Untreated water supplies rarely contain only hardness. If you get your water direct from nature, there's a good chance that it contains other minerals that can cause problems. The most commonly encountered 'other' minerals are iron, manganese, sulphur, and tannin (sometimes called organic colour). If they're present in high enough concentrations, these four can cause a multitude of headaches.
Since water hardness is the most common rural water issue, it's not surprising that many people look to a water softener to solve all the rest of the water problems. Water softeners are great for removing hardness - calcium and magnesium - but can they be effective in the removal of all the 'other' stuff? The answer is.......sometimes!
To know whether or not a softener can do more than just soften, you must first be able to identify the water problem(s) you have. The four common contaminants mentioned above, all create distinct and identifiable household issues and are pretty easy to identify and treat.
Iron is the most common rural water issue after hardness. Iron is present in most rock formations so it's not surprising that the vast majority of ground water supplies contain some iron. Iron can be present in water in two main forms: Ferric and Ferrous. Ferrous iron is usually called 'clear water iron'. With clear water iron you can run your water and it comes out of the faucet clear and colourless. But if it's left to sit, an orange-brown dust will precipitate out of solution.
Clear water iron will stain toilets, tubs, laundry, and many other surfaces if it's over 0.3 mg/L (same as parts per million). At this level, many people will also complain that the water has a metallic taste that is unpleasant. Ferrous iron can be removed with a water softener, however, the amount of ferrous iron that a softener can handle is a hot point of debate. We cover this further below.
Ferric iron is iron that has already precipitated out of solution. Water that has ferric iron in it, will run from the faucet orange or brown. A water softener will not remove ferric iron. Thankfully Ferric iron is quite rare.
Manganese is very closely related to iron. Water that contains manganese in concentrations above 0.05 mg/L (ppm) will usually cause staining - black residue that coats most surfaces and stains laundry. Manganese is most commonly encountered in the dissolved state - where the water first runs clear, but if left out will develop a black tint or black precipitate that falls to the bottom of the container. Like iron, manganese that is present in the dissolved state can be removed with a softener but only to a certain extent.
Rotten egg smell - yuck! Hot water is usually more affected than cold. If you smell rotten eggs when you have a shower, you've got a sulphur problem. The issue is hydrogen sulphide (H2S) gas dissolved in your well water. When you dispense the water, the gas comes out of solution and you smell the awful and characteristic stink. A water softener won't do anything to correct this issue. The approach for removing sulphur from water is to first oxidize the sulphur and then filter it. Oxidizing the sulphur takes it from the gaseous form, to the particulate form. Once it's particulate, it can be filtered out quite easily. Historically the most common way to oxidize the sulphur was through the use of chemicals that were added to the water. However, a newer breed of chemical free systems have become much more popular. Here's an example.
Tannin is very common in surface water sources, and very rare in well water, unless the well is in close proximity to a lake or river. Tannin, which is sometimes called 'organic colour' is what gives some lake water a tea colouration. Every surface water source has some tannin in it. If the concentration is high enough, the tannin can cause staining of porcelain fixtures and clothing. Tannin in water can also make an otherwise perfectly healthy glass of water very unappealing to drink. A water softener by itself won't do anything for tannin, but a small modification to the softener can turn it into a tanning-eating machine. Read below for more.
Most rural water users never adequately test their water. It's the single biggest mistake anybody trying to solve a water problem will make. No matter how good the equipment you buy, or how knowledgeable the dealer you buy from, if you don't know what's in the water, you're almost certain to buy the wrong equipment. Here are some pretty common mistakes:
These approaches seem reasonable, but they're loaded with incorrect assumptions that will lead to trouble. Let's unpack these and see where the logic fails:
It seems logical that your neighbours water would be just like yours. If you and your neighbour both get your water from the same lake or river, this logic is probably sound. However, if both you and your neighbour get your water from your own private wells, this same assumption just can't be made. Well depth can vary by hundreds of feet. The water at 20 feet down can be much different than the water at 250 feet. Even two wells the same depth can be drilled into very different parent material and provide water that is completely different.
And what you see at ground level, doesn't necessarily translate to what is underground. Two wells that are separated by even a short distance may be sourcing water from two different underground veins. This can make the water chemistry very different.
