Category Archives: Fixing Water Problems

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.

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.

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.

Water Pitchers Saving the Environment

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I really like the new commercial about the filter-style water pitchers. They show a person doing some sort of activity such as treadmill running or even reading a book. In all cases, the person is accompanied by a plastic bottle of water. The commercial displays the line “20 minutes on a treadmill (or whatever the activity is): forever in a landfill”. The “forever in a landfill” is of course referring to the plastic water bottle.

We have addressed this issue of the plastic water bottles in the recent past. Our solution to the problem might be a bit more expensive than a filtering pitcher, but it’s much more practical.

Today, everyone knows how important it is to keep hydrated either while exercising or even at rest. Water helps to clean out the toxins in your body, and especially today, there are plenty of toxins in our environment. But the use and waste of these plastic bottles is going to catch up with us quickly. Either re-using the bottle or choosing an alternate, washable container is the right thing to do.

Keeping the water as clean and fresh as the bottled water factories do is easy too. Reverse osmosis is the single most effective, efficient and economical method of purifying your tap water available today. And it’s also orders of magnitude cleaner than any pitcher filter.

Do You Need Water Treatment?

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In most cases throughout the U.S., the answer to the above question is yes. In some cases though, and so long as there are no health issues with your water, water treatment is not needed. Because all water eventually filters down through several layers of minerals until an aquifer is reached, due to the solvent nature of water, it is going to gather minerals such as calcium along the way. When this aquifer is tapped either by a private well or municipal water distribution facility, the hardness minerals come right along with it. This calcium or lime can cause problems with your water pipes due to deposits on the inside walls of the pipes and plumbing fixtures over the years. The hardness also requires higher levels of soap and detergent to produce suds and lather when bathing or washing laundry and cookware. This calcium in the water poses no threat to health, but no benefit either. It is not the type of calcium that can be absorbed into your blood stream such as the calcium your body gets from food or vitamins. But it sure can be annoying when it comes to plumbing fixtures, washing and deposits left on surfaces such as a shower door or bathtub. If these annoyances do not cause you any bother, and there are no other contaminant issues with your water, you will not require any sort of water treatment.

Chances are though, if you’re reading this, you’ve decided that you do require some sort of water treatment. Once you know what is in your water that is causing the problems, it’s easy to figure out what you need. The best way to determine the nature of the contaminants in your water is to test the water. Simply pick up a water test kit at your local hardware/plumbing supply store or even get one of our Complete Home Water testing kits. There are 2 tests for every kind of water problem common to drinking water. There’s even a single test for bacterial infection.

Now that you know how much of what is in your water, you have come to the right place. Hardness, iron, bacteria, chlorine, fluoride, nitrates/nitrites, copper, taste and oder can all be treated easily with one or two devices. Hardness (and even some iron) can be treated with a regular ion exchange water softener. Iron in its many forms can be treated with one of our iron filter systems or chlorination. Turbidity is normally treated with a sediment filter, chlorine with a carbon filter, and even pH can be raised with a Calcite filter system. Nearly all chemical contaminants in the drinking water can be removed with a reverse osmosis system.

Some water treatment devices might require a pre-treatment method for proper operation. For example, reverse osmosis systems require a hardness level of less than 10 grains per gallon to operate properly. If your water hardness is over 10 grains per gallon and you require reverse osmosis treatment, you will also need to add a softener to your water treatment system.

If you cannot find what you’re looking for, try searching this web site. We take every question we have been asked over the phone for the past 7 years and addressed them in a search-able format. Simply type in your question at the “search this site” box in the left side of this page.

Iron Bacteria

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We have a great deal of information on the web site pertaining to iron. The vast majority of private wells contain iron in one form or another. Our FAQ section deals with the different kinds and the various treatment methods, but here we will address bacterial iron.

Iron bacteria are living organisms which naturally occur in water and feed off of dissolved iron and oxygen. Symptoms of iron bacteria are slimy water, foul odor and discoloration of the water. It can be difficult to discern between hydrogen sulfide in iron water and this bacterial odor. Iron bacteria can form a film on the surface of standing water kept in toilet bowels and such.Iron bacteria in water.

Removal methods for iron bacteria include “shocking” the well with bleach or chlorine, removing the iron that the bacteria feeds off of or filtering it. We have dry pellet chlorinators for disinfecting the well which attach to the well head and release pellets automatically when the pump runs, which fall down into the well and quickly kill the bacteria. Another popular method is a Greensand filter which filters the iron and uses potassium permanganate to regenerate the filter media bed.

When using chlorine to treat iron or iron bacteria, it is strongly advisable to use an activated carbon filter system to remove the chlorine once it has done its job.