"Mike Hoffman" wrote
I have a relatively high concentration of clear water iron in my water
supply (well). I have been using a northstar water softener to help
mitigate the problem. This has been moderately successfull. The
softener model I have indicates that it can remove 5 ppm of iron.
Even with the water softener I am still seeing some iron staining,
particularly in my bath tub (more so when I run the jacuzzi jets). I
just had my water tested with the following results:

Without the softener:

9 grains of hardness
6 ppm iron

With the softener:

4 grains of hardness
1 ppm iron

It is my understanding that even 1 ppm of iron will cause staining.
So, I believe that my softener is doing everything it can but is
simply overmatched. The question I have is what my next step should
be? I have been looking at a more powerful softenere at Sears with
will clean out 8ppm of iron and costs about $550. Alternatively, I
could look at a more expensive iron filter and use it in conjuction
with my current softener. Or, would changing the resin to a "fine
mesh" be enough? Also, I currently use the Morton "Iron Free" pelets,
without them the problem is even worse. The big problem is that
trying any of these methods requires me to shell out a fairly large
amount of cash without even knowing if the problem will be resolved.
If anyone has any recommendations I would greatly appreciate it.
Specifically, any recommendations with brands/models would be
helpfull.

I suggest removing the iron before the softener but.. your current softener
is more than likely too small for your flow rate. IMO no regular softener is
going to treat 6 ppm of iron successfully for very long without problems;
especially the big box store brands. I and other independent dealers build
some that will but you have to know how to maintain them and do it
religiously. And for the money you mention, you can buy much higher quality
industry standard nonproprietary equipment which means you can get parts
anywhere and at less cost.

Gary
Quality Water Associates
www.qualiytywaterassociates.com
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