Frequently Asked Questions
First it must be determined if all the water has an odor or if only one faucet. Simply draw a glass of water from the raw faucet, cold soft faucet, hot soft faucet and smell. If the smell is in the raw water and the treated cold then your well system and water treatment system needs to be chlorinated. Please call us for detailed information on the procedure. If the hot water smells or is much stronger than the cold, the problem is arising out of the water heater. In the water heater there is an Anode (magnesium) rod that will sometimes react to water and cause an odor. This rod is put in all water heaters to attract calcium and iron to keep it from building on the sides of the heater. With conditioned water there isn’t any need for this rod. The rod is located either on the hot side out or on the top of the heater with a separate plug. Simply pull this rod and plug it with a ¾” plug. Also, we have seen where the water will react with the pressure tank. In this case the pressure tank needs to be replaced
The first thing to do is to make sure you never run out of regenerate (salt). If you have iron in your water be sure to use a resin cleaner in your salt according to the water technicians recommendation.
The brine tank only needs to be cleaned if you use a dirty grade of salt. Basically salt is salt. The difference between salts is the degree of purity. Pelletized salt is generally 97-99% clean and rock salt has approximately 8% foreign matter. We recommend the use of AIM salt (pellet). Never use rock. Salts with iron remover added may be used as this is simply a refined salt with a resin cleaner added. If you follow this recommendation you should only have to clean the brine tank every 10 years.
The answer to this is dependent on the type of problem. In almost all cases if you put the unit in bypass no water will be permitted through the system until a qualified service person can analyze and repair the malfunction. For those with electric units, simply unplugging the unit will not disconnect the water system.
YES! When any work is done always put the unit in bypass. When the work is completed run a cold tap to clear the lines of any debris before putting the unit back into service.
This is dependent on the amount of debris in your water. A minimum of once a year is recommended or more often if your water pressure drops.
The Environmental Protection Agency has set up standards for labs to test for contaminates. We presently have this water shipped to a lab in Ypsilanti, Michigan for analysis. Cost for this test is approximately $125.00.
The question is answered between you, your Dr.and your taste buds. The fact is that if your water was tested at 20 grains of hardness you would be consuming 38 milligrams of sodium in every 8 ounces of water. Keeping in mind that a regular hamburger at a fast food restaurant has approx. 400 milligrams and a 4 oz. cup of chicken noodle soup has 400 milligrams. The daily minimum requirement of sodium intake required to sustain life is 200 milligrams. If you are concerned about the sodium, there is a sodium substitute available. If your Dr. restricts your sodium intake to specified milligrams, then you should take your softened water intake into consideration. Keep in mind that we have drinking water systems that can remove the sodium.
First, if you have an electric unit, check to see that the unit is plugged in. Second, check to see if the timer is pointing to the correct time of day. Third, check to see that you have salt in the brine tank and that it isn’t bridged. Fourth, make sure that the unit is not in bypass. These four checkpoints have been found to solve a great percentage of problems.
The slippery feeling means your skin has been freed from soap scum. Bathing in hard water leaves a soap film on your skin that may hold soil and bacteria. Also, reducing the amount of soap used will help keep the slippery feeling to a minimum.
The problem is a combination of the following: Too much detergent – with perfectly soft water you should only use 1 teaspoon of detergent – improper rinsing with too much heat bakes the soap residue to the dishes – and finally, phosphate detergent’s can cause hazing. Some glazed glassware can be cleaned with SOS pads.
If the unit will be in a heated area, nothing needs to be done. If the home or cottage is to be totally exposed to the elements then you should disconnect the unit and take the control valve off. Drain down 2/3 of the water and fill with either a pure salt brine or marine anti-freeze. It is best to move the unit to a heated area. For drinking water systems, disconnect and move to a heated storage area.
These terms were coined to describe the effect that sodium ion exchange has on water when the water was passed through a media bed charged with sodium ions. Water treated in this fashion will provide a water that is more usable in the home. This water will permit soaps to lather using 1/4th the normal amount of soap. Softened water generally pays for itself through the reduced soap usage and eliminating lime/iron staining on fixtures.
Lead is generally not found naturally in water. Lead will come from old plumbing or solder joints made of lead solder. To remove lead, you can use certain types of media filters, distillation or Reverse Osmosis. If lead is found in your water it is suggested that the most economical treatment would be to locate the source and eliminate the cause.
Lead is generally not found naturally in water. Lead will come from old plumbing or solder joints made of lead solder. To remove lead, you can use certain types of media filters, distillation or Reverse Osmosis. If lead is found in your water it is suggested that the most economical treatment would be to locate the source and eliminate the cause.
Arsenic is a naturally occurring element that is found in minerals and ores. People have used it for centuries for killing weeds, insects, treating lumber, mining, and other purposes. It gets into ground and surface water supplies naturally through the erosion of rocks and occasionally by pollution.
YES. Soft water is satisfactory for most aquarium fishes. Softened water does not have a toxic or undesirable effect on them. You should, however, change the water gradually changing about one-fourth of the tank at a time. Eventually the complete tank will be soft water.
