Hard Water From Well

[Naam]

Just make sure that the resin filter can be rinsed with brine to regenerate it. My system appears to use a primitive venturi to suck the brine into the filter inflow

when you switch the valves for back-wash the brine should be sucked in the correct direction (i.e. outlet). if not the venturi was mounted the wrong way.

[Naam]

i do wonder if by softening the water, it will remove the existing calcium build up on our water heaters, scale on tiles etc??

it won't. told you so already

[cloudhopper]

Just make sure that the resin filter can be rinsed with brine to regenerate it. My system appears to use a primitive venturi to suck the brine into the filter inflow

when you switch the valves for back-wash the brine should be sucked in the correct direction (i.e. outlet). if not the venturi was mounted the wrong way.

This setup appears to draw the brine in (from a 60l plastic barrel) on the inlet side then the output is bypassed to waste. Done after the normal weekly backflush as required per test kit.

[jaideeguy]

QUOTE (jaideeguy @ 2007-12-07 20:49:53)

i do wonder if by softening the water, it will remove the existing calcium build up on our water heaters, scale on tiles etc??

it won't. told you so already "

OK, do you know of any way to remove calcium scale from water heaters??

i had thought about using vinegar [or some other mild acid] to disolve the scale. it works with my household faucets and shower heads, but how to get it in contact with the inside of the [on demand electric] water heater tank??

the only way i could immagine doing it would be to temporarily plumb a small pump [like an aquarium pump] and run the vinegar solution thru it for a while.

[Naam]

the only way i could immagine doing it would be to temporarily plumb a small pump [like an aquarium pump] and run the vinegar solution thru it for a while

a tedious job that would work. an easier alternative would be taking out the heating elements of your water heaters and dissolve/remove the mineral deposit with vinegar essence, lime juice or (least expensive) with diluted hydrochloric acid available for peanuts.

[Naam]

Just make sure that the resin filter can be rinsed with brine to regenerate it. My system appears to use a primitive venturi to suck the brine into the filter inflow

when you switch the valves for back-wash the brine should be sucked in the correct direction (i.e. outlet). if not the venturi was mounted the wrong way.

This setup appears to draw the brine in (from a 60l plastic barrel) on the inlet side then the output is bypassed to waste. Done after the normal weekly backflush as required per test kit.

then the setup is not very efficient but it should work too.

question: "is your water that hard that you really need a weekly backwash?"

[Naam]

on a side note Jaideeguy... when will you realize what kind of currency is (mostly) used in Thailand and it's correct name?

[jaideeguy]

"a tedious job that would work. an easier alternative would be taking out the heating elements of your water heaters and dissolve/remove the mineral deposit with vinegar essence, lime juice or (least expensive) with diluted hydrochloric acid available for peanuts. "

so Naam, I stand corrected. The correct name for Thai currency is "peanuts"???

FYI, I've seen many spellings of bhatt, batt, bhat and like many other thai/english translations....there seems to be many 'correct' ways. you know what i mean???

[jaideeguy]

And on the sideline with Naam...... last, but not least is the 'official' [?] spelling of 'baht'.

but, you can do a google and see some of the many spellings of baht.

The really 'official' term is THB, that i will use from now on so as to not pish off Naam. or should i use 'peanuts'??

now, back to my OP regarding flushing calcium scale out of heaters, I would be reluctant to disasemble my water heater and from memory, the heating components are soldered and i don't want to open up that can of worms. will check it out tomorrow.

[Naam]

The really 'official' term is THB, that i will use from now on so as to not pish off Naam

although THB is not an offical term but a currency code i accept the deal

[Naam]

regarding flushing calcium scale out of heaters, I would be reluctant to disasemble my water heater and from memory, the heating components are soldered...

not in my instant water heaters Jay. but even if they were soldered it would be much easier to remove, clean and resolder them than setting up a flushing system (which i would consider a can of worms).

p.s. soldering in Thailand is quite inexpensive. it just takes a fistful of Putts (or whatever that currency is called)

Edited December 8, 2007 by Naam

[chownah]

regarding flushing calcium scale out of heaters, I would be reluctant to disasemble my water heater and from memory, the heating components are soldered...

not in my instant water heaters Jay. but even if they were soldered it would be much easier to remove, clean and resolder them than setting up a flushing system (which i would consider a can of worms).

p.s. soldering in Thailand is quite inexpensive. it just takes a fistful of Putts (or whatever that currency is called)

It's called bath.

[Naam]

regarding flushing calcium scale out of heaters, I would be reluctant to disasemble my water heater and from memory, the heating components are soldered...

not in my instant water heaters Jay. but even if they were soldered it would be much easier to remove, clean and resolder them than setting up a flushing system (which i would consider a can of worms).

p.s. soldering in Thailand is quite inexpensive. it just takes a fistful of Putts (or whatever that currency is called)

It's called bath.

gooooood mooorning Chownah. slept well? if yes, why don't you read the few postings before mine?

