woodmanbg

For those of you relying on a well for your water could you give me some idea of how long your filters are lasting for and what type you are using. There is a GE water filter installed on our system.

We had dreadful problems not long after we moved in with water pressure dropping (sign of filter at end of life??), changed filter water pressure improved. Week later pressure down. To cut a long story short we bit the bullet and installed new water tank, stood back turned taps on still no better. Didnt think it could be the filter as it was only changed week before, but changed filter and bingo water flowing beautifully.

Now our only problem seems to be that the filters are not lasting as long as they should. The last filter lasted three weeks and then water pressure started going down. Surely this cannot be right, or are we just using more water than we think we are?

Any advice would be helpful, is there anywhere else to buy the filters in bulk, costing a fortune through The Home Depot! Thanks

iaink

We have 10µ carbon filters to weed out the largest particulates before they hit the UV and water softener. They last at least 6 months, sometimes longer before we get a noticable drop in throughput. We buy them from a local water treatment specialist firm...I forget what we pay.

We started off using 2µ or something and they clogged very fast. It sounds like you might need a prefilter to protect the finer filter from the larger crap. We have just one in-line filter, but friends of ours have as many as three before the UV.

What size filter is it you are getting through so fast?

Atlantic Xpat

Are you sure it's your filtration system and not the well performance itself? Can you remove the filter competely and still run the system? If so do you still get the full pressure?

We don't have any filtration other than a water softener because our water is pretty clean anyway. Our pressure issues are to do with low yield at the well which is a much bigger problem to fix!

MB-Realtor

In a previous existence I used to own a Water Purification Company.

If you have heavy particulates in your water have a 25 micron "spin down" filter installed as the first item in the chain. This is a course metal filter that literally spins the solids down to a holding area that you can drain as needed. These filters are economical as they last for years, but are a bit labour intensive as you have to empty them.

Then comes your iron filter (if needed) and water softener, the water quality should be good enough for washing etc., then if I were you I would fit individual filters for drinking water, provided the filters are 1 micron absolute (the absolute is important) this will remove any parasites from the water, to be doubly sure you can add UV sterilization as well and kill bacteria and viruses. Or you can put a larger UV filter on after the softener. Remember to change the UV light every 12 months.

woodmanbg

When we first arrived there was a filter in that looked like a bird's metal seed cage - no idea what it was. There was a distinct lack of any details left for us on any equipment and we have had to battle our way through the internet to find manuals etc. On complaining to the vendors we did get some paperwork for the cooker and another filter similar to that already being used in the system. To be honest there was no details about it at all so we tried our best by starting off with a FXWTC 5 micron filter from Home Depot which seemed to indicate it should extract most of what we would want extracted.

That seemed to work ok to start with, we even had visitors over Christmas so the usage was higher than normal. Just after christmas it started going right down hill but picked up after we changed filter. Anyway after all the other troubles we experienced, hence changing the water tank, we have now bought a FXWSC 10 micron filter. Only trouble with that is that the diameter of the centre hole seems a little bigger so we hope it is serving some purpose and not letting everything through.

When we by-passed the filter the pressure from the well was fine. We think one of our original problems with the old tank was the internal diaphragm collapsing in on itself, over the inlet hole.

Perhaps it would help us to put another filter system in as you suggest before the final filter.

What sort of water softener system are you using? OH has been doing loads of research and cannot come up with anything he feels we could use without upsetting the septic tank. I know you are on a septic system, it must obviously be ok for your softener system.

Thanks Iaink. Printed off your comments in a much earlier posting re looking after your septic system and what you can and cannot put down the hole! Found it very helpful.

woodmanbg

No as I mentioned in reply to iaink, we have no problems with the supply from the well, in fact it is very good. Changed to a 10 micron filter yesterday, will see how long that lasts.

dbd33

Oh!

We have a well and an electric pump. I suppose there's some sort of filter in the cylinder over the pump but it had never crossed my mind that it might need something doing to it. I'll fret about that.

