Professional lab water analysis 7/17/2008 Arsenic, Total <5 ug/L E. coli <1 MPN/100mL Chloride, Total 16 mg/L Copper Total <0.05 mg/L Iron Total 10 mg/L Flouride <0.4 mg/L Hardness by Calculation 20 mg/L Manganese Total 0.57 mg/L Sodium Total 12 mg/L Nitrite-Nitrogen Total <0.2 mg/L Nitrate-Nitrogen Total <2.0 mg/L Lead Total <0.010 mg/L pH electrometric 5.7 Total Coliform Colilert MPN <1 MPN/100ml my comments: This is a private well of 180ft drilled in 9/04. Water is clear when first drawn but will turn rusty if left to sit open or heated. Precipitated iron will settle but very slowly, takes longer than a week. We do not have a pool and do not water our lawn. There is a water filter system in place professionally installed that consists of a variable Stenner pump injecting a measured amount of bleach before an 80G pressure tank (Well Mate). This precipitates the iron. Then a filter tank of 2.0 cubic feet of Filter Ag with a backwashing filter head (Water Soft) to remove the precipitated iron. Then to a 2.5 cubic foot tank with a mixture of 2.0 cubic feet of activated carbon and 0.5 cubic feet of calcite to remove the residual Chlorine and to raise the pH. The level of residual chlorine is monitored by sampling the water after the Filter Ag tank and before the carbon/calcite tank, I typically maintain a residual of 1.0 mg/L. We get a significant amount of precipitated iron that will bleed through the Filter Ag tank, especially at high flow rates. I do not like the fact that the Filter Ag tank backwashes with "dirty" water. I do not like the fact that the pH problem is not addressed before trying to precipitate the iron. I have added a draw off valve at the very bottom of the 80G pressure tank so that I can periodically remove any iron sludge that accumulates in the bottom of the tank. I do not have any confidence in the local person who designed and installed the system and would appreciate any suggestions you may have as to any additional equipment or changes to the system. Some specific questions/ideas that I have: 1. Could I fit a double Stenner head to the pump so that I can inject bleach as well as soda ash to raise the pH at the same time the iron is oxidized? Do those reactions work together? 2. Could I change the Filter Ag tank to a mixture of Filter Ag and calcite to correct the pH at the same time as the precipitated iron is being removed? Does calcite have any filtering properties? Could the filter tank be 100% calcite? Can I filter and correct the pH at the same time? 3. Is 2.0 cubic feet of filtering media sufficient to remove 10 mg/L of iron? Should that tank be bigger? 4. How much activated carbon is needed to remove a chlorine residual of 1.0 mg/L? Dave

As to a request to start a new thread on a device used for laundry that uses no hot water or detergents, I thought I would share what seems to work very well. So much so that I have since purchased another one. LaundryPure uses ozone and silver ions to clean and sanitize laundry without the use of detergents or hot water. There are two UV bulbs that ozonate the water and a device the emits silver ions for additional sanitation. Both of these will eventually need to be replaced. You must have soft, iron-free water. Ozone works best in cold water so the colder the better. Just completely shut off your hot water. This saves immediately in energy costs. Use NO detergents, soaps or cleansers! Additional savings, for some, big time. A small amount of bleach for whites is OK. Tough stains may need to soak before washing. Ozone easily penetrates fabrics and spreads them and releases dirt and oils from fabrics. It stays in the water about 20 minutes and then reverts to oxygen. Not a bad by-product! Clothes come out smelling fresh even before going to the drier. Used with soft water and no soaps, even line drying can show improvement. The tray still has some lint in it. I never mix whites and colors even if it says it's OK. The machine is extremely easy to install. I have not had to service it yet (only about 4 months old) but should be easy enough. It turns on and off with the washer. So in 4 months, not an ounce of detergents, no hot water, no chemicals in the septic and clothes are clean and fresh. Go figure. I am looking for my third one as my sister wants one now. It works! [url]http://youtube.com/watch?v=VR0Jpa42nO8[/url] Andy Christensen, CWS-II