Category Archives: Water Treatment Daily

The Local Dealer

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Your local water treatment company can provide you the exact same professional grade equipment that Water Value carries. They are professionally trained and experts at choosing the correct water treatment equipment for your particular needs. They can install and maintain your equipment as well as test the output of the equipment and make recommendations such as when to replace a filter or media. But it only stands to reason that this type of hands-on expert service is going to cost extra. You will pay more for the same equipment due to the fact that the local dealer will discern your particular needs based on what contaminants are in your water. They will then choose the proper equipment to take care of your needs, they will order it, receive it, assemble it, transport it, install it, program it if need be and in most cases, maintain it. There is a certain amount of work hours in this whole process which costs extra, and rightfully so.

Many local dealers see the Internet as taking potential customers away from them when in fact, nothing could be further from the truth. In reality web site water treatment companies such as Water Value fill a niche in that we provide to the end user the exact same professional grade water treatment equipment without the extra expenses of hands-on delivery, setup, installation and maintenance. If you are capable of handling these relatively simple tasks, then Water Value can save you hundreds if not thousands of dollars in the long run. We do deliver via UPS Ground or R&L Carrier. We do not install but we can help with setup over the phone, and the service manual and online instructions provide all the information you will need to monitor and maintain your water treatment system(s) yourself.

There is a definite need for the local water treatment dealership. For most, it is worth the extra money to have their water treatment needs taken care of for them. But if you are capable of basic plumbing – or can hire a plumber – and filter replacement, then installing and maintaining your own equipment will save money.

Keep in mind that while Water Value provides the same equipment that most local water treatment companies do, we do not know of any of these dealers local to you.

Repairing Water Softeners and Automatic Filters

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We have always maintained an extensive parts and components list of items for the water treatment systems that we sell and support. Often times the breakdown of a component on a control valve is due to age and normal wear and is usually very easy to replace. In some cases, special tools are required for replacing seals and spacers for instance in the Fleck models 9000 and 2510, but for the most part, replacing parts on softener or filter control valves can be performed with common tools.

Repairing your softener or filter system yourself can save you a great deal of expense but it is important to consider other aspects of your softener/filter before repairing. First, consider the age of the system. For example, if your softener is 20+ years old and you have a control valve with worn piston and seals, you will also want to think about the softener’s media. Softener media can have a very long lifespan depending on the conditions of your water and how much water flows through it over the years, but after 20 years or even less, the media becomes worn out. Friction due to the hundreds of regeneration cycles through the years will wear the surface of the resin beads down making them in effective. At that point you should also consider the cost of replacing the resin media and the repair parts you need for your controller. Often times these costs will come close to the cost of an entire new softener.

Another example: You have a greensand filter which is only 5 years old but because of the high iron content of the water, the injector is clogged or wore out and the media is likely in need of changing as well. In this case, changing the injector and the media are less than half the cost of a new filter system, but a close examination of the seals and piston should be done at this time as well. All of these components can be replaced at far less than the cost of replacing the entire system.

We do not recommend repairing a very old system. While the media and parts can be a temporary fix, in the long run you save money and time by investing in a complete new system.

Water Value In Second Life

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Water Value has set up shop in Second Life. Second Life (SL) is a virtual 3D environment where users exist as avatars which can interact with other avatars and the environment around them.

The Water Value Info Center does not have any items for sale, rather it is in place to educate visitors about common water problems and methods and equipment used to treat them. There are some interactive filters, water softeners, reverse osmosis systems and a library with “books” which deal with various treatment methods.
Water Value’s location in SL can be visited using the Second Life viewer and this SLURL http://slurl.com/secondlife/Styll/241/13/2996

Water Value Info Center in Second Life

Reverse Osmosis Components

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While every reverse osmosis (RO) system we carry comes with an owner’s manual which states how often to replace the filters and membranes which the systems use to purify the product’s water, we are often asked how frequently these items should be replaced, so I thought this would be a good time to not only answer that question, but to explain the function of each filter.

The RO’s pre-filter is just that, it pre-filters the water coming into the RO system. It is designed to remove and particles in the water of 5 microns or larger, thus protecting the membrane. In at least a couple of the RO systems we carry, a combination carbon/sediment pre-filter is available. A carbon/sediment pre-filter is a good choice for your RO system if your water contains chlorine. Chlorine can damage a typical RO membrane so unless your water comes from your own private well, a carbon/sediment pre-filter is a good choice. Most manufacturer’s recommend changing this filter every 6 months.

Next is the carbon filter. These filters offer a 2nd layer of protection against chlorine but they also reduce other chemicals which can affect RO membrane performance. The manufacturer’s recommend changing these filters every 8 months.

Next is the RO membrane. In the case of the GE Merlin RO, there are actually two of these membranes. A membrane is technically not a filter at all. In the case of a filter, all water passes through it. An RO membrane does not allow anything but pure water to pass. It rejects contaminants and channels them down the drain. An RO membrane should be changed every 2 to 3 years, but if regular pre-filtration changes were neglected, then the membrane should be changed sooner as it is likely damaged.

