Those of you with experince on well water: can you help, please?

[buttercup]

Just moved to a farm, there is a well. I am a city person and have always lived in under 1000 sq feet, to give you an idea of my "expertise". We could tell just on visual inspection that there is major iron in that water because everything was stained: toilets, a beautiful farmhouse double sink (sob). We paid a couple of hundred dollars for the water to be tested by a lab, also because the house has not been lived in in about 10 years. It came back fine, they did not flag the iron levels at all (!!, perhaps because it is not a health issue?), the only comment from our inspector was that there is the presence of arsenic in the water: in his view it was minimal and very common in rural areas such as ours.

That said, now we and my kids drink this water full time. I think I can taste the iron, but it doesn't bother me frankly. But my new sinks and toilets are starting to form ever so slight lines (easily removed via cleaning with Bona*, thank goodness). I also want to buy a new washer/dryer machine and apparently iron affects applipances. I mainly want the iron out for these mainly aesthetic reasons, and also the arsenic obviously.

is there a filter system that would take care of both these problems for me, while not affecting the quality of the water otherwise? Do I need a softener AND a filter? Whole house or faucet? the solution may need to be implemented in stages because I am not willing to spend more than about 1K on this issue this year. Also, can I just say, I have such a mental block about adding salts/chemical (which is how I understand a "softener to work) to the water that comes out of the earth? They just bind the stuff and flush it out right? I am not removing a chemical and adding another? Sorry, i did say i have no expertise on this! Perhaps I will shell out for ANOTHER water test after I install whatever you tell me to install... Very many thanks if you read all this. Life was easier in the city in many ways!
*Edited: Not Bona, but some white porcelain cleaner whose name escapes.

[psimpson3-5]

If you can bear with me awhile, I can help you. DH works for a company that produces well pumps, water softeners, etc. I will talk to him and get you some advice.

[arivecchi]

We have a well and the same staining issues. Re cleaning, I just buy the detergents that my cleaning lady asks for to deal with that. I can get the names when I'm home.

Re testing. Our county offerr a free service to have our water tested. Maybe yours does too? You can get a whole house filter but that will be several thousand dollars. We have a water filter system in our sink so we use the filtered water for drinking and cooking. We actually also have a filtering jar for our drinking water. We also have a water softener.

[nfowife]

If the water is hard from minerals you will want to get a water softener. It uses salt to treat the minerals in the water so there is not mineral buildup in the water that can stain and ruin appliances and pipes. You can also get a reverse osmosis System that may remove the arsenic and iron, though I don't have experience with that.

[buttercup]

You can get a whole house filter but that will be several thousand dollars.

yes, this is what I am trying to avoid. i think it's overkill, since the water test did not reveal any major issues. i am leaning towards softener downstairs and a filter for the faucet. Which one do you have?

[arivecchi]

This is the one we have:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002XISS2Y/ref=wms_ohs_product?ie=UTF8&psc=1

We also thought the whole house one was overkill.

[JElaineB]

I have lived in two different rural houses with wells and both had iron in the water. The first issue you need to determine is what kind of iron is it? Is it inorganic (meaning dissolved iron in the water) or is it an iron-containing bacteria? Both are harmless health-wise but the best way to deal with them is not necessarily the same.

In our first house we lived in for 9 years, we had a fairly simple whole house water filter from the home improvement store that did a pretty good job of getting rid of the iron. It was not a lot of money, maybe $100 plus $3 each or so for the filters. Now, the filters had to be changed more freuqently than recommended, about once a month. It is possible a water softener would have taken care of it as well, but my husband hates soft water so we have never used one.

In our current house we've lived in for 5 years, we have iron-containing bacteria and that is a much bigger pain to deal with. Bacteria are too small to be trapped by usual water filters, so what we did was install a system that injects hydrogen peroxide into the water to kill the bacteria. Unfortunately this means occassionally we get gushes of rusty colored water coming out of the faucets on occassion, but it's not too bad. Before he got the hydrogen peroxide system my husband used to shock the well with chlorine about once every six months. I would avoid that route if possible. I don't know if a water softener would take care of iron-containing bacteria or not. We are also considering a reverse osmosis system at some point, but I have to do a lot more research on that.

All that said, I didn't/don't drink the water from either house too much, though really it would be fine if I did. The grocery stores here sell in-store RO purified city water for about 29-37 cents/gallon, so we just buy about 12-14 gallons a week for drinking and cooking. I just prefer to do that, so I don't have to worry about getting the well tested each year, as both houses were located immediately adjacent to agricultural land.

[123LuckyMom]

Our town water, which is also unfluoridated, has iron. It's a b*tch to clean! We looked into whole house systems like water softeners. The companies that make the systems swore up and down they would work. The town told us they would not, and we spoke to multiple people who had installed them anyway, and they concurred that they did not work. I don't understand why, because our Brita filters work fine. We use a big Brita pitcher in the fridge for drinking water. Otherwise, we use the staining water. It cleans easily out of the toilets with the regular chemicals we use in there (Lysol toilet cleaner, I think.) we don't like to use chemicals in the rest of the house, though. We use vinegar, mostly, and it does an okay job if you clean OFTEN! When we let things go for more than a few days, we have to use soft scrub with a grout brush on the tile. The bathroom sinks do fine with vinegar, but the kitchen sink needs the soft scrub and significant elbow grease. Our clothes washer and dish washer have been fine, but I also use vinegar in them regularly. I'm going to follow this thread with great interest, because I'd LOVE to find a way not to have staining water! I would certainly pay a few thousand for a whole house system if I could find one that would work. We're about to renovate and build an addition, and I'd love not to have to make everything beige so I don't have to clean daily!!!