The Federal drinking water standards classifies bottled waters. In 3 different types. Spring water is water that is bottled from the source, with only minimal processing to assure bacterial free. Drinking water is processed water that passes through treatments such as Reverse Osmosis and carbon filtration. Distilled water is a processed water that heats the water and then catches the condensate and bottles it.
Generally, bottled water is safe in so far that the filling of the bottles is regulated to insure the containers are clean. The difference comes from the type of water that is placed in the bottles. Spring, drinking or distilled. If you are in doubt as to the contents then we suggest that you drink distilled.
Since softened water has a sodium content, you should not water your indoor plants with softened water unless you are going to care for your plants by periodically repotting with new soil. Out door plants generally will not be affected by watering with softened water.
Salt is sodium chloride. The difference between the different water softener salts is the way they are processed. Rock salt is produced when they mine the salt from the ground. This salt will have a high percentage of silica (sand) in the salt. Solar salt is processed from the salt lakes or oceans. Here the water is evaporated and the salt is left. This salt isn’t as contaminated as rock, but it still isn’t as clean as processed salts. Pellets are processed salt where either rock or solar salts are washed and cleaned. Generally an additive is added to the salt to make it bind together to form the pellet. This additive can be a cleaner for water softeners or an iron additive to help combat high iron in water softeners. Generally, the amount of this additive is very small and does little to clean softeners. Pottassium Chloride is a sodium substitutue that generally exchanges at a lower rate and is used in situations where the discharge is used for irrigation or people who prefer not to have the sodium in their water.
There are hundreds of kinds of iron. For water treatment they can be divided into three basic types, Ferrous, Ferric and Particulate. There are several methods of iron removal. Chlorination, air, potassium permanganate oxidation or use of a water softener. Some methods work better than others depending on the type of iron. If you have staining or iron taste in your water you should contact a dealer you trust and let them analyze your water and make recommendations for proper treatment.
What is distillation? Distillation is the process where the water is boiled and the steam is captured, cooled and saved. This captured water is the condensate and becomes known as distilled water. This water still needs to be filtered through carbon to remove any remaining VOC’s for a pure drinking water. By boiling water you kill bacteria, but the water can still contain organic and inorganic contaminants. Double distilled with carbon filtration is the purest water you can obtain.
This odor can come from a variety of sources. Sulfur, which is a gas can occur naturally. In this situation the odor will be in the cold water directly from the source. If the odor is more predominant in the hot water then it is a good possibility the odor is from the anode rod in the water heater. Another possibility is the pressure tank in some situations. As full time water professionals we are capable of helping you resolve your water problems.
The answer is in whom you wish to believe. As of this date there are no reports showing that discharging water softeners into the septic has any harmful effects. In some situations it shows that the additional discharge actually helps a septic to operate more effectively. However, in certain areas of the country they have banned the practice due to fears of excessive overload. The fact is that with a properly operating water softener the discharge contains minimal salt and actually has minerals of calcium and magnesium that helps the perculation. (EPA 625/R-00/008)
Osmosis is a special case of passive transport. In Osmosis, water diffuses from a low concentration solution to a high concentration solution. If you have two containers of liguid one having a high concentration of dissolved solids and the other with a low concentration, the lower concentrated liquid will flow to the container with the higher concentration. REVERSE OSMOSIS is when pressure is applied to the higher concentration to force the liguid into the lower concentration. In the water situation the water passes through a thin film membrane to remove the solids so that low concentrated (clean) water is put in the container.
Reverse Osmosis removes Inorganic compounds such as Arsenic, Nitrates, Lead, Barium, Asbestos, Cadmium, Chromium, Copper, Cyanide, Flouride, Mercury, Selenium, Thallium and Sodium. Removal of the Inorganics improves the water, but you also need to address the Organics, Volatile Organics, Microorganisms and Bacteria. These contaminants can be removed using Carbon, Peroxide, Chlorine, Ultraviolet, Ozonation and Micro Filtration. The use of Reverse Osmosis is only one part of the purification process and by itself doesn’t complete the job.
Reverse Osmosis is a function of temperature, pressure and dissolved solids. In order for the water to pass through the membrane it requires greater pressure on the high side. Warmer water helps to reduce the back pressure while high dissolved solids increases the back pressure. Therefore in order to get maximum production all three factors must be taken into consideration. Over the years membranes have increased in there production capacity. Two types of membranes are generally used due to the aggresiveness of chlorine. CTA membranes are used with high levels of chlorine but are not as productive as TFC membranes. TFC membranes are sometimes used on less cholorinated water with a carbon filter to remove the aggressive chlorine prior to the membrane. Chlorine will actually destroy a TFC membrane but the TFC membrane will give greater production/rejection.
Reverse Osmosis will remove 60 – 98% of the Inorganics depending on the contaminant. By testing the water you can determine what if any additional filteration you would require to obtain the type of water you need. Reverse Osmosis generally is economical, more productive and takes less to maintain than Deionization or Distillation. It has become the most accepted method for home use.
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