Using iron and manganese as an example, bigger is not always better. In fact, if you end up using a softener to remove iron and manganese you will need the softener to regenerate often enough that the iron and manganese can't foul the resin bed. Going with a softener that is too large will make the time between regenerations too long, and this can damage the resin. Also - with the vast majority of modern softeners, you will need to program in the water hardness value. How can you do this if you don't know what the number is? Better to figure out this number before you buy the system so you can get what you need.
This might be true, but in the absence of a water test, the local shop will almost always recommend a product they have in stock. Just because that product happened to be the the right product for the previous 10 customers, doesn't necessarily mean it's the best product for you. A water test is the only way to know if what the local guys are selling will work properly on your water.
If you're going to get the water tested anyway, do it before you buy a softener! That way, you'll know what to buy, and how to program the system once it arrives.
The great news is that for the vast majority of rural water users, the testing that you require is minimal. Testing for water hardness is a must. Beyond this, you really only need to test for anything that you suspect is causing a problem. For example, if you see orange staining in your bathtub (as described in the section above) then you know you've got an iron issue, and you should test for iron.
Knowing the water testing lingo is handy. When testing for iron, make sure you ask for 'total iron'. A manganese test is just a manganese test - no fancy terminology for that one. Tannin is sometimes referred to as 'organic colour' or just 'colour'. For sulphur testing you want the 'hydrogen sulphide' test - not the sulphate test.
If you determine that you need any water test beyond just hardness testing, make sure you also get a pH test. pH is the measure of how acidic or basic your water is. The pH of your water has major implications in the removal of iron, manganese, and sulphur and is also important for tannin removal.
You've got a number of options for where to get your water tested. There are two major Canadian laboratories that offer comprehensive water testing services. The packages they offer usually test for much more than what has been outlined here. All tests are done in an accredited laboratory and are highly accurate. These labs are Maxxam and ALS. You may have other accredited labs in your area - just do a search for 'environmental water testing' to see what turns up.
While accredited labs are great, the services they offer are relatively expensive and for the purpose of selecting water treatment equipment there are other less-expensive options that work just as well.
Water chemistry is really important for the proper functioning and maintenance of a pool so it's not surprising that these places offer water testing services to their customers. Often for free, or for just a few dollars, you can have most of these water tests performed on the spot. The level of accuracy won't be what you get from a national accredited laboratory, but for water equipment selecting purposes, it will do just fine.
You can buy test kits that will allow you to test most of the important parameters on your own. Avoid kits that use dip-strips as these usually show a range of values, rather than giving you a specific number. The chemicals that are used in the water test have a shelf life, so make sure the test kit hasn't been sitting on a store shelf for too long. What's great about having your own test kit is that once your water treatment equipment is installed, you can confirm that it's working. Be careful with aquarium test kits as these don't usually contain the tests that are important for drinking water.
Many local water treatment dealers are only too happy to come to your home, do some water testing, and give you their pitch. Make sure you tell them up-front that you want to know the results of the water testing. Some will share this happily, and others won't. Of course, be prepared for some follow up phone calls, emails, and the like!
If your iron level is over 0.3 mg/L then it's likely causing some issues that you'd like to remedy. As stated above, a water softener will only remove ferrous iron which is sometimes called clear water iron. So, how much clear water iron will a softener remove? This questions is common, and complicated.
A properly sized water softener will almost always handle 2.0 mg/L of iron or less. Beyond this amount, the softener may still do a fine job on the iron, but it becomes much harder to predict the performance. The reason for this is because iron is very much influenced by the chemistry of the water. You can have one situation where a softener easily removes 3 or 4 mg/L of iron, yet in another situation the exact same softener would struggle to remove 2.0 mg/L.
Despite this reality, there are many water softener manufacturers that make wild claims about the amount of iron their softeners can remove. 5 mg/L is a very common claim, and some systems for sale in Canada even claim removal of 10 mg/L of iron. Any iron claim beyond 2.0 mg/L is irresponsible. Perhaps the systems that claim 5 and 10 mg/L can accomplish this under very strict water chemistry conditions and flow rates, but there is no way they can accomplish anywhere near these levels consistently in every installation. Count on 2.0 mg/L and any amount of iron removal beyond this is a bonus!
Softeners can be built so that they maximize the amount of iron they can handle. The first rule of thumb is to slightly oversize the softener. You don't want to go too big as this can be detrimental, but you don't want to skimp on size either. Remember - the 'size' of the softener refers to how many cubic feet of resin it's built with. Oversizing by 1/2 cubic foot of resin is wise if you're dealing with iron-rich water.
Some water softening resin is more effective at removing iron also. Generally, fine mesh resin will remove more iron than standard resin. Fine mesh is simply a smaller resin bead that offers more ion-exchange surface per cubic foot. But there are other specialized resins, like Purolite SST-60 which are also very effective in the removal of iron.
Water softener resin has a high affinity for iron - this means that it grabs onto it very tightly and doesn't want to let go. This is good because it means a water softener will effectively remove the iron, but it's also a challenge because it can be difficult to get the iron to release from the resin during the regeneration process. If iron is allowed to persist on the resin for too long it becomes even more tightly bound to it, and eventually the resin becomes fouled and unable to do it's softening job.
When a softener is used for iron removal, it's important that the salt dose (the amount of salt used to regenerate the resin) is adjusted accordingly. High-efficiency softeners (those that use little salt) that are used for the removal of iron are extremely likely to become iron-fouled and in need of resin replacement. Even when a higher salt dose is used, it's a very wise idea to use a resin cleaning solution like Pro Res Care to periodically strip the resin of all the accumulated iron.
There are some situations where a softener just won't solve your iron problem. Here are the typical scenarios:
For scenario 1 and 2, you're going to need a dedicated iron removal system. There are many different makes and models to choose from. The newest generation of systems are 'chemical free' systems that use a single tank to oxidize the iron (and manganese + sulphur) and then filter it out. They work extremely well and require very little upkeep. Check out this link for an example of this type of system.
For scenario 3 there are a couple of different strategies. If you're planning on buying a water softener anyway, and if your iron level is above 2.0 but less than 5.0mg/L we suggest that you try a softener and see if it solves your iron problem. As we discussed above, you'll want to oversize the softener and build it with iron removal in mind. If your iron is over 5.0mg/L it is highly unlikely that any softener will remove enough iron to make your iron issues disappear. You'll need a dedicated iron removal system like the one linked to above.
Manganese behaves just like iron so the strategy for removing manganese using a softener is exactly the same as removing iron with a softener. If you're manganese is over 2.0 mg/L there's very little likelihood that a softener will remove enough of it to make your manganese problems go away. Manganese is removed very effectively by the same type of chemical free iron removal system we mention above.
If your manganese level is hovering around the 2.0 mg/L level, you may want to try a softener and see if it gets the job done, before committing to a dedicated manganese system. You'll want to build the softener with manganese removal in mind - it should be slightly oversized and you may want to consider a specialty resin that has greater manganese/iron removing capabilities.
Tannin is extremely common in surface water sources, and if it's present in high enough concentrations, it can cause staining problems. It also makes a glass of water, or a bathtub full of water look pretty nasty! A conventional water softener will do absolutely nothing to remove tannin, but a modified water softener can remove lots of tannin.
Specialty Tannin Resin Can Be
Mixed With The Softening Resin
Regular water softener resin is called 'cation' resin. Cations are positively charged ions in water. Calcium and magnesium (hardness minerals) are positively charged ions. Tannin on the other hand is a negatively charged ion, so 'anion' resin must be added. Anion resin will remove negatively charged ions.
So, a water softener can be built with additional anion resin added to it. A ratio of 1:1 is usually recommended. This ensures that both the softening and tannin removal are effectively addressed. Of course, a larger tank must be used to accommodate the double-portion of resin. Both the normal softening resin and the tannin resin are regenerated using salt brine - so no special considerations are needed here. A system that is built with both anion (tannin) and softening resin is often referred to as a mixed-bed system.
The removal of negatively charged ions in water (such as tannin) can cause a significant decrease in the pH of the water. This is important if the pH was low to begin with and if metal water lines are present in the home. In some cases this combination can cause thinning of the metal water lines and eventually pinhole leaks over time.