[jaideeguy]

latest update on water softner project.....

Hi CH,

Just wondering how your water softener is doing?/ I just installed the 2nd hand unit and my water is flowing, but stinks and tastes terrible [don't drink it of course, but when brushing my teeth it tastes putrid] . Still using the old 2nd hand resin beads that i've tried to regenerate manually with 13k salt and slightly improved, but not satisfied and may [should] go the extra bhatt and replace resin. internet tells me that resin should last 15 yrs, if regularly regenerated and this unit wasn't.

softenss [calcium content], i test by pouring a small glass of water over my car hood [bonnet for you britts] and see how much of a white residue is left. it's improved slightly....

that should be a simple but accurate test of calcium content??.

would appreciate your findings.....

JDG

[Naam]

Still using the old 2nd hand resin beads that i've tried to regenerate manually with 13k salt and slightly improved, but not satisfied and may [should] go the extra bhatt and replace resin. internet tells me that resin should last 15 yrs, if regularly regenerated and this unit wasn't.

from the pictures you posted it is advisable that you remove all resin and clean/regenerate it outside the tank. then rinse the tank thoroughly (with a vinegar/water mix) and check for any decayed rat, mouse or lizards if the resin wasn't regenerated for a number of years (as the old setup indicated) it would be also advisable to spent the extra "Putts" and replace it.

[cloudhopper]

An update on the water softener installed by L'Ana.

After about 6 weeks the test kit they provided showed that the water was getting hard - time to regenerate the resin. This involves 1)back washing the filter, 2 min 2)loading the filter (siphon feed) with brine made by adding 10kg of salt to the 60l elevated brine tank, 10 min. 3)wait for ion exchange, 40 min 4)repeat normal backwash till salt taste is gone, about 5 min. 5)test, 1 min...

Would much rather have an automatic one but this will do. It has definitely solved the scaling problems, the green color pool water problem and the water has a nice silky feel too. Other than leaving the old resin filter (we had installed a few years back without being told it would soon be worthless) in line (I wasn't there during the install!) I have no complaints.

Anyone know where I can go to buy another sack of salt? The down side to this system is that I will be dumping 60l of brine every 6 weeks which I hope won't seriously alter the 1 rai X 1.5m deep spring-fed pond...

[jaideeguy]

Also, an update on my 2nd hand system [for under 10kbahatt [peanuts for Naam].....

I did the normal backwash on the old resin, no effect, then manually removed all media and placed it in buckets and soaked and fondled the media for a couple of hours and rinsed it till no color came out. after all that, still no effect.

So, it was time to bite the bullet and buy some new resin that Ui [from world chemicals] delivered and installed. 50k of imported italian resin costs 3,200 bhahtt [a few more peanuts].

That did the trick!! now soft water and much less white residue on glass and am slowly replacing the water in my pool with softened water.

was told by the world chemical guy to backwash monthly by simply remove the 6 bolts on top of filter, remove gasket and top then pour in 5 k salt, let it sit for an hour, then backwash. Easy enough for me.

CH...

salt is available at world chem for 'peanuts'....under 300 bhatt/50kilos.

and re: discharging into your spring fed lake......depends on the dilution [of salt] vs your volume of inflow into lake from spring. I just dump mine into the gutter next to my house and it eventually will end up in bkk as all things do.

it has me wondering if i could place 25k of resin into my sand filter for swimming pool to soften the pool water???

[Naam]

it has me wondering if i could place 25k of resin into my sand filter for swimming pool to soften the pool water???

it would be peanuts if your filter could hold the additional 25kg. unfortunately i won't. but if the filter was big enough, taking the resin out and regenerate it wouldn't be peanuts. to solve that problem you could spend peanuts for an additional filter where you replace the sand with resin for which you have to spend an additional peanuts amount.

what i did to reduce my hard pool water is topping up the loss (due mainly to backwash, hardly any evaporation) slowly over time with peanuts quantities of soft water from the resin filter. that of course will involve some additional peanuts amounts of salt because you have to regenerate more often

p.s. all peanuts denominated in Thai Putts.

[jaideeguy]

maybe we should call them 'pea-nguts'?...small buggers, but they add up...especially when the $nuts are getting so worthless, like 'pea-nguts'>>>.

yea Naam, i'm doing the same same in topping off my pool with softened water and hopefully by summer [it's still too chilly to appreciate a swim up here in the chilly north] it will be softer.

I do still have a little white residue when i wash the car, but not nearly as much as before.

thanks for your input....