On 2/27/09 12:20 AM, Bill Loesch wrote:
My compliments to solve a water quality problem. Tremendous benefits for every other water using appliance, valve, and faucet in the dwelling.
Agreed, and I'll add that it's critical to have the water tested before you propose a treatment strategy. Almost all softeners will benefit from a sediment prefilter (anything from a simple 4x10 cartridge system to a multi-stage mixed media system with backflush.) Small amounts of iron can be removed by a softener, but will require some minor tweaks to the standard setup: You can have Turbulator distribution tubes installed in the tanks, which will agitate the media more vigorously during regen and help kick up the (heavier) precipitated iron particles. Then toss a cup of powdered citric acid into the brine tank every few months (lowers the pH of the brine, increasing iron solubility.) Specialized resins are available for all sorts of issues.
We are about to try a completely different method of dealing with scale based on a ceramic media with a nanoprofiled surface which causes the calcium and magnesium ions to form microscopic crystals, thus preventing their adhesion to surfaces. They have some convincing case studies with 4,000 PPM feed water, and (unlike softened water) there would be no compatibility issues with stainless HX surfaces.
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