Whole House Water Filters

[Sheryl]

My water comes from an artesian well and is very hard, lots of calcium and iron.

I currently have a stainless steel filter system, 2 tanks one carbon and one resin. It is about 12 years old and starting to rust through (as is the SS water tank) so I am having to think about replacement and while at it, would really like to get a system that (1) works better and (2) is lower/easier maintanence. (I must admit points 1 and 2 may be related i.e. it is such a messy hassle to backflush the system I have that I don't do it nearly as often as I should, which may be why it doesn't do as a good a job as I would like!)

Searching through this forum I have seen references to the King fiberglass system, have any of you used it? Experience esp re maintainence? And where did you get it?

Also saw reference to reverse osmosis, are there any reverse osmosis filter systems suiotable for whole house? And how what maintainence involved?

It's not an issue of safe drinking water, I use rain water plus a table top carbon filter for drinking. It's preventing unsightly stains in the tub/sinks and white film/spiots on drinking glasses etc...really need to get the calcium & iron out. Plays havoc with my hair to shampoo in very hard water, too.

[JAS21]

Sheryl

I don’t have any of your problems, but you have been very helpful to us in the past, thank you,I do know a little bit about water treatment though.

Firstly, rain water is normally soft and much better for washing your hair than drinking, drinking water should be hard. I fail to understand that many here buy water filters that soften the water and then they use it for drinking.

I have scanned the internet and found some information for you and it may help you decide…here are the links, the first you might find very useful. You probably know a lot of the below anyway.

Reverse Osmosis does waste a lot of water, I think about 700% with some manufactures.

I’m sure that somebody will come up with something close to what you want though…but this is a start...hope that the links work!!

http://www.bangkokcompanies.com/categories/thai_companies_p390.htm

Niagara+ whole house water filter

RainDance Water Systems - well water filters - water softeners - iron filters - commercial reverse osmosis systems - whole house water filters

How to Get Rid of Tap-Water Mineral Deposits | eHow.com

How to Get Rid of Hard Water and Rust Stains: Remove Tough Water Stains From Sinks, Toilets, Tubs, and Clothing

[lopburi3]

The backflush should be very easy to do (just change valve positions on the filter tanks) unless you have no drainage for the water. The materials are a bit harder to replace every few years but if you have a wrench (I know you know how to use) it should not be that hard - but that does make a mess that has to be picked up if you can not land fill in the area. I believe recommendation last time was for carbon and a coal type substance and no resin (at any rate is was not the original carbon/resin as we had). This was for a family home in Lopburi using well water which is very hard and makes a mess of tile/toilets and the like.

But above said it does seem far from perfect and minerals are likely to still be a problem for tile. Expect some of the Vixol products may help (in US LimeAway was very good in Florida for this). At any rate whatever acid LimeAway has did seem to loosen and remove lime deposits.

[stgrhe]

Culligan filters are also good and available here in Thailand trough the company iWater in Khon Kaen.

http://www.culligan.com/en/products/whole-house-water-filters/

Design Construct Consult swimming pool waterfall fountain water supply Grundfos Astral Pool Heyward Sta-Rite chlorine pump filter filtration water treatment Ozone : Inter Water Treatment

[cloudhopper]

RO is the absolute best for purifying small amounts of drinking water but you already have that sorted. Removing the minerals in whole-house quantities requires a resin filter that will ionically adsorb calcium, magnesium and other ++ ions etc. At least until it saturates, which takes about 2 weeks for my filter/usage. At that point a saturated brine solution must be backwashed into the resin for 45 minutes during which time ion exchange takes place and the calcium etc. on the resin is displaced by sodium, which is subsequently shed in favor of the ++ minerals. AFAIK there are no systems available here that do this recharging cycle automatically. Not relevant to your situation but anyone who drinks softened water will be consuming quite a bit of sodium (which can be removed subsequently by RO as I do). Too bad that drinking high calcium hard water is actually healthier than softened for us but it is very unhealthy for house plumbing! Citric acid works well to dissolve the calcium scale BTW.

edit- And also be aware that you will be dumping 100+l of saturated mineral solution somewhere every time you recharge so the implications should be planned for...

Edited June 16, 2010 by cloudhopper

[CDNinKS]

AFAIK there are no systems available here that do this recharging cycle automatically

I just purchased a water softener from PURE, it is automatic. You choose how often you want it to back flush. It was not cheap, 30,000 baht installed. I believe the manual model was around 22,000 baht.