Greenhill

I have only UV on mine. I am also at least 4 times healthier than I was in the UK.

Good question: Does anyone know how to adjust the pressure switch? Mine seems to trip out sometimes when two taps (without flow control) are turned on at the same time.

It looks like it has two screws for adjustment, but I've not yet seen anything on the web or met anyone who knows how to properly calibrate the thing.

woodmanbg

I presume the UV mentioned a couple of times now is to kill the bugs? We dont have anything that sophisticated on our system just the one filter. We have been drinking the water from the fridge dispenser and also straight from the tap and from a Brita filter jug brought over from the UK (necessary to keep the kettle working and it does an amazing job) and so far are all fit and healthy but am now getting worried that we have maybe just been lucky at not getting any bugs

Greenhill

Some sales blurb from this site reads:

"effectively kills bacteria, viruses, mold spores, fungi, oocysts (cryptospridium and giardia), and other microbiological contaminants"

iaink

If your well is consistently testing 0/0 then UV is unnecessary, although I suppose its insurance against contamination / run off. We live with a cow pasture behind our house and have had run off problems occasionaly, the UV fixed that. Hopefully you are testing your water regularly through the health unit..its a free service and provides peace of mind. Having said that we dont do it all that often now that we have a level of confidence in our system.

Our water softener is a regular Sears / Kenmore type. I dont know if its significant on not but we actually have a dual septic system, with a live tank for the nasty stuff that needs digesting, and another system altogether for the grey water from the laundry, bath and the regeneration water from the softener. The effect on the septic isnt something that ever occured to me, but I would think a healthy septic system should be able to cope with the salt water discharge if you only have the one tank, but I dont really know. I suppose the danger is in flushing it completely with that relatively large volume of water.

My pressure switch for the well pump basically has a high and low cut off screw. By trial and error we have it set to cut off when the tank pressure is ~80PSI, and to start to pump once its below ~20PSI. If you are running a lot of taps at once, then the pump will cycle a lot more frequently, but I dont see why it would cut out unless you are running the tank dry and the pump is one of those older non self priming unsubmerged ones that would need priming if that happened?

Water logged pressure tanks are not uncommon and can lead to problems with excessive cycling. The tank works by filling against an air filled rubber bladder. As the bladder can lose air, which is then dissolved in the water, you end up with a tank full of water alone with little or no air to push against to provide the pressure for the system (what with liquids being uncompressable) There is usually a schrader valve (like a car valve) somewhere on the tank you can pump air through to refill the bladder and get a more normal cycle rate going again.

Some older cheaper tanks dont even have the bladder, the air is contained by the tank alone. These tend to be worse still as the air can dissolve in the water and they will need more frequent air fills...and also air + water + tank = rust

MB-Realtor

UV sterilizers are flow rated (10, 20, 30, gallons per minute etc), your is too small to run two taps at once so the alarm goes off telling you that sterilization is compromised. Either don't run two taps at once or get a bigger UV.

AlexInBC

Thank goodness you posted this. I thought we were the only ones drinking untreated well water Oh well, we're still alive!

iaink

...you are also living in the middle of a pristine wilderness arent you

Some of us arent that lucky!

ladymoose

We use the well-water for cooking, washing us and clothes etc - no problems with pressure or water quality until recently when we've started to get some rust - I think its from the hot water tank rather than from source however - so we plan to change that out asap (its the original to the house 1977).

No filters as far as I know anywhere - stupid question, but what do they look like? Big like the heating system filters or small? Where do they go - in the water tank or the pump thingie that receives the water from the well? I know we don't have any water softeners or UV bits to the process.

Rather than test all the time, we get water from the supermarket for drinking fresh (have a cooler so can buy big bottles), but as we use the well water for hot (boiled) drinks and cooking, I guess I should be testing more. How frequently is good? Every 6 months? Yearly? We have no problem with rural contamination - no livestock close by. If we boil the water, does that kill any contaminents.

What a minefield Survived for 3 years by being an ostrich - felt that shouldn't continue. Any comments, greatfully received...