Finally there is the carbon post-filter. Not all RO’s have a carbon post-filter. They are generally inline between the membrane and the tank/faucet. These post-filters contain activated carbon and remove any ‘plastic taste’ the water might contain after running through the RO system’s lines. This filter should be replaced every year or after any membrane replacement is performed.

The Various Forms Of Iron In Water and Their Treatment Methods

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Hardness in water is quite easy to remove. A simple ion exchange water softener takes care of all but the most extreme levels of hardness content. One other thing that a softener does it remove or reduce certain types of iron as well. For low levels of specific types of iron, a water softener works quite well, but when the iron content is high or if the iron is not the right type, then a water softener will not do the job. In order to treat iron effectively, it is important to identify which type of iron your water might contain.

FERRIC IRON: This type of iron cannot effectively be removed with a conventional water softener. It will foul the softener’s resin media in a relatively short period of time. Ferric iron can be easily identified in water. The water will appear to have a reddish orange tint to it. This is oxidized iron and will stick to plumbing fixtures, pipes and stain laundry. Mechanical filtration such as a Birm filter or greensand filter are effective.
FERROUS IRON: This type of iron can be effectively removed with an ion exchange water softener so long as the concentration of ferrous iron is not over 3 parts-per-million (ppm or mg/L). This type of iron exists in water with a low oxygen content. If you were to fill a drinking glass with this type of water and leave it sit out all day, it would oxidize and the iron particles would accumulate on the bottom. Chlorination at the well, an ion exchange softener, a Terminator system, Sentry I Open Air System or a greensand filter will work on ferrous iron.
SEQUESTERED IRON: Often called Iron Bacteria, is able to pass through conventional softeners and other iron specific filtration systems. Because it can be broken down when heated, this type of iron is more noticeable in hot water. The best way to deal with iron bacteria is to prevent it from getting into the water system. Well chlorinators are very effective here such as the WellPro chlorinator or the Sentry I Open Air System.
HEME IRON: is most likely found in surface water. Standard iron removal equipment are usually ineffective at treating this type of water. Treating heme iron as tannins is standard practice. A water softener with a mixture of standard cation resin and anion resin is effective.

Sediment Filter Cartridge Types and Materials

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There are three basic materials used in the various sediment filters that we carry at Water Value Co. While all three materials achieve the same results – removing sediment from the water – each material has its own characteristics.

Melt-blown spun poly filterMelt-Blown Spun Polypropylene: This sediment filter material uses a graded density to trap sediment particles. Larger particals of sediment entering the filter will be trapped on the outside of the filter media while the smaller particles become trapped deeper inside the filter cartridge. This graded density method greatly increases the effective surface area of the filter cartridge which prolongs the useful life of the cartridge itself. Melt-Blown Spun Polypropylene filters ratings begin at 25 microns on down to 1 micron.

String wound filter cartridgeWound Poly Cord: The idea behind the spun cord sediment filter cartridge is cost. This type of filter cartridge is much less costly to manufacture than any other method. As the name implies, this is simply a polypropylene cord wound around a rigid core. The poly string material is also more resistant to corrosive fluid and materials that the other two types of sediment filter material. These filter cartridges rate at 30 micron on down to 5 micron.

Pleated filter cartridgePleated Polyester: Pleated filter cartridges use a non-woven polyester material that is folded into pleats around a solid core. This pleating characteristic greatly increases the surface area of the filter cartride. The unique characteristic of this type of sediment filter is the fact that it is reusable. You can remove the trapped sediment particles from the inside folds of the pleats and put it back into service several times. This material ranges from 50 microns on down to 1 micron.

Toilet Stains

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Many people will contact us about iron stains from their well water left on their bathtubs, showers, toilets and sinks. This iron can also discolor laundered clothing after time. There are several very good methods for removing iron from your water. There is a simple Birm filter if certain conditions of the water can be met, such as a high pH level and no presence of hydrogen sulfide gas. Then there is the Greensand filter method which not only removes iron, but it takes care of manganese and hydrogen sulfide gas. Chlorination will oxidize iron out when combined with a carbon filter. The Terminator iron systems use a 3 stage action which injects air into the water, then bleeds off the air and any gases then finally filters out the now oxidized iron particles. Finally – and without doubt the best method for treating iron – the Sentry I Open Air systems can handle very bad water with very satisfying results.

So customers will choose one of these iron systems, install it and see the huge improvement in their water quality. The stains are gone from the laundry, sinks, tubs and showers too! But they end up calling to complain that their toillet still has a black or gray or even reddish-pink stain around the bowel only a few days after cleaning it. Well, it’s not just the well water customers that call about this type of staining, it’s also the city water customers. Naturally, the first thing one would think if there is a reoccurring stain in their freshly cleaned toilet, that something must be wrong with the water. But after some investigation, we found that this stain is not caused by anything in the water. Rather it is introduced into the toilet through the air.

