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Not quite sure how to go about this. What if I wanted to pump the water out of my well through a whole house water filter and into my pipes? Would one of the water filters here work? https://whatwaterfilter.com/perfect-...filter-family/ I don't know what power requirements would be needed to get the water through the filter or what sort of solar panels I would need. Any ideas? Thanks in advance.
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Last edited by BigK321; 11-01-2022, 04:33 PM. -
The link you had is pretty but not very technical, I couldn't find the particular filter you referenced but would suggest if you are serious go with standard activated carbon filters in a standard housing that you can buy from multiple vendors. Don't get stuck with proprietary filters that you have to buy from one firm. Once you pick a filter you need a data sheet that shows flow rate and pressure drop. Using a well pump sucks up a lot of power unless you have a modern variable speed drive on your well pump. Once the pressure drop and flow is known you will need to estimate your daily flow and then a solar panel array can be sized once your pump type is known. I expect its going to far more expensive than you think. Most folks segregate the household water supply into potable and non potable, no need to filter toilet water unless you have radon issues. (If you do have radon or dissolved gas issues then filtering is the wrong way to remove it, you need an air stripper). -
Okays, plenty of things to consider: Is the water well currently in service? If so, have you had some laboratory testing completed on the water from the well? Typically a residential well is not subject to the testing requirements of a public water source. Typically a residential well will be tested for bacteria, maybe nitrates to prevent blue baby syndrome. and maybe arsenic. If you have hard water them you need to consider a softener system as well. High iron and manganese will require special treatment. High iron causes the orange color on clothing from the washing machine and drips and fixtures become orange stained. High manganese causes a metallic aftertaste when drinking the water, and will cause hard liquor to turn black when mixing an adult beverage.
Typically a whole house filter system is simply plumbed right into the piping after the well and pressure tank system. Easy enough, but where to locate the filter? Cold climate with an out building for the well is typically not heated, and the well water maybe supplied through a pitless adapter (below ground).
So try to locate the filter in the house, like the utility room where the washer and dryer and deep sink and maybe the water heater are located for easy access.
If you are trying to improve the taste of the well water, then a carbon filter may be needed, but a 5 micron filter may be all that is needed. You can change the type of filter out as required. Typical universal household filter will be about 9-inches tall with a fixed diameter. Most hardware stores will stock a variety of common filters along with salt for softeners.
The water pump will have some headloss due to the filter, but nothing that will increase power supply requirements. If anything you may see reduced flow at fixtures. This may be prevented by installing a parallel filter unit, but I haven't found that necessary for myself.
Good luck...Last edited by citabria; 02-24-2017, 01:12 PM.Comment
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Step out of the box for a minute.......why do you want to filter all the water you use in the house when only the water you drink and cook with needs to be filtered?
What I suggest you do is to investigate the installation of a 25 gal per day RO system. Plum the RO output to the kitchen sink, ice maker, and each floor bath for drinking water, etc. using a separate faucet.
Filtering all the water for baths, showers, toilets, sinks, dishwasher, water heater, outside hydrants, etc. is a waste.Comment
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RO uses about 5gal water to make 1gal. And probably will require more pressure than you're willing to make. do your homework on that one. I agree filtering every last drop, unless there something very nasty in the well, might be Overkill. I have an Everpure filter for drinking and cooking water and couldn't be happier. It's the best damn filter I've ever had. At .5 micron it filters out everything. You can also get knock-off filters that are 1/3 the price.
but only claim two micron. You would want to have some sort of pre filtration first but that's cheap.Comment
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I tend to disagree about using RO for drinking water. You remove minerals and micro-nutrients with RO systems. Water then tends to leach minerals from the body, there have been studies on this. Health conscious friends that use RO water for drinking, add supplemental metal salts for flavor and nutritional value.Comment
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you should see what RO water does the copper pipes. it takes the minerals right out of them. Where I live we are serviced by the city with RO water and I am here to tell you if you have an older house you're getting a complete repipe. Everything after an RO unit needs to be plastic or stainless.Comment
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I believe it is because the water is "empty" and is just absorbing whatever it can since it has none. The ph is a 7. I found it hard to believe myself but knowing a plumber and how often he does them it's just amazing.Comment
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Well I if the RO takes out all of the minerals that might have balanced the ph to be neutral and now you have water that has a low ph or is more acid, then that could eat the copper pipe. I have seen that result as a green ring in the bottom of the toilet bowl.
So I was just wondering if that was the result from an RO system that could cause the copper pipes to fail.Comment
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I'll ask the chemist over at troublefreepool he's a sharp guy. I definitely think you're onto something there. You got to love the government they come in shove City Water and Sewer down your throat. To the tune of $23,000. And then it destroys your plumbing. 0 water usage = $30/month.
Although having a high sulfur well with an aeration tank sucks.Comment
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From the chemist - RO water is aggressive because there is very little of anything in it mineral, or buffer wise. Roughly, waters are either scaling or corrosive. If they contain little to nothing, they will dissolve many things they come in contact with. Metal or mineral. Water is always trying to reach equalibrium by dissolving or depositing something. It won't create acid, but some RO water is on the acid side, say 6.0-6.5 depending on how far it is processed.Comment
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Completely agree that RO water is corrosive. I have used an RO system since 1991 for drinking, cooking and ice making. When I plumbed the system in the house I used 3/8" high pressure plastic pipe because I knew of the corrosive nature of the water. But where I failed was to put the small copper/bronze sleeve inserts into the connecting fixtures. So after 25 years, whenever I disassemble any connection the copper/bronze sleeves they are almost totally eaten away.
My wife takes mineral supplements, but I do not believe they are necessary since a well balanced diet will more than over supply the bodily needs for minerals and completely offset the leaching effect of RO water.Comment
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Its not just RO, I used to work for water utility that had very pure water supply. It tended to corrode copper water lines and particularly hot water heater elements. Hot water heaters had abut half the life of a typical heater. If the anodes were replaced religiously they tended to last longer. The utility has been adding some sort of product to the water for year to counteract it and the problem went away.
I expect the original post was a back door spam post. When nobody bit they headed to greener pastures.Comment
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