Iron bacteria solution?


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Old 04-02-08, 02:03 PM
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Iron bacteria solution?

I'm hoping someone can recommend the best solution - it seems the more I read, the more confused I get!

We had our water tested and the results were:

Ph 8.1
TDS 134.5
Hardness 120
Iron 2.69 ppm

Iron bacteria is present and our hot water smells like rotten eggs. We shock chlorinated our well, which helped for awhile. Our well has a flow rate of 15 gpm near the pump house.

I was hoping to get away with a water softener and am told that is not an option (at least as a standalone) because of the iron bacteria. I am now leaning toward an iron filter with the possibility of adding a water softener at a later date.

One company has suggested that I use a Pyrolox filter with a chlorine feed. Another suggested the Fleck 2510 Auto Backwash Manganese Greensand Filter would take care of both the iron and iron bacteria problems. In reading past posts, I'm worried that our flow rate is not really sufficient for the Pyrolox and the Greensand doesn't appear to be highly recommended either. Any suggestions?
 
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Old 04-03-08, 08:12 AM
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Iron eating bacteria

First, you should know that iron bacteria is not a health risk for most people. It will, however, make using water in your home a miserable affair, especially if you are like me and have a sensitive nose. You will know that you have iron bacteria if you open the tank of a toilet in your home and the sides appear to be covered with a gelatin-like coating that comes off in sheets if disturbed. It would also be good to get a lab test done to prove for sure that you have iron bacteria.

Water softeners will have no effect on iron bacteria. The best system I have found for removing iron bacteria in a single HOME is a chlorination / de-chlorination system. I would prefer to tell you that ozone is better, and if you were treating water for hundreds of homes and had an on-site technician to monitor the ozone system and make sure it is functioning properly every day, that would be the case. But for a single home, chlorination / de-choronation is easier to work on and most parts are easily maintained by a normal person.

After your well tank you will install an injection point where the injector will be installed. Your injector pump will be attached to this and it will draw from your chemical vat and force a chlorine / water mixture into the water. After that you will need a holding tank that is large enough to allow at least 10 to 15 minutes of contact between the chlorine and the water. I have found that 100 to 120 gallon tanks work fine for most homes and I recommend a fiberglass wound plastic tank. This is because metal tanks will be corroded by the chlorine. Put a test port after this tank because you will need to test for residual FREE chlorine. You need to be injecting enough chlorine for there to be a residual in order for you to know that you have oxidized all the nasty stuff.

After the holding tank you will need a backwashing aggregate filter to remove precipitated products from the water. Filter aggregate is much lighter than greensand and requires somewhate less backwash flow rate to work properly. That will be followed by a backwashing carbon filter that will remove excess chlorine from the water. If you desire, you may add your softener after the de-chlorinator.

All the new plumbing for the system should be done in plastic and I highly recommend PEX tubing. Copper and other metals will be oxidized by the chlorine and you don't want to have the copper thinning out an springing leaks. Any copper in existence after the carbon filter will be fine. PVC becomes brittle after a few years and makes it difficult to maintain the system because it will crack when you try to remove the systems from the plumbing in order to re-bed them.

Lastly, you should be warned about Halides, especially trihalomethane. This is a compound that can develop in water when you are using chlorine to destroy organic compounds (iron bacteria being the organic compound in your water). You don't want to injest halides. The backwashing carbon filter will remove much of the halides, but there may still be traces. If you go this route, you should add a reverse osmosis drinking water system for your drinking water. This is a good "safety" measure as it removes halides and other non-desirables from the water, including many of the chemicals you and your neighbors might be putting on your lawns or down your septics.
 
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Old 04-03-08, 02:43 PM
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test,test,test

shanilyn,

You'll need some additional water testing before proceeding to ensure that you get the job done right the first time.

Test for the following at a minimum at the same time by the same testing agent to ensure continuity:-


-Hardness
-Ferric Iron
-Ferrous Iron
-pH
-Total Alkalinity
-TDS
-Sulfate
-Hydrogen Sulfide
-Type and CFU's of Iron bacteria/Iron reducing bacteria
-Presence of sulfate bacteria/sulfate reducing bacteria (CFU's if present)

Also confirm the maximum flow rate & pressure that your well is capable of delivering.

Once you have a handle on that data, it's relatively easy to craft a solution that is cost-effective and sustainable.

Is the "rotten egg odor" on both hot & cold ?

Are you seeing any evidence of iron in the water like yellow/orange/brown staining inside or outside the home ?


Your local certified water specialist should be able to help you through this without too much hassle. Go to www.wqa.org to find a certified specialist in your area.
 
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Old 04-03-08, 03:28 PM
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Iron eating bacteria

Thank you Greg and cleanwaterman for the responses. I will get more testing done.

The rotten egg smell is from the hot water only. We had a yellow-brown slime inside our toilets prior to shock chlorinating and adding tablets to the tanks. They are now accumulating rusty particles in the bottom. The water has stained the bottom of the toilet bowls and tubs yellow. The water is clear when it comes out of the tap, but will turn yellow after it sits awhile.
 
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Old 02-11-14, 07:06 AM
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Iron Bacteria: Do I need to replace all my plumbing?

Cleanwaterman, thanks for the great post. My water fellas had installed the injector in my system, to kill off the bacterial iron. However, there is still plenty of it showing up, discolouring my water (especially evident when filling the tub) as well as in all our toilets. We keep shocking our toilet tanks, but it keeps coming back.

All our pex piping is fairly brown, due to the fact we ran our water for a while before we determined what the issue was, and installed our injector (the house is new construction). In your opinion, is the problem still existing due to the previous bacteria still living in the piping? Do I need to go through the expense and pain replacing all my household pex?

Or should I isolate the plumbing, and run some kind of flush?

Thanks in advance!
Rob
 
 

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