Water Softeners and Air Filtration Systems - Iron in water - best way to solve problem?

I have had three contractors look at our water and recommend solutions. All three agree that our water tests as follows: ph = 7.2, hardness = 5 grains per gallon, iron = 1.5 ppm. As you'd expect, all three recommend a softener to deal with the hardness.

So far so good. The problem is that all three recommend a different approach to solving the iron staining problems we are having with our fixtures and clothing. The local Culligan dealer says that their Gold series water softener will do it all. Another dealer says to go with manganese greensand. He also said to stay away from an aeration air release system because it will lead to clogged pipes due to the precipitate (sp?). The third dealer says go with an aeration/air release system. He also says a softener alone will fail after a while and we will back to square one. The cost quotes vary between $2.4k to $8.4k. At this point money is not our primary issue.

My question boils down to which approach is most likely to give us a reliable long term solution, a softener alone, manganese greensand or an aeration air release system?

Thank you for your help – we are really confused and do not know what to do!!!

I don't like the aeration system because of the small ports that are it it. They get clogged very quickly. I don't like the greensand, even though it works very well, because you have to use a poison to regenerate it. A softener will work very well. If you don't care about the hardness and just want to get rid of iron, a birm filter (Best Iron Removal Media) works very well on iron only. It needs nothing regenerate so the maintenance is less than a softener would be.

I'm in a similar situation. I know there is one school of thought that says a water softener should not be used as an iron filter as it will become ironbound in time. I looked at places like budget water, who sells something called the Terminox, but with your low pH it would necessitate a chemical pump, soda ash, etc. it certainly would allow your water softener to run very efficiently and use very little salt.

I spoke with eco water in detail about this, and according to them a lot depends on the type of resin used in the water softener. They claim with my extremely hard water ( 12 grains per gallon)along with my high iron content (7.5 ppm) that I would use less than 10 pounds of salt per month!

Eco also makes water softeners for seers, not as fancy, but they can handle up to 11ppm of iron and use a metering system for regeneration (look at actual gallons of water used). They have three and five year extended warranties, which I think in this case are well worth the money. You can get a whole system for under $1000

That's my suggestion and one I've done at least. I just cannot justify $2300 for a sytem from Eco.

Troy

I have had three contractors look at our water and recommend solutions. All three agree that our water tests as follows: ph = 7.2, hardness = 5 grains per gallon, iron = 1.5 ppm. As you'd expect, all three recommend a softener to deal with the hardness.

So far so good. The problem is that all three recommend a different approach to solving the iron staining problems we are having with our fixtures and clothing. The local Culligan dealer says that their Gold series water softener will do it all. Another dealer says to go with manganese greensand. He also said to stay away from an aeration air release system because it will lead to clogged pipes due to the precipitate (sp?). The third dealer says go with an aeration/air release system. He also says a softener alone will fail after a while and we will back to square one. The cost quotes vary between $2.4k to $8.4k. At this point money is not our primary issue.

My question boils down to which approach is most likely to give us a reliable long term solution, a softener alone, manganese greensand or an aeration air release system?

Thank you for your help – we are really confused and do not know what to do!!!

I wonder what was quoted for $8000!?!

At your level of iron. a seperate iron filter would only be needed for a low quality softener. I recommend a Kinetico 2030s. Since these are twin tanks, they backwash with soft, iron-free water which extends resin life. They are very efficient in both water and salt use and should be on the low end of your present quotes.

There are numerous other benefits.

If you go with a single tank design, get a reliable valve and the tank size must fit the estimated number of gallons per day as well as contaminant removeal capacity.

Andy Christensen, CWS-II

Thank you for all of your responses!

We feel a lot more confident about which way to go.

The $8.4k quote was for a system from Repco Conditioners and included a softener and their Revolution system to remove the iron. Their quote was more them twice as much the next two quotes so we assume that they either tried to take advantage of us or are just very expensive.

Anyways, now we know what direction to go and we appreciate all of your help!!

Your pH of 7.2 is NOT low and if you want to use it in conjunction with an iron removal tank such as Birm, no need to increase pH.