[basjke]

AFAIK there are no systems available here that do this recharging cycle automatically

I just purchased a water softener from PURE, it is automatic. You choose how often you want it to back flush. It was not cheap, 30,000 baht installed. I believe the manual model was around 22,000 baht.

Which one did you buy as i'm also looking into it at the moment.have seen the M5 system from masterpure at homepro for 16.900 and the automatic one for 21.900 Bht.M7 for well water was a few thousand more.I think 21.900 Bht for the manual.

[Sheryl]

The backflush should be very easy to do (just change valve positions on the filter tanks) unless you have no drainage for the water. The materials are a bit harder to replace every few years but if you have a wrench (I know you know how to use) it should not be that hard - but that does make a mess that has to be picked up if you can not land fill in the area. I believe recommendation last time was for carbon and a coal type substance and no resin (at any rate is was not the original carbon/resin as we had). This was for a family home in Lopburi using well water which is very hard and makes a mess of tile/toilets and the like.

Nothing easy about it, Lop, unless I am missing something. I don't have a place to drain the water so have to use a large plastic garbage bin and then carry it off bucket by bucket, but worst problem is that invariably a fair amount of the filter material comes out in the course of the backflush so I always have to open the whole thing up to put it back in. (You would thing that if it can come out through the backflush spout it should be possible to put it back in the same way but ^%&$ if I can get that to work.)

And the filter change isn't every few years, it's yearly, or so I was told and from the looks of the gunk that collects I'm inclined to believe it. And that's a huge chore. I tried paying a company to do it as well as sell me the materials but despite my instructions (soon to turn to desperate pleas followed by shrieking on my part) they dumped the dirty water, and the carbon, and the resin, all over the yard and into the little "moat" which surrounds the house (otherwise clean water and the home of many cute little tadpoles etc) making a horrible, smelly mess that took me days to clean up. TWICE this happened and no amount of efforts on my part could deter them...they were steadfast in regarding the "moat" as a sewage recepticle and using it accordingly. (You have to wonder by what logic they think that someone who would pay for a whole house water filter would want a small canal of sewage immediately surrounding her house, but....!!)

Not about to start trying to backflush with a special briny solution, the ordinary backflush is already much more hassle than I have time for. And if ROMO wastes that much water probably not an option.

CDNInks, where die you get this self-flushing filter? And how does it flush exactly? I assume that unlike my current system it manages to backflush without dislodging the carbon or resin, but where does all the resulting dirty water go and how does it get there? Is there a place where one can hook up a long PVC pipe to divert it far from the house or something like that?

Stgrhe, what is the story on backflushing your Culligan filter?

And, does anyone know of suppliers for the Culligan filter in Bangkok and surrounding area?

Thanx all

[moe666]

The backflush should be very easy to do (just change valve positions on the filter tanks) unless you have no drainage for the water. The materials are a bit harder to replace every few years but if you have a wrench (I know you know how to use) it should not be that hard - but that does make a mess that has to be picked up if you can not land fill in the area. I believe recommendation last time was for carbon and a coal type substance and no resin (at any rate is was not the original carbon/resin as we had). This was for a family home in Lopburi using well water which is very hard and makes a mess of tile/toilets and the like.

Nothing easy about it, Lop, unless I am missing something. I don't have a place to drain the water so have to use a large plastic garbage bin and then carry it off bucket by bucket, but worst problem is that invariably a fair amount of the filter material comes out in the course of the backflush so I always have to open the whole thing up to put it back in. (You would thing that if it can come out through the backflush spout it should be possible to put it back in the same way but ^%&$ if I can get that to work.)

And the filter change isn't every few years, it's yearly, or so I was told and from the looks of the gunk that collects I'm inclined to believe it. And that's a huge chore. I tried paying a company to do it as well as sell me the materials but despite my instructions (soon to turn to desperate pleas followed by shrieking on my part) they dumped the dirty water, and the carbon, and the resin, all over the yard and into the little "moat" which surrounds the house (otherwise clean water and the home of many cute little tadpoles etc) making a horrible, smelly mess that took me days to clean up. TWICE this happened and no amount of efforts on my part could deter them...they were steadfast in regarding the "moat" as a sewage recepticle and using it accordingly. (You have to wonder by what logic they think that someone who would pay for a whole house water filter would want a small canal of sewage immediately surrounding her house, but....!!)