[liz]

We have a well in our fairly new house. We have had our water tested a few times and our well water contains minerals, iron and arsenic as you mentioned. None of the levels are too high and was determined safe to drink. We have issues with everything turning green (toilets, faucets, shower) so we installed a 400$ water softener we bought at Lowes. We use the huge bags of "iron out" salts and we have dramatically reduced the amount of staining. I think the water softener will also helps reduce any build up in the pipes.

We use a Brita filter pitcher for drinking water (because it tastes better to us) but use tap water for cooking etc. hth.

[dogmom]

We have a well in our fairly new house. We have had our water tested a few times and our well water contains minerals, iron and arsenic as you mentioned. None of the levels are too high and was determined safe to drink. We have issues with everything turning green (toilets, faucets, shower) so we installed a 400$ water softener we bought at Lowes. We use the huge bags of "iron out" salts and we have dramatically reduced the amount of staining. I think the water softener will also helps reduce any build up in the pipes.

We use a Brita filter pitcher for drinking water (because it tastes better to us) but use tap water for cooking etc. hth.

Did you get a pH level? I am used to blue/green stains being from acidic water leaching copper from the pipes and needs to be treated with an acid neutralizing since it can cause pin hole leaks in copper pipes.

[psimpson3-5]

You can get a water softener to remove the iron the in the water. The water softener will replace the iron with sodium (salt) and no other chemicals. You can also get a water filter called Birm that would be installed next to your water pressure tank just as the water softener would be. Please note that Birm requires that the Ph be 7.0 or higher. There are a couple other ways to get rid of the iron, but these are the 2 most common.

In regards to the arsenic, the best course of action is to get a reverse osmosis system. You could get a whole house filter, but DH states that it is very pricey. The reverse osmosis system would require that you address the iron in the water first however.

Lastly, DH's company gives free water tests. It doesn't obligate you to buy anything as his company sells to plumbing distributors. The company does it as a courtesy bc it helps the plumbing distributors sell pumps to plumbers for potential customers. If you are in his company's business region, he's happy to help. What state are you in?

[squimp]

You say you're on a farm, the arsenic could be coming from pesticides old or new, or it could be from a natural source. Do you remember the concentration? We live in an area where we test for arsenic, I am of the opinion that the best level is non-detectible for arsenic. If the arsenic concentrations are relatively low, in your situation I'd get a softener and then an under-tap filter for drinking and cooking. Arsenic is concentrated in boiling, so I'd want to ensure I removed it from the cooking water.
http://www.state.nj.us/dep/dsr/arsenic/guide.htm#7

University extension and your state department of environmental protection would be another source of information.

[buttercup]

You can get a water softener to remove the iron the in the water. The water softener will replace the iron with sodium (salt) and no other chemicals. You can also get a water filter called Birm that would be installed next to your water pressure tank just as the water softener would be. Please note that Birm requires that the Ph be 7.0 or higher. There are a couple other ways to get rid of the iron, but these are the 2 most common.

In regards to the arsenic, the best course of action is to get a reverse osmosis system. You could get a whole house filter, but DH states that it is very pricey. The reverse osmosis system would require that you address the iron in the water first however.

Lastly, DH's company gives free water tests. It doesn't obligate you to buy anything as his company sells to plumbing distributors. The company does it as a courtesy bc it helps the plumbing distributors sell pumps to plumbers for potential customers. If you are in his company's business region, he's happy to help. What state are you in?
This is so helpful, and so very nice of you. I will PM you.

[buttercup]

You say you're on a farm, the arsenic could be coming from pesticides old or new, or it could be from a natural source. Do you remember the concentration? We live in an area where we test for arsenic, I am of the opinion that the best level is non-detectible for arsenic. If the arsenic concentrations are relatively low, in your situation I'd get a softener and then an under-tap filter for drinking and cooking. Arsenic is concentrated in boiling, so I'd want to ensure I removed it from the cooking water.
http://www.state.nj.us/dep/dsr/arsenic/guide.htm#7

University extension and your state department of environmental protection would be another source of information.

This property as far as we can tell was never an industrial scale farm. Some small scale chicken-farming, an orchard, etc. Turned weekend home, turned uninhabited for 10 years. I recall in the water test, there was another measure of an indicator that would point to ag waste, and that particula indicator was "not detected". I will dig up the report and answer your other question. This has been so helpful. I am leaning towards a softener for the house and a reverse osmosis for under the sink.

[arivecchi]

This thread might be helpful:

http://windsorpeak.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?430546-If-you-have-a-private-well&highlight=water

[liz]

Did you get a pH level? I am used to blue/green stains being from acidic water leaching copper from the pipes and needs to be treated with an acid neutralizing since it can cause pin hole leaks in copper pipes.

good question. I know we did, but this was years ago so I can't remember the values. All I know is that we have "hard" water and lots of minerals. Some were high (iron for sure, magnesium too?), but not exceedingly high. It would make sense if our water has a low pH too. All I know is that using the iron salts in our water softener has significantly lessened the "green" effect on our shower heads, toilets etc as well as getting rid of the white lime deposits. The only time I see the green tinge on our shower or tub is when DH gets lazy and doesn't clean them often enough :irked:. We do have copper pipes in our house, but we have had our plumber here for other issues (he also installed our water softener) and he has never mentioned anything to us about possible damage on the pipes. But then again, I realize that this may not be his specialty.

We moved into this house when it was only a few years old and already the shower heads, faucets and sink/tub/showers looked rough. Getting the water softener has had amazing effects for us.