Whole house iron filter

[newbie22]

I just bought a house with lots of iron in the water. The well was drilled 17 years ago with good water which did not require any kind of filtration. Starting about 5 years ago, well water starting to have high iron content and cause rusty orange stain in plumbing fixtures. Previous owner had a Sanitizer water filter installed 3 years ago by the well guy that costs over $3k but was not happy with the system. He didn't know anything about the system other than what stated on the invoice he paid that says "Sanitizer water filter". It failed numerous times and required $200 service call each time and finally dumped everything last year and put in a $50 whole house omnifilter from tractorsupply. He said it didn't remove all the iron but it was very reliable with no problem at all. He just live with the iron stain in the toilet. Here's some info:

Well has 5gpm pump into a 5000gal storage tank.
Another pump inside the storage tank provide pressure to the house.
Well Water test results:
FE 15ppm
PH 7.1
HARDNESS 6
TDS 135

The water looks like very light tea color. After a few minutes, I can see rusty particles settle to the bottom. Bottom of toilet tank has lots of orange/rusty particles. Not very hard to clean. Came off by spray water and light brushing. Does not require any chemical to clean.

Also test water after the omni whole house filter, the iron content is 4ppm. Booster pump was set about 1 foot from bottom of tank. I believe most of the iron had settle to the bottom of the storage tank. Previous owner drain and clean tank once a year and ususally got about 4 inches of iron particales at the bottom of the storage tank. I want somehting to filter all the iron out of the water. If it can be filter before entering the storage tank, that's great. If not, just filter before going into the house would be fine with me. Previous owner don't recommend calling the same well guy back. I've been reading on google search that Birm iron filter is effective for iron removal and little maintenance. There are many model of Birm filter out there cost between $500 to $1000+. Which brand/model Birm iron filter should I buy? Is there something else better than Birm filters? Thanks for your help.

[Andy CWS]

You have MASSIVE iron, hard water and low TDS.

The iron coming from the well is ferrous and it becomes oxidized in the holding tank and precipitates as ferric iron. The tank is removing (converting) a major portion of the iron that is coming in the house, but not completely.

A softener either before or after the tank should remove the iron. If placed before, it would need to be quite large with a high salt dosage. I prefer twin-tank set-ups with that much iron.

If you want to remove iron only, not to impressed with birm. You'll need at least 15% dissolved oxiygen. A greensand filter may be better but you'll need adequate flow rate for backwashing. Sometiems a combination of systems may be required.

Consider and RO for drinking water.
Andy Christensen, CWS-II

[newbie22]

Thanks for the quick reply. This may be a dumb question? What is this really mean for someone knows nothing about water quality?

-----You have MASSIVE iron, hard water and low TDS.---
I understand the massive iron.
How hard is my water? What does my water HARDNESS = 6 really mean? What's an ideal number?
Is low TDS good or bad? What should the TDS be?

Thanks.

[Andy CWS]

Sorry, Of course I should have explained more. Everything is relative.

Accordinging to the Water Quality Asscociation, 1 or fewer grains is soft water, 3.5-7 is hard and over 10.5 considered extremely hard water. HArd water has a mulitude reactions that can be costly, inconvenient and bothersome. 6 gpg is not terrible but removing would not be difficult and the benefits would follow.

Iron is rated in ppm and anything more than 0.2 ppm will begin to show stains and other problems. You are at 15(!) ppm. That is devastating and in need of both immediate and effective treatment if those numbers are even remotely accurate.

TDS (total dissovles solids) is, basically, anyhting that is in your water that is not water of an inoraganic nature (metals, minerals, salts). Oils, sugars, organisms are not included here and must be tested and treated differently in most cases. WQA recommneds 50 ppm or below to be ideal for drinking water and over 500 ppm to be the maximum contanination level. Over that level doesn't indicate a health concern but more of an aesthetic (coffee, tea, etc) concerns. Both hard and softened water have TDS, with softened water actually increased levels.

This is on only 4 ppm iron.



Did that help?
Andy Christensen, CWS-II

[newbie22]

Andy, Yes very helpful. Thank you so much for explaining. What do you think would be a solution for my situation? Right now, it's using an Omni Filter Model BF7 with rust and sediment filter. I live there just over a month. The plumbing fixtures certainly don't look like that. So far, all plumbing fixtures look norma except inside the toilet tank I can see small amount of rusty sediment at the bottom. It goes away almost completely with light brushing and flush. How long does it take for the iron to build up like your picture with 4ppm?
I also question my water test result (provided by the well guy). How can I get an accurate test? Can I use the iron test kits sold at your website and do the test myself or I should collect water samples and find a lab to perform the testing? Thanks again.