Not about to start trying to backflush with a special briny solution, the ordinary backflush is already much more hassle than I have time for. And if ROMO wastes that much water probably not an option.

CDNInks, where die you get this self-flushing filter? And how does it flush exactly? I assume that unlike my current system it manages to backflush without dislodging the carbon or resin, but where does all the resulting dirty water go and how does it get there? Is there a place where one can hook up a long PVC pipe to divert it far from the house or something like that?

Stgrhe, what is the story on backflushing your Culligan filter?

And, does anyone know of suppliers for the Culligan filter in Bangkok and surrounding area?

Thanx all

Isn't there a company that provides units were they come and exchange the filter medium on a regular basis and do the backwash and flush at there facility. You will pay for the service but you donot have the hassel of maintence. if your exchange resin is coming out during the backwash your tank is in need of repair or your water pressure is to high. if you are drinking soft water a calcium and magnesium supplament should be taken on a regular basis.

[CDNinKS]

Which one did you buy as i'm also looking into it at the moment.have seen the M5 system from masterpure at homepro for 16.900 and the automatic one for 21.900 Bht.M7 for well water was a few thousand more.I think 21.900 Bht for the manual.

I'm not at the house build site at the moment so not sure of the model number. The unit sold by PURE and Homepro (at least in Hua Hin) are identical and the same price. The reason I bought from PURE was they installed it, as with Homepro they were going to get a third party to install. There are a few models offered, depending on your requirements. The two I considered (about 1 meter tall) were basically the same (size, capacity, etc)the only difference being automatic back-flush/regeneration or manual. The system comprises 2 units, the resin bead softener vessel and a salt solution tank

CDNInks, where die you get this self-flushing filter? And how does it flush exactly?

It should be noted that these units are not filters. They are water softeners (mineral removers). They consist of a vessel filled with resin beads that are positively ion charged by a salt bath solution. When the water flows thru them the positive charged beads attract and hold the minerals until they become saturated. Then you backflush the unit, either manually by moving a control lever or automatically. This does 2 things. It flushes the salt bath thru the beads that remove the mineral deposits and recharge them and also does a rinse afterword to remove the majority of the salt. This backflush water/salt is waste and it is dumped into a drain line that in my case goes into my grey water soak away pit.

I have had numerous units like this in houses I owned in Canada, manual and automatic ones. The trick is to get the timing right on the back flush so as to always supply softened water but not too often as to waste salt. The last auto unit I had in Canada the regeneration was based on water volume. It sensed the amount of water used and you set the backflush accordingly. This unit from PURE is time based, so you set it to backflush every so many days. In my installation the water comes from the supply, thru the water softener, then to the water tank, then pump to the house. The problem with this is that if you miss judge the regeneration and the beads are saturated you will be contaminating the water tank with hard water. I am going to try and avoid this by having a tee fitting with a valve between the softener and the water tank where I can sample water occasionally before it goes into the tank.

The simplest way to test if you are getting soft water is with soap. Simply take a small amount of hand soap in your hand and use some water to make a lather. If it lathers easily with lots of suds and when you rinse it off your hands feel silky and slightly slippery, the water is soft. If your hands feel dry and you can snap your fingers while they are wet, it is hard (high in mineral content).

Good luck to all

[cloudhopper]

The trick is to get the timing right on the back flush so as to always supply softened water but not too often as to waste salt. The last auto unit I had in Canada the regeneration was based on water volume. It sensed the amount of water used and you set the backflush accordingly. This unit from PURE is time based, so you set it to backflush every so many days. In my installation the water comes from the supply, thru the water softener, then to the water tank, then pump to the house. The problem with this is that if you miss judge the regeneration and the beads are saturated you will be contaminating the water tank with hard water. I am going to try and avoid this by having a tee fitting with a valve between the softener and the water tank where I can sample water occasionally before it goes into the tank.

My system is also set up between the well and the supply tank. It would have been better to put the softener after the tank IMO because when the tank tops up a large volume of water flows through the softener in a short time, reducing the resident time interacting with the resin. Putting it after the supply tank (as it would be in a typical city-water setup) allows a much longer resident time and more consistent water softening due to the intermittent nature of household use. Setting your tank float switch for more frequent topping will help.

[cloudhopper]

Not about to start trying to backflush with a special briny solution, the ordinary backflush is already much more hassle than I have time for. And if ROMO wastes that much water probably not an option.

