Water Softeners and Air Filtration Systems - Yellow Water After Standing: (Part 1 & Part 2 +)

I'm looking into treatments for my well water (iron bacteria confirmed by test; I'm getting increasing staining. occasional rotten egg odour, neither of which happened when well was first drilled three years ago).

My water is clear when drawn, but if allowed to sit for awhile in our white bathroom sink, it takes on what appears to a yellowish color. I let it sit overnight and this morning I drained the sink. No stain visible, but when ran a white tissue over the porcelain, there was a yellowish residue. Similar, but heavier, staining is evident in the toilet bowl (the filmy stain below the water line simply wipes away, but where the water finishes trickling into the bowl at the front, there is often streak of iron that doesn't easily come off, except with Iron Out).

Is this just plain old iron or something organic, like tannin? I know describing color is subjective when it comes to iron; what one person considers "yellow" might be orange to someone else. I've read iron described as red and brown, too. If I drop a little Iron Out into the yellow water and it clears, does this confirm iron (as opposed to tannin)? Any thoughts?

What i would suggest is to put a chlorinator on your well......it only takes a small amount of a chlorine/ water solution to do the job.....it's installed between your pump and your pressure tank, wired in to local codes so it only runs when pump runs.....there are many out there, get the one that you can understand the settings because you will have to adjust it for you and your family.....sulphur odor....the chlorine will address this, however you will need to replace your annode rod in your water heater if it's more than about 2 years old, easy to do.....tannins.....without seeing it first hand i can't give say for sure, but it doesn't sound like a tannin problem to me, it's probably the bacterial iron....tannins give drinks like tea and wine thier color, they both stain clothing, but really don't stick to your fingers....

don't be afraid of the chlorine, the amount to treat your well is going to be smaller than any amount you get from a city water scource, plain household bleach is fine as opposed to a higher dollar commercial strenght......the best way to go about it is to install a chlorinator, then a good softner system on the backside....

this may have been a longer reply than what you were looking for but i hope it helps

jdp -- thanks for the response

Yup, I'm looking into chlorination, but from what I've read there could be some problems with you suggested solution?

1. Dose -- I understand you have to put in a much higher dose (1-5 ppm) than municipal water (0.5-1 ppm) in order to kill bacteria and oxidize iron.

2. Install before pressure tank -- I think chlorinated water could be bad for the rubber bladder in a pressure tank? Also, some well technicians believe nothing should be installed between the submersible pump and the pressure tank (not sure why, but I think it might have something to do with potentially affecting system pressure and pump cycle?). Also, the oxidized iron particles will sit in your pressure tank and possibly end up in your softener, which is bad for the resin.

3. Softener after chlorination -- I think chlorine kills softener resin, which means your water will be harder and you will have to replace or re-bed the softener sooner?

4. No sediment or chlorine filter -- Apparently, a sediment filter is usually necessary to deal with oxidized iron particles? Then, a carbon filter is advised to remove any left-over chlorine and potential cancer-cause chlorine by-products (THMs, as they are known).

I'm no water pro, this is just what I've researched. If I'm wrong or mis-directed anywhere, please advise!

Thanks

your concerns about chlorine damagining resin are accurate unless the resin ir a high grade, then you shouldn't worry about it, i've got softners on wells with chlorinators that have been in operation for over 15 years and the resin is fine............as far as the dosage, i never set mine higher than about .8ppm, then take into account the dillution in a standard 120 gallon tank, the dosage is lower.......THM's are caused by chlorine coming in contact with organics, primarily found in surface water supplies( state of New Jersey published a great article on it, look it up, if you can't find it let me know, i'm sure i can); a carbon filter will only take out chlorine and polish the taste of the water, it is not needed on a chlorinated well........installing between pump and tank will not affect the pressure switch in any way, as you are injecting into the well, not running a line from it.....HOWEVER, the most important item you didn't mention in your first post.......you have a bladder tank, they breed bacteria, the odor from the bacteria is released as soon as it hits oxegen, which in a bladder configuration is at your faucet when you turn it on; replace the bladder tank with a standard galvanized tank; now because you are saying you have a sub. well, you won;t be able to connect an AVC to the tank, so you can install a valve on the side where an AVC would normally be installed, and one at the top; this will allow you to drain the tank down and put a fresh air pocket in it every once in a while!!!!!! This will, more than likely, correct the odor problem.

As per my previous post, I drew three glasses of water from my tap, all of which were clear when drawn.

The one with just water turned yellow and little cloudy after standing for awhile. After several hours, no iron or sediment was visible in the bottom of the glass.

The one to which I stirred in a few drops of liquid bleach also turned yellow (I suspect this was from the color of the bleach) and seemed a little clearer than the first one. Here, too, no iron particles or sediment was visible at the bottom of the glass after several hours. The water stayed yellow but clearer.

In the third glass, I stirred in a tiny bit of Iron Out and the water stayed totally clear. No iron particles or sediment of any kind after several hours.

So, any opinions what this means, particularly in terms of a potential continuous chlorine feed system to combat iron staining and rotten-egg odor from confirmed iron bacteria?

If I chlorinate, using liquid household, bleach as many seem to suggest is perfectly okay, will that mean my water will be yellow? I thought chlorine oxidized iron out of water and that sediment filtration is usually required for the particles. I didn't see any particles and water stayed yellow in my brief test?

When my water softener was installed about three years ago, I really didn't know much about them. The water tech sampled my water for hardness (24 grains) and iron (about 0.3 ppm) and installed the unit.

It has a Fleck 5600 Econominder valve and an 8X47 tank (or that's what I assume, at the bottom of the tank, it says U.S. Filter WG 847, Regina, Saskatchewan).

When sitting idle with water in it, I can see the tank appears darker a little more than half-way up, so I'm guessing it's a little over half full of resin?

Any guesses on size/capacity?

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