must be powered but if that is not working and shuts off, the softener stops at that spot and picks back up as soon as it is turned back on and water can be used immediately regardless. it doesn't miss a beat.

[NH Master]

Score one for Kinetico.

[Andy CWS]

There's no significant negative effect on the control valve if halted in the brining stage. No corrosion, no decay, no pitting, no absorption, no built up, no seal damage, no electronic hang-ups...nothing gets stuck, slows down or runs afoul. Empirical knowledge helps in these matters.

As for the resins, I wouldn't worry about even if it sat for a month. Besides, ALL other softeners would "suffer" the same, right? So no, negative effect in effect, all other things being equal. That would address any negative effect.

Andy Christensen, CWS-II

[Akpsdvan]

What was the op again?

[NH Master]

Seems like you might be agitating here eh....

So since you are so convinced that a few hours is going to destroy the resin, what is your recommendation for the OP?

[Andy CWS]

NHMaster,

Tried to send a PM but your box is full. Maybe later.
Andy

[Andy CWS]

Oh, and I did take some time to call the manufacturer and while they are not recommending that anyone let resin sit in brine for very prolonged periods of time it would have to be a very long time indeed before it became a problem.

NH
I have spoken to a (different?) manufacturer as well and it is clearly reported that leaving resins in brine solution is not only no problem (causing no ill effect) but can be recommended in some circumstances and may prefered over letting the resins sit in partially exhausted resins.

Thanks, otherwise.

[NH Master]

I agree with you there actually. Truth be told I was more wrapped up in finding a way to operate the softener than the rest of the system. Good call.

[husle]

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Thanks