Back flushing a resin exchange filter without brine is a complete waste of time and electricity. The only options that you or anyone else have are RO, distillation or resin exchange. All require disposal of the concentrated reject water, and this is environmentally significant to the point where water softeners are now illegal in some California counties. In view of your other stated requirements an automatic softener seems the best solution. The reject water can be piped away for some distance but it will have to go "somewhere".

[CDNinKS]

Putting it after the supply tank (as it would be in a typical city-water setup) allows a much longer resident time and more consistent water softening due to the intermittent nature of household use.

I disagree with your theory. First, "resident time" is not required, the unit is designed to remove the minerals as the water passes thru the resin beads, no need to "steep" the water. Second, putting the softener between the pump and the house would produce the same results as putting it before the tank, water would flow thru whenever demand was created in the house. The disadvantage, in my opinion, is the fluctuations in pressure/volume created by the pump kicking in and out, which I think might cause uneven flow and distribution thru the resin bed. Remember, in a typical city water setup in a western country the water supply is regulated and constant.

I do agree that the waste water is salt rich and disposal needs to be considered as to plant life etc.

[cloudhopper]

Putting it after the supply tank (as it would be in a typical city-water setup) allows a much longer resident time and more consistent water softening due to the intermittent nature of household use.

I disagree with your theory. First, "resident time" is not required, the unit is designed to remove the minerals as the water passes thru the resin beads, no need to "steep" the water.

It's not my theory it's a fact pertaining to all ion exchange resin systems. The harder the feed water the longer the time required for the ion exchange to reach the equilibrium state, for a given reaction vessel dimension, flow rate and resin bead size. Therefore each system must be designed around all these parameters regardless of what the brochure or sales person may claim.

[CDNinKS]

Well I think we are misunderstanding each other here, in your post I thought you meant that the water needs to "sit" in the resin beads for the exchange to take place. This is not so, but I agree that too high a flow rate/pressure/fluctuations thru the resin will not be good either. That is why I said I think the filter being before the tank and supplied by a lower and more constant (in my situation) water supply will allow the resin the best chance to do its job. After the pump is, in my opinion and the people from PURE as well, not as good a situation.

[Sheryl]

Isn't there a company that provides units were they come and exchange the filter medium on a regular basis and do the backwash and flush at there facility. You will pay for the service but you donot have the hassel of maintence.

Oh there is, there is, see my rant in post #8. they create more hassle than they solve (a comon trait among "chang" of all types!) That's what drives me to the DIY forum. I don't prefer DIY, it's just less trouble in the long run in my experience....

[Sheryl]

Back flushing a resin exchange filter without brine is a complete waste of time and electricity. The only options that you or anyone else have are RO, distillation or resin exchange. All require disposal of the concentrated reject water, and this is environmentally significant to the point where water softeners are now illegal in some California counties. In view of your other stated requirements an automatic softener seems the best solution. The reject water can be piped away for some distance but it will have to go "somewhere".

Are we talking about the same process? Because backflushing does nto use any electricity as I do it. I just let the water run through the tanks both upwards and downwards to dislodge all the accumulutaed sludge, of which there is plenty, and keep repeating until clear, catching the run off in a pail and later dumping it, which is not a big issue (other than workload) as no salt.

This is what the supplier told me to do, I was never told anything about use of brine and not sure how I'd go about it with the current set up, i.e. where would I get the brine and how would I introduce it? On the other hand, I don't have much faith (understatement) in the reliability of what the supplier told me and the set did come with a funnel type device that attaches to the valve at the very top, maybe I'm supposed to prepare a brine solution and pur it through there letting it come out the bottom??? In which case (for immediate refernce) do I just make the brine out of salt + water and if so in what proportions?

I guess I have both a filter and a softener as one tank is carbon, which filters, and one tank is resin, which removes minerals. Both tanks accumulate a lot of sludge which is what the process I have been doing removes. Possibly that is all that what I have been doing removes and as a result I am not getting much softening???

I gather that if I install an automatic softener I will also have to put in pipes to drain the oputflow away somewhere. Not impossible, but certainly means more extensive work than just buying and setting it up. I don't even know where the grey water soak off puit is if in fact there is one on that side of gthe house which, knowing all else the conttractior who built it did wrong, there may not be (it's not the side with the kitchen, that side does have one). Hummmm.....

What I was hoping for but guess does not exist? was some type of set up that trapped all the sludge in any easy to remove area rather than having to be flushed out.

