Hi:
We purchased an older home a couple of years ago and now have a problem with a plugged/siezed BIRM iron filter (23 years old). Both my wife and I grew up on city water and know nothing of well systems. I have started to read up on it a bit ... but need some help, please.
My current question deals with identifying and understanding the old, existing system. There are actually two systems in-line. From the well,the water goes into the bound treatment tank ... then it goes into an Ecowater softener (salt). When I bypass the first tank system, everything is happy and I have good pressure from the softener. As such, I know the blockage problem is with the first system.
The first system consists of a single mineral tank with a 12-day timer. I
assumed it was just an iron BIRM filter, as our water has never had a sulfur smell, but now I wonder if it is a greensand system or something else. There are two lines of tubing coming out of the valve body. One is tied into a drain tube and it's clearly for the discharge for the backwash. The other tube just goes into a peanut butter jar on the floor!
The jar is empty, but has a crusty layer of mineral deposits on the bottom of the jar. For the two years that we have lived here, the jar has never been wet. I had always just assumed that the tube going into the jar was a drain for a pressure relief valve, or something like that. However, now I am thinking that the tube is really an intake line for something like potassium permanganate, and not a drain line.
Anyway ... please take a look at the pics. and see if you can tell me some
things like:
A) is it possible to tell what kind of media is likely in the tank?
B) can you tell me what that mystery peanut-butter line is for ? There is
mineral staining (looks like a white salt deposit stain) leaking from the
fitting where the mystery line comes out of (or goes into!???) the tank.
C) what is the model of the valve (a Fleck something, I suppose) so that I
can try to find a service manual to better understand what system I have
... and what system I should get to replace it.
I just had the water tested (in front of any treatment system ... direct
from the well) and here are some of the readings. pH = 6.8, which I read
is borderline for a basic BIRM filter to work with adding oxygen or Calcite or other catalyst ... at least that's my limited understanding right now. Iron = 3.74, Manganese = 0.34, Hardness = 153. I also see the blue-green signs of low pH at the fittings of the mystery line, but not in the house too much. I did have iron bacteria film in the older toilet tank of the main bath, but not in the 1.5-year-old "new" bathroom. ??????
With my pH of 6.8, is it advisable to not just put a plain BIRM filter in front on the Ecowater softener, but rather a system that raises the pH with Calcite or something?
Thanks, so much!
-Scott
We purchased an older home a couple of years ago and now have a problem with a plugged/siezed BIRM iron filter (23 years old). Both my wife and I grew up on city water and know nothing of well systems. I have started to read up on it a bit ... but need some help, please.
My current question deals with identifying and understanding the old, existing system. There are actually two systems in-line. From the well,the water goes into the bound treatment tank ... then it goes into an Ecowater softener (salt). When I bypass the first tank system, everything is happy and I have good pressure from the softener. As such, I know the blockage problem is with the first system.
The first system consists of a single mineral tank with a 12-day timer. I
assumed it was just an iron BIRM filter, as our water has never had a sulfur smell, but now I wonder if it is a greensand system or something else. There are two lines of tubing coming out of the valve body. One is tied into a drain tube and it's clearly for the discharge for the backwash. The other tube just goes into a peanut butter jar on the floor!
The jar is empty, but has a crusty layer of mineral deposits on the bottom of the jar. For the two years that we have lived here, the jar has never been wet. I had always just assumed that the tube going into the jar was a drain for a pressure relief valve, or something like that. However, now I am thinking that the tube is really an intake line for something like potassium permanganate, and not a drain line.
Anyway ... please take a look at the pics. and see if you can tell me some
things like:
A) is it possible to tell what kind of media is likely in the tank?
B) can you tell me what that mystery peanut-butter line is for ? There is
mineral staining (looks like a white salt deposit stain) leaking from the
fitting where the mystery line comes out of (or goes into!???) the tank.
C) what is the model of the valve (a Fleck something, I suppose) so that I
can try to find a service manual to better understand what system I have
... and what system I should get to replace it.
I just had the water tested (in front of any treatment system ... direct
from the well) and here are some of the readings. pH = 6.8, which I read
is borderline for a basic BIRM filter to work with adding oxygen or Calcite or other catalyst ... at least that's my limited understanding right now. Iron = 3.74, Manganese = 0.34, Hardness = 153. I also see the blue-green signs of low pH at the fittings of the mystery line, but not in the house too much. I did have iron bacteria film in the older toilet tank of the main bath, but not in the 1.5-year-old "new" bathroom. ??????
With my pH of 6.8, is it advisable to not just put a plain BIRM filter in front on the Ecowater softener, but rather a system that raises the pH with Calcite or something?
Thanks, so much!
-Scott
