I'm finishing up the installation of a new water heater (Rheem Marathon) and water softener for a 1 BR apartment I have over a free-standing garage. The old propane water heater had rusted out and I did away with the gas and converted to electric. The apartment is on a well and has not been used much at all for the past 6 years and was not used much before we bought the property 10 years ago. It was built in 1999 and has the original pressure tank which is located in the garage and appears to still be in good shape and it still works properly. As far as filtration, it only had a single GE Part# GXWH20F whole house single cartridge sediment filter.
In preparation to use the apartment again, I had the water tested by the county to get current baseline numbers. The water hardness is 49 mg CaCO3/L. Iron is 0.59 mg/L pH is 7.88. All other numbers are within the EPA limits, so I'm not dealing with a lot of problems. I have a company I've dealt with in-state, but 100 miles away, that supplied my equipment for my main house, which is on its own well, and the equipment that they provided has worked very well. So I sent the water test to them and we discussed 2 options....a softener or an AIO filter. After reading up on AIO filters, I decided to go with the softener. The engineer who owns the company said my iron level was low enough that a softener with Iron Fighter salt pellets would work for my situation because of the relatively low iron levels. I will reinstall the GE cartridge filter after the water softener. I have set up a plumbing bypass of the water softener for future maintenance inevitabilities. When the water softener is bypassed, water flows directly from the pressure tank through the GE cartridge filter and then to the house instead of first through the softener.
I have now finished the WH install and the softener install. I wanted to test the water heater to make sure I had no leaks and to make sure it heated up, so I initiated my plumbing bypass of the softener and opened the main valve on the outflow of the pressure tank. Note that the system has not been used at all for about 6 months because I had removed the old leaking propane water heater and had not replaced it until now. When I turned on the water for the first time in 6 months, it flowed through the sediment filter and then out to the apartment and also to the new water heater. All worked as intended but there was a large amount of coarse sediment in the bowl of the cartridge filter (see attached photos). The sediment is shiny....almost like glitter. I know that my well pump is 25' above the bottom of the wellbore and wonder if being that close to the bottom and wondering if it might be sucking up sediment from the bottom of the well. I do not know if the pump has a screen on it but the pump is only 5 years old and has had very, very limited use. The amount of sediment you see in the photos accumulated in the first couple of minutes of turning the water on for the first time in 6 months. I let the water run for 15 minutes and no additional sediment appeared to accumulate in that time. I then turned off the water at the pressure tank, cleaned out the sediment filter, and went through this flushing of the system again. After another 15 minutes of letting the water run through the sediment filter, but still, not yet through the water softener, there was a slight accumulation of that glittery sediment, but nowhere near as much as that first flush of the system. When I was using the apartment in the past, that filter did accumulate the same type of coarse sediment, but it would take several months to accumulate about half the amount seen in the photo. So, I'm not running the water through the softener just yet but I'm planning on it since the metallic-looking sediment is now minimal, but I'm not real comfortable about it. I don't want to ruin my softener resin bed or valve.
I don't know if anyone will have answers to all my questions, but here they are:
1. Why did that sediment accumulate in the first couple of minutes, but it did not increase after that, and why in the past would it take several months to accumulate about half as much as you see in the photos?
2. Should I install a spin-down filter (Atlas Filtri Hydra self-cleaning) for this type and quantity of sediment? Will the sediment screw up the resin bed of the water softener if I don't install a pre-filter?
3. If I installed an Atlas Filtri Hydra self-cleaning spin-down filter before the water softener, would it get plugged up with iron, given the level of iron that I have in my water (0.59 mg/L)?
4. If I install the spin-down filter, should I put it between the well and the pressure tank (inlet side of the pressure tank tee) or between the pressure tank and the softener (outlet side of the pressure tank tee)?
5. And I'm sure hoping the answer to this question is "NO" but is that glittery sediment actually metal filings and is the pump slowly disintegrating?
In preparation to use the apartment again, I had the water tested by the county to get current baseline numbers. The water hardness is 49 mg CaCO3/L. Iron is 0.59 mg/L pH is 7.88. All other numbers are within the EPA limits, so I'm not dealing with a lot of problems. I have a company I've dealt with in-state, but 100 miles away, that supplied my equipment for my main house, which is on its own well, and the equipment that they provided has worked very well. So I sent the water test to them and we discussed 2 options....a softener or an AIO filter. After reading up on AIO filters, I decided to go with the softener. The engineer who owns the company said my iron level was low enough that a softener with Iron Fighter salt pellets would work for my situation because of the relatively low iron levels. I will reinstall the GE cartridge filter after the water softener. I have set up a plumbing bypass of the water softener for future maintenance inevitabilities. When the water softener is bypassed, water flows directly from the pressure tank through the GE cartridge filter and then to the house instead of first through the softener.
I have now finished the WH install and the softener install. I wanted to test the water heater to make sure I had no leaks and to make sure it heated up, so I initiated my plumbing bypass of the softener and opened the main valve on the outflow of the pressure tank. Note that the system has not been used at all for about 6 months because I had removed the old leaking propane water heater and had not replaced it until now. When I turned on the water for the first time in 6 months, it flowed through the sediment filter and then out to the apartment and also to the new water heater. All worked as intended but there was a large amount of coarse sediment in the bowl of the cartridge filter (see attached photos). The sediment is shiny....almost like glitter. I know that my well pump is 25' above the bottom of the wellbore and wonder if being that close to the bottom and wondering if it might be sucking up sediment from the bottom of the well. I do not know if the pump has a screen on it but the pump is only 5 years old and has had very, very limited use. The amount of sediment you see in the photos accumulated in the first couple of minutes of turning the water on for the first time in 6 months. I let the water run for 15 minutes and no additional sediment appeared to accumulate in that time. I then turned off the water at the pressure tank, cleaned out the sediment filter, and went through this flushing of the system again. After another 15 minutes of letting the water run through the sediment filter, but still, not yet through the water softener, there was a slight accumulation of that glittery sediment, but nowhere near as much as that first flush of the system. When I was using the apartment in the past, that filter did accumulate the same type of coarse sediment, but it would take several months to accumulate about half the amount seen in the photo. So, I'm not running the water through the softener just yet but I'm planning on it since the metallic-looking sediment is now minimal, but I'm not real comfortable about it. I don't want to ruin my softener resin bed or valve.
I don't know if anyone will have answers to all my questions, but here they are:
1. Why did that sediment accumulate in the first couple of minutes, but it did not increase after that, and why in the past would it take several months to accumulate about half as much as you see in the photos?
2. Should I install a spin-down filter (Atlas Filtri Hydra self-cleaning) for this type and quantity of sediment? Will the sediment screw up the resin bed of the water softener if I don't install a pre-filter?
3. If I installed an Atlas Filtri Hydra self-cleaning spin-down filter before the water softener, would it get plugged up with iron, given the level of iron that I have in my water (0.59 mg/L)?
4. If I install the spin-down filter, should I put it between the well and the pressure tank (inlet side of the pressure tank tee) or between the pressure tank and the softener (outlet side of the pressure tank tee)?
5. And I'm sure hoping the answer to this question is "NO" but is that glittery sediment actually metal filings and is the pump slowly disintegrating?