Anyway do advise re the brine as it might be that I can improve on the softening performance with the type of unit I have. Which will not solve the maintainence hassle part, but will make me a bit happier

[basjke]

Which one did you buy as i'm also looking into it at the moment.have seen the M5 system from masterpure at homepro for 16.900 and the automatic one for 21.900 Bht.M7 for well water was a few thousand more.I think 21.900 Bht for the manual.

I'm not at the house build site at the moment so not sure of the model number. The unit sold by PURE and Homepro (at least in Hua Hin) are identical and the same price. The reason I bought from PURE was they installed it, as with Homepro they were going to get a third party to install. There are a few models offered, depending on your requirements. The two I considered (about 1 meter tall) were basically the same (size, capacity, etc)the only difference being automatic back-flush/regeneration or manual. The system comprises 2 units, the resin bead softener vessel and a salt solution tank

Ok from what I understand is that you have the M7,or A7 because you have the automatic backwash, as this is the one that comes with the softner tank.

I have been looking at it again today and I like the system as looks complete and finished opposed to the other systems on the market which look like diy systems which they probably also are.

I'm considering to buy a unit from them but would like to ask you some more questions.

As you probably know they make shitloads of money on their filter substances.Like the substance they use in the big tank and which they sell for 7500 baht each refill can be bought anywhere for less than 1500 Baht.Also the smaller filter which contains a cartridge with activated carbon costs 250 baht for 3 kg instead of 2500 as they charge.

My question to you is that you probably have already changed the carbon filter,so can you tell me if it is possible to open the cartridge or if they exchange it when it has to be replaced so that means they refill it theirselves.

Edited June 17, 2010 by basjke

[cloudhopper]

The first step would be to get a sample of your well water analyzed so you know what you're dealing with. It seems unusual that you would get sludge in the resin filter if it and the carbon filter preceding it are OK. Maybe a paper or sand prefilter would be useful. I am guessing you are using gravity pressure only if you are not using an electric pump and if so I doubt this is sufficient pressure for adequate flushing.

Anyway dissolve 10 kg of salt in 60l of water and fill your resin tank with this after first flushing and draining it. Let it sit for 45 minutes then drain and flush it vigorously for several minutes to remove the excess brine along with all the displaced anions. You'll know it's done when the flush water no longer foams like it does at the beach. No sludge should come out at this point and if any does or if the water is not softened then a filter is malfunctioning. You will have to experimentally determine how often recharging must be repeated; here I need to do it every 2 weeks or so as our water is very hard. Once the cationic resin is saturated no further softening can occur, as ion exchange is a different process than a sand or charcoal filter.

[CDNinKS]

As you probably know they make shitloads of money on their filter substances.Like the substance they use in the big tank and which they sell for 7500 baht each refill can be bought anywhere for less than 1500 Baht.Also the smaller filter which contains a cartridge with activated carbon costs 250 baht for 3 kg instead of 2500 as they charge.

My question to you is that you probably have already changed the carbon filter,so can you tell me if it is possible to open the cartridge or if they exchange it when it has to be replaced so that means they refill it theirselves.

This unit was just installed a couple days ago and as I say I'm not there at the moment. My wife is supervising all of these final steps. When I was first sourcing this unit and asked about cost of salt, one of the staff at PURE gave me what I thought was a very high price but followed up by saying I could take a run up to Samut Songkram and buy it from the salt stalls along the road for a lot less. To be honest I didn't inquire as to the cost of the replacement carbon filter, but I sure won't be paying them 2500 baht for it.

[craigt3365]

I got this one at HomeWorks:

à¤Ã×èͧ¡Ãͧ¹éÓ, water filter, à¤Ã×èͧ¡Ãͧ¹éÓãªé

This is for muni water, but they have one for well water also (M7). What I liked about it is the fiberglass enclosure. I saw my neighbors stainless steel tank. After only 3 years, it is totally rusted.

I have been using it for a few months...not sure when to backwash, but will call HW today to find out. Or have my wife read the Thai instructions! There are only 2 of us here, so we don't use much water. We don't drink this water...use bottled water for that. But, we are looking at an RO system. I have one at my house in the US and it is great...though the filters are really expensive to replace.

[Sheryl]

The first step would be to get a sample of your well water analyzed so you know what you're dealing with. It seems unusual that you would get sludge in the resin filter if it and the carbon filter preceding it are OK. Maybe a paper or sand prefilter would be useful. I am guessing you are using gravity pressure only if you are not using an electric pump and if so I doubt this is sufficient pressure for adequate flushing.

