Over the past six months or so my well water has gotten orange. Not all the time but seems to come and go. It will get really orange stained with iron and then clear up again with a week or two.
Any ideas? Any easy things to troubleshoot with my water softener?
I have zero idea I just add rust remover pellets when the salt tank is low but that isn’t the issue right now and my water is orange again.
It might be that the softener and iron out tank need to be serviced. Might be getting a little clogged and not flushing good.
good luck!
It might be that the softener and iron out tank need to be serviced. Might be getting a little clogged and not flushing good.
good luck!
Who do I call for that? General plumber?
Yeah, your preferred plumber should be able to help. Or the culligan man. Is your iron out tank a green sand filter type thing?
took a bit to post again. guess im too ‘new’.
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This is what it looks like. I have tried the number on the sticker but they don’t exist anymore
A105C6DB-B142-4000-AF6B-48A16BC8DE0D-scaled.jpeg
This is what it looks like with the cover off. I pressed the dial in, trying to get it to manually run (haven’t heard it run in awhile)
And… it is running now
F78150CF-7EE2-4708-B57D-54DD205801FD-scaled.jpeg
my best guess is that the iron is building up and stopping good flow when the system ‘recharges’ and flushes out. Then, when the iron build up gets severe, it releases into the system causing orange staining water. That was my problem when i had the excess orange water issue.
How deep is your well? shallow well? maybe it is running low?
just spitballing now. lol
sorry im not more help.
Thanks. I don’t know how deep the well is. I was wondering/ worrying if the well was getting low.
I do know the water softener is 18 years old and hasn’t been serviced since we owned the house (8 years) and maybe never
Lots of variables to really narrow it down…depth, age of well, soil composition, etc.
I can say that where we are located drilling deeper means more iron and problems similar to yours. My brother in law eventually got pissed enough with a similar situation that he had a slightly shallower well punched and the issues went away completely.
I do know the water softener is 18 years old and hasn’t been serviced since we owned the house (8 years) and maybe never
with this info, i would definitely get it serviced by a plumber or somebody who sells softeners.
On a drilled well there something you can pour down the well to back flush the system , if I remember right they then recondmend letting the well run 6-8 hours on the ground after treatment.
18 years old, Time to get a new system. Look for a system designed for well water. Check out Commers or a local guy that can test your water and make a recommendation.
Anyone use Kinetico / Aquarius?
I not an expert on this stuff, but I do have a well system with a water softener for iron removal. My guess is that your softener need cleaning. My system has been in for about ten years and I have cleaned the resin tank 3 times and the salt tank once. I have also cleaned the the auto valve/venturi at the top of the softener twice.
My wife lets me know as soon as the water starts to turn orange. It never gets really bad before I hear about it.
Since you have a separate salt tank from the resin tank, I would clean it first. Dump out ALL the salt and clean ALL the sludge out of the bottom of the tank. The sludge comes from the pellets/salt that you use to charge the softener. As the sludge build up it reduces the brine available to recharge the resin tank. Don’t put more than a 2 or 3 – 40# bags in the salt tank as once. The salt should be gone in 1 or 2 months, if used/recharged regularly. Keep an eye on the salt level, it will tell you if the salt is bridging in the tank.
I use liquid Rust Out
https://www.google.com/search?q=rust+out&oq=Rust+Out&aqs=chrome.0.0i512l10.5167j0j15&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8
to clean the Resin Tank. Follow the instructions on the bottle. Since you have not done this before, do it a couple three times.
This should give you a good start, PM me if you want more.
18 year old water softener. Don’t waste your time and money on it. I installed that same water softener in my house 25 years ago and it was replaced over 10 years ago.
Kenitico is good but plan on paying for it.
A good set up is a sediment filter to catch any larger stuff coming up the well. Iron filter to treat for iron. Water softener to treat hardness. Some folks even add on a carbon filter after that to clean up the taste of the water.
Agree with the last post. It sounds like you need a separate iron filter and separate water softner. That’s the setup I have. The water goes through the iron filter first before it goes through the water softner. I had both replaced a few years back, roughly $3500 total if I remember.
Thank you everyone. I think due to its age I agree it’s time to replace. Just sucks because all our utilities are that age and failing. I just replaced A/C and a boiler.
I’ll start making some calls. Probably look at Commers and Kinetico
Make sure to get a quote from Mike W also.
Thank you everyone. I think due to its age I agree it’s time to replace. Just sucks because all our utilities are that age and failing. I just replaced A/C and a boiler.
I’ll start making some calls. Probably look at Commers and Kinetico
one thing to check is if you have a ‘salt dam’ in the tank. Have you noticed the salt level not decreasing very much? Might be a void under the surface in the salt tank, so the recharge is not getting adequate saline to clean the ion exchange beads. Take something ‘pointy’ and see if you can push it through to the bottom of the tank – just be careful not to puncture anything important.
Another piece of advice is to look for a local plumber that knows the water situation at your place.
I know they can do water tests and such, but having a local guy really helps identify what type of units are needed and what settings are best. Also helps having a local guy if you have issues with the newly installed units.
We had a Kinetico in our last place, we liked it. We also would shock the well every other year. It was amazing what would come out after first turning it back on. (By pass water treatment system when shocking )
We had a Kinetico in our last place, we liked it. We also would shock the well every other year. It was amazing what would come out after first turning it back on. (By pass water treatment system when shocking )
what kind of well did you have? shallow? deep? flowing?
Anyone use Kinetico / Aquarius?
We had a Kinetico with a well system. Worked great for a few years, maybe five. After that we started to get a “slime” build up on the inlet at the top of the system and had to clean it monthly. They are very expensive compared to other systems but we junked it and put in a Whirlpool from Lowes (not recommending just stating what we put in). That system is now about 10 years old and runs fine. YMMV…
I rented my system. I had a deep flowing well with a jet pump, not a submersible. basically an underground river. shocking the well was not an option. My rental was like $45/month not including salt or potassium perm. stuff. they serviced it for free. So, it was like $500/year. That would get me 8 years on a purchased system for $4000. Something to think about and price out.
I have since moved and my well water is soooooooooooo good, no system needed. I feel very fortunate there.
Whatever you end up getting make sure you test your water so the system is set up correctly. In my experience the Anoka Sandplain is notorious for hard water and high iron.
BTW phishingruven I just realized the black object in your picture is a dog and not iron sights. 
Both my neighbor (aka BuckSlayer) and I had these filter systems put in our cabins last year. I can’t remember if they were Kinetico or another brand. I think the cost was about 500.00 and they recommend replacing the filters annually. Sorry for the poor picture. I took a picture of my new furnace and you can see the filter to the right of it. We had the same issues with rusty water. Especially toilet bowls or fixtures that didn’t get used every day. Our water has been clear every since. I can post this weekend what brand these are.
water-filter.jpg
Thank you everyone. I think due to its age I agree it’s time to replace. Just sucks because all our utilities are that age and failing. I just replaced A/C and a boiler.
I’ll start making some calls. Probably look at Commers and Kinetico
Ive been really happy with Culligan and Im on well water too. We are lucky to not have iron issues and the water isnt overly hard either. I have an RO system too for drinking water. They come out periodically and put the salt in, check to make sure unit is working properly. They even just replaced the RO filters, tested the water and no charge for it.
Found a better picture of it. It is a Culligan filter.
water-filter-2.jpg
BTW phishingruven I just realized the black object in your picture is a dog and not iron sights.
he’s watching the turkeys in the yard intently. lol
We have a Kinetico system on our well. It seems to work just fine!
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