These stains are caused by an airborne spore. The name of the spore is known by some in the scientific community, but it is unknown to me. Suffice to say that it is hard to pronounce and comes in various strains, which would explain why the colors of the growth can be varied. It is microscopic, floats in the air, and the waterline in a clean toilet is the perfect place for it to settle and grow. Actually, bad water will help to keep it away. Once you’ve solved a bad water problem such as iron, this mold will grow more quickly due to the fresh, clean water. There is no known method to preventing this spore from seeking out and finding the ideal living conditions in a toilet.

Before I go on, I should point out that this experiment I’m about to mention is not very scientific. It’s just that these calls were bothering us and upon reading some material, we decided to give this excersize a try. One of our houses has 2 bathrooms, both with the dark stains around the water lines of the toilets. This water is highly treated as you can imagine, being a water treatment equipment professional’s home. So we decided this would be worth a try. First, we cleaned both toilets at the same time. We then sealed off the bowel of one of the toilets (the one not used very often) with common plastic wrap, stretched and tied in place. The idea here was to make that bowl air tight. After only a few days, the uncovered toilet bowl started showing signs of this growth at the water line. The sealed toilet did not. After one week, the open toilet was looking pretty bad. The sealed toilet showed no signs of staining. Okay, this was not a laboratory and nothing was officially documented, but the experiment satisfied us enough to be able to say with confidence that the stains in this case were probably cause by something in the air.

The point of this message is to simply help lay to rest the beleif that not everything that causes stains in toilet bowl water lines is iron, or even something in the water. There is a very good chance that if you have treated your water for iron/rust stains and your other plumbing fixtures have cleaned up while the toilet still produces stains, it’s probably these spores that are the cause.

Water Softener Sale

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We have select sizes of the Water Value WS-1 Clack controlled water softeners on sale until the end of the month. These electronic, turbine metered, on-demand complete water softener systems feature easy and automatic setup along with high flow rates and high efficiency. These professional grade systems – once only available to water treatment professionals – are now available to the public.Water Value WS-1 water softeners on sale.

The Water Value WS-1 water softener systems feature high flow rates, electronic turbine metering, high salt efficiency, LCD display, easy initial setup, FREE installation kit, high capacity ion exchange resin, Structural tanks, brine grid, bypass valve, drain line and more. Everything you need to connect to your existing plumbing. There are a number of options you can choose from as well including pipe connector size (free installation kit is 3/4-inch NPT), optional tank jacket and brine tank colors. The sizes included in this sale are the 24,000 grain, 32,000 grain, 40,000 grain and the 48,000 grain capacity. To find out which size works best for your application, use our handy Softener Sizing chart.

This sale ends November 30, 2008.

Bottled Water vs Tap Water

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Yet another reason to stop buying the plastic bottles. The Associated Press article “Bottled Water vs Tap Water” published on 10/14/2008, lists a number of contaminants in numerous samples of commercially available bottled water. Basically, the article states there is no health benefit to drinking bottled water over tap water. The contaminants in the bottled water are within EPA standards, so it is certainly not dangerous, but there is no benefit to plastic bottled water over tap water.

If you desire contaminant-free drinking water, the two ways to go are distillation and reverse osmsosis. While distillation is expensive to operate and not practical for most point-of-use applications, reverse osmosis is. When landfill requirements, purity issues and expense are taken into consideration, it makes little sense to buy bottled water.

Solving Well Water Problems

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Private wells can present quite a few problems for homeowners and businesses alike. All water out of an underground well contains some degree of hardness. But hardness is easily removed with a standard water softener. Most wells also produce water with some type of iron contamination. While iron in your water is not considered a health risk according to the US EPA under certain amounts, it can cause many problems with staining of plumbing and fixtures, laundry and often times produces an unpleasant odor. Water Value Company has an excellent iron elimination system available called The Terminator. Using 3 stages of water treatment, it injects oxygen into the water as the well pump runs. It then oxidizes and bleeds off excess air and sulfur gas, and finally filters out the oxidized iron through an automatic backwashing filter system. The Terminator system is very effective in removing high amounts of iron, manganese and hydrogen sulfide.

But often times well water will not only contain iron and odor, but bacteria also. Bacteria can be killed with UV filter lamps and chlorinators, but BWI (Better Water Industries) has come out with an ingenious all-in-one device for treating not only bacteria, but iron, sulfur, sulfate reducing bacteria, black manganese, algae, tannins, arsenic and even low pH. It is the Sentry I Open-Air System and it even increases low level well water output. Sentry I Open-Air System

While being ideal for removing very high levels of iron and sulfur gas from your water, the other benefits of this open-air system coupled with a standard water softener downline of the appliance makes for nearly perfect water right out of your tap, no matter how difficult your well water problem may be. The simple design of this open-air system means easy installation. It comes pre-wired and plumbed with a 1-inch inlet valve, adjustable air-draw for oxidation, safety floats, dry pellet chlorinator, submersible pump, and bladder tank. Water enters the Sentry I Open-Air system and is injected with air for oxidation, chlorine for oxidation and disinfection, holding tank and a booster pump to provide higher water pressure to your faucets than a standard well system can.

So if you need to solve multiple problems with your well water and require a simple to use, low maintenance water treatment equipment solution, the Sentry I Open-Air System is the right choice.