Anyway dissolve 10 kg of salt in 60l of water and fill your resin tank with this after first flushing and draining it. Let it sit for 45 minutes then drain and flush it vigorously for several minutes to remove the excess brine along with all the displaced anions. You'll know it's done when the flush water no longer foams like it does at the beach. No sludge should come out at this point and if any does or if the water is not softened then a filter is malfunctioning. You will have to experimentally determine how often recharging must be repeated; here I need to do it every 2 weeks or so as our water is very hard. Once the cationic resin is saturated no further softening can occur, as ion exchange is a different process than a sand or charcoal filter.

Thanks for that, I will try this as soon as I have a chance to buy the salt.

yes, I am flushing just with gravity as water enters the filter before the water tank and pump. Seems pretty good pressure tho, enough that it causes the resin and charcoal to come out with the water as well unless I'm careful, alas.

Looks like the upshot of all this is:

(1) I'm not getting what I should out of the filter I have because I haven't been flushing with brine (altho it definitely does soften some i.e. the water coming out of it is softer than the water is before it passes through) and

(2) The only real improvements I can consider when replacing it is (a) fiberglass casing to avoid the rust issue and ( if I decide I'm up for the necessary digging of new pipes etc I can get one that backflushes automatically and carries the waste off.

[wpcoe]

Wow, water softening seems to be such a hassle here in Thailand.

Where I grew up in the USA midwest, hard water was not a problem, and the only time I had to deal with it was when I bought a house in Las Vegas, with VERY hard water.

However, it was practically routine for new home owners to buy a whole-house water softener, and the home improvement stores had easily a dozen models to choose from. I think they were all automatic? I chose one based on the sales person's recommendation for my house size, and after installation, all I did was buy a bag of salt to toss in the unit, when the salt level got low. That's all I had to do. I'm surprised such a simplified (simple for a know-nothing homeowner like me) are not commonplace in Thailand. Systems like Sheryl's seem so Rube Goldberg-esque!

[powderpuff]

Calgon have made quite a lot of money supplying chemaicals to soften water. I'd like to bet most 5 star hotels use their equipment.

[powderpuff]

I got this one at HomeWorks:

à¤Ã×èͧ¡Ãͧ¹éÓ, water filter, à¤Ã×èͧ¡Ãͧ¹éÓãªé

This is for muni water, but they have one for well water also (M7). What I liked about it is the fiberglass enclosure. I saw my neighbors stainless steel tank. After only 3 years, it is totally rusted.

I have been using it for a few months...not sure when to backwash, but will call HW today to find out. Or have my wife read the Thai instructions! There are only 2 of us here, so we don't use much water. We don't drink this water...use bottled water for that. But, we are looking at an RO system. I have one at my house in the US and it is great...though the filters are really expensive to replace.

Those filters look good.

[powderpuff]

Sheryl. Are you thinking you will need an extra pump to force your well water through the filter?

[Sheryl]

No. No problem with flow of water by gravity through the filter and into the tank.

[147SAG]

AFAIK there are no systems available here that do this recharging cycle automatically

I just purchased a water softener from PURE, it is automatic. You choose how often you want it to back flush. It was not cheap, 30,000 baht installed. I believe the manual model was around 22,000 baht.

I also purchased the Automatic Masterpure A7 but have been using in auto mode for 1 month now and wokeup today with two empty tanks the water doesn't seem to be going threw the filter and emptied the tanks over the last few days,I am now just by passing the filter system and tanks and going straight to the house.I lost my manual for this system.Has anyone else had this problem?Did the filter not backwash and is it now plugged,any suggestons how to fix or what the problem is would be of great help.Thanks.

[CDNinKS]

have you tried a manual backflush? Does your salt tank have water in it? On my system there is a filter attached after the water softener and before it goes into the tank, a long black plastic unit. Is that plugged?

[Bluetongue]

I searched the Forum, because today I cleaned the filter on my washing machine and it was very green and slimy (after about 6 months although the machine gets a lot of use). Thus occurring to me that I should filter the water. It had not been a problem with softness as the water lathers up OK and there doesn't seem to be any calcium or spotty deposits on glasses or tiles etc. I should say I pump water from a bore into 2k litre holding tanks then pump from there into the house, the tanks do get a bit of floating material on top but otherwