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DIY house water testing? Walter Cohen 05-02-2007
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Posted by Walter Cohen on May 2, 2007, 8:27 am


I have pretty much always had a whole house water filter in my home.
The filter is a sediment filter rated at 16,000 gallons and lasts about 3
months before it needs changing.
Two years ago it needed about 2 months between changing.
In the past month the filter needed to be changed weekly!

I have contacted (two years ago and now more recently) the local water
authority, dpw, and town supervisor and have emailed digital photos of the
water filters. The local water authority, as expected, simply quotes how
NYS mandates periodic water testing and such and pretty much guarantees that
the water is safe to drink/use. It does not recommend a use of a water
filter (only as personal preference).
It's not like I water my lawn (and my neighbor's) or have a swimming pool or
take 100 showers each day. There has been no annual flushing of the
hydrants yet and now local fires needing the fire department to make use of
the hydrants.

I have also contacted a water testing facility and there is not much they
can do/suggest. Of course they said I could test for everything my town
tests for (for $4000) or I could bring in an old filter and they can test it
for iron ($45) which they think is the most likely cause. They think the
insides of the water distribution pipes are slowly corroding and again,
short of replacing or resurfacing the insides of these pipes with a cement
coating, the sediment and discoloration is just something I would need to
accept and live with.

Is there an inexpensive testing kit that is available so that I could test
for iron and such ?

Any other thoughts on this are appreciated.

Walter


Posted by Don Phillipson on May 2, 2007, 9:21 am



> Is there an inexpensive testing kit that is available so that I could test
> for iron and such ?

Salesmen for filters, softeners etc. usually
carry with them a simple minerals test kit
for free tests during the sales pitch.

--
Don Phillipson
Carlsbad Springs
(Ottawa, Canada)



Posted by EXT on May 2, 2007, 10:54 am


What is the micron rating and the physical size of the filters you use. You
may want to add a pre-filter using a 4.5" x 20" particulate filter at a
larger micron rating than you use for final filtering. This way you take out
the larger lumps first, without clogging up your main filter. If your house
filter is a 1 micron filter, you may want to pre-filter with a 5, 10 or 20
micron ahead of it. They are not expensive and will save your good filter,
if you are using good filters.

>
>> Is there an inexpensive testing kit that is available so that I could
>> test
>> for iron and such ?
>
> Salesmen for filters, softeners etc. usually
> carry with them a simple minerals test kit
> for free tests during the sales pitch.
>
> --
> Don Phillipson
> Carlsbad Springs
> (Ottawa, Canada)
>
>



Posted by Wally on May 2, 2007, 12:11 pm


> What is the micron rating and the physical size of the filters you use. You
> may want to add a pre-filter using a 4.5" x 20" particulate filter at a
> larger micron rating than you use for final filtering. This way you take out
> the larger lumps first, without clogging up your main filter. If your house
> filter is a 1 micron filter, you may want to pre-filter with a 5, 10 or 20
> micron ahead of it. They are not expensive and will save your good filter,
> if you are using good filters.
>
>
>
>
>
>
> >> Is there an inexpensive testing kit that is available so that I could
> >> test
> >> for iron and such ?
>
> > Salesmen for filters, softeners etc. usually
> > carry with them a simple minerals test kit
> > for free tests during the sales pitch.
>
> > --
> > Don Phillipson
> > Carlsbad Springs
> > (Ottawa, Canada)- Hide quoted text -
>
> - Show quoted text -

I use a GE SmartWater FXUSC filter rated at 5-15 microns.

Walter


Posted by Lawrence on May 2, 2007, 11:18 am


> I have pretty much always had a whole house water filter in my home.
> The filter is a sediment filter rated at 16,000 gallons and lasts about 3
> months before it needs changing.
> Two years ago it needed about 2 months between changing.
> In the past month the filter needed to be changed weekly!
>
> I have contacted (two years ago and now more recently) the local water
> authority, dpw, and town supervisor and have emailed digital photos of the
> water filters. The local water authority, as expected, simply quotes how
> NYS mandates periodic water testing and such and pretty much guarantees that
> the water is safe to drink/use. It does not recommend a use of a water
> filter (only as personal preference).
> It's not like I water my lawn (and my neighbor's) or have a swimming pool or
> take 100 showers each day. There has been no annual flushing of the
> hydrants yet and now local fires needing the fire department to make use of
> the hydrants.
>
> I have also contacted a water testing facility and there is not much they
> can do/suggest. Of course they said I could test for everything my town
> tests for (for $4000) or I could bring in an old filter and they can test it
> for iron ($45) which they think is the most likely cause. They think the
> insides of the water distribution pipes are slowly corroding and again,
> short of replacing or resurfacing the insides of these pipes with a cement
> coating, the sediment and discoloration is just something I would need to
> accept and live with.
>
> Is there an inexpensive testing kit that is available so that I could test
> for iron and such ?
>
> Any other thoughts on this are appreciated.
>
> Walter

I am surprised they want to charge you so much for a test. My local
county agency had mined tested for iron and hardness for $10, no lie!
I was given a menu of things that could be tested for but even if
tested for everthing the total was less than $50. I'm in Minnesota so
maybe we don't have to test for so many things.

It sounds like sediment from whatever source is the problem anyway and
agree with EXT on details, nice post.


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