Well Water Products
The following product considerations are mainly for people who have a private
well. The various systems shown below are specific for the various problems
which can occur with well water. In some cases, more than one of the following
systems is required to solve a particular set of problems. Click
here to go to a page which discusses these potential problems and suggests
systems to address them.
Products Most Often Used to Treat Well Water
- Primarily used to remove water "hardness" including calcium
and magnesium. Can also be used with certain types of iron.
- Usually recommended by us when hardness value is 9-10 grains/gallon or
more
- A good softener will improve the performance of soaps and shampoos, reduce
scaling of shower and bath tiles, improve dishwashing, and extend the life
of hot water heaters.
- The softener we favor at this point is made by GE. It is the 268/762 model. We will use
other types in different situations.
- To link to a Specification Sheet on the 268/762 model, click
here.
- Costs of a softener range from about $800-1600 plus tax and installation.
- For more detailed information about softeners, click
here.
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- Used most often in a smaller house or cabin to remove relatively
low levels of iron.
- This unit is a wall-mounted triple filter housing with a sediment
prefilter followed by two cartridges that work together to remove
the iron.
- Unit measures approximately 24" tall, 30" wide, 10"
deep.
- Costs of a cartridge-type iron filter are about $650 plus tax and installation.
- Cartridges are usually changed out once per year but this depends
on the level of iron and amount of water used by the household.
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- This system is capable of removing fairly high levels of iron and manganese
- Also able to remove moderate levels of hydrogen sulfide
- This system should be sized according to the size of the house, level of iron, and
number of water-using fixtures in the house.
- Typically consists of two tanks about 12" in diameter by
about 5' high. The well water is aerated prior to the pressure tank, it then flows to
a small retention tank, and then to the final filter tank.
- Costs of a Chem Free Iron Filter range from about $1200-1600 plus tax and installation.
- Maintenance on this system consists of approximately once-per-year filling up of the filter
tank and testing of the air injection device.
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- This system is capable of removing moderate levels of iron, manganese, and hydrogen sulfide.
It is also perfectly suited for raising the pH and addressing bacteria problems at the same time.
- This system should be sized according to the size of the house, level of iron, and
number of water-using fixtures in the house.
- Typically consists of a chemical feed pump which injects a chlorine solution (and a potassium carbonate
solution if necessary) into the line prior to the pressure tank. The water is then retained in a large
pressurized tank before flowing to a final carbon backwashing filter.
- Costs of this system range from about $1600-2500 plus tax and installation.
- If any type of sprinkler or drip system comes off the well line before the house, some
additional components will be required.
- This system requires attention to the level of chemical solution and periodic mixing of the
solution, perhaps once every month or two.
- Once-per-year, the chemical pump will need some simple maintenance and about once every five
years, the GAC bed will need replacing.
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- This system is designed to raise the pH in situations where there
may be some copper corrosion occuring
- This system consists of a chemical feed pump which injects a potassium
carbonate solution into the line prior to the pressure tank.
- We prefer this approach over the use of a calcite tank for several
reasons:
- A calcite filter adds hardness to the finished water
- Frequently a calcite filter will not adequately raise the pH
- Once it is dialed in, we can adjust the pH precisely
- Costs of a Chemical Feed Neutralizing System range from about $700-900
plus tax and installation.
- This system requires attention to the level of chemical solution
and periodic mixing of the solution, perhaps once every month or two.
- Once-per-year, the chemical pump will need some simple maintenance.
- Click here to read about maintenance
procedures for feed pumps
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- This system addresses bacteria and well comtamination problems.
Indicated when a well fails a potability test.
- This system will deal with coliform bacteria, fecal coliforms, e.
coli, parasitic cysts like giardia and cryptosporidium and most viruses.
- It basically consists of a 5-micron prefilter followed by a stainless
steel chamber in which ultraviolet light is shining.
- Once-per-year, the UV lamp will need to be changed, the UV sleeve
cleaned, and the prefilter cartridge changed out.
- Click here for more information on ultraviolet
maintenance.
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- This system addresses high radon levels in the water. It will also secondarily correct
most low pH situations and those rare situations when there is "carbonation" in the water
- This system consists of a prefilter then a large aeration tank followed by a
repressurization pump. In some cases, when there are low levels of iron or manganese
we need to place a postfilter on the system.
- The Clearadon unit, the one we install the most of, will remove about 99% of the radon.
Click here to go to their website
- There are some installation requirements - first, a 4-inch PVC pipe needs to be placed
to vent the radon outside; secondly, a dedicated 115volt, 20amp duplex needs to be placed;
and lastly you need the floor space.
- One consideration with these systems is that the unit makes some noise while it is aerating
the water.
- Once-per-year maintenance should include sanitizing the tank, switching solinoid leads,
and changing out the prefilter cartridge. We also recommend that you test raw and finished water radon levels on a
periodic basis to ensure that the system is performing as designed.
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- This system addresses high hardness and high TDS for the whole house.
- We recommend this type of unit rarely due to its expense; however, there are times
when it is definitely the treatment of choice. A recent project dealt with a raw water
fluoride level of 12 mg/L. This level of fluoride was causing symptoms from simply bathing
in the water. Another project addressed a situation in which the TDS was over 4000mg/L.
- As an overview, the water is typically pretreated, then goes to the RO unit, goes through
a remineralizing tank then is stored in a holding tank or cistern. From here the water is
repressurized, goes through a final ultraviolet treatment then to the house.
- Maintenance includes filter changes, periodic membrane cleaning or replacement,
UV maintenance, and pretreatment system service.
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Early in the planning or building process, if you are unsure as to your well water quality,
you should make sure that:
- the space is available for a system,
- the plumber knows that you will want the outside hose bibs and sprinkler
system to bypass the treatment system,
- if you are leaning toward purchasing any type of backwashing filter like
a softener, access is available to a floor drain or standpipe for the backwash
discharge, and an electrical outlet is nearby.
Get us involved sooner rather than later. All too often we are called into a project after it is
complete and the owners discover a problem with
their water. You will save money and hassle if you contact us early in the process.
If you are drilling a new well, find out from neighbors what kinds of problems
with the water they have encountered. There is no guarantee that your water
will be similar but it usually is. Then you can plan your mechanical space
accordingly.
Regarding testing your new well, make sure you run a lot of water through
it before bothering to test it, we suggest several thousand gallons over a
period of months. Often the water used during construction will help the well
to "break in". Only then does it make sense to test the water.
Click here to see our recommendations for
testing well water.
Plan for a drinking water system as well. Early on is a good time to consider
whether you want drinking water at other locations than the kitchen sink.
Early on in construction, it is usually possible to run lines from the main
drinking water purification system which might be located in a mechanical
space to master bathrooms, kid's bathroom, wet bar, refrigerator, etc. You
then get the efficiency of a single drinking water treatment unit instead
needing multiple units. In well water situations the most likely drinking
water unit you will need is a reverse osmosis unit. Click
here for more info on available units.
If you are interested in placing equipment in an existing home:
Similar to the above, the considerations are:
- Space is available for a system
- There is access to a floor drain or a standpipe for running the backwash
water
- There is a duplex 110v outlet nearby where you wish to place the equipment
- Ideally there is a way to cut into your household water supply line after
any connections for hose bibs and sprinkler system
- The system can be installed by us or by your plumber - we will work with
the plumber to ensure that the equipment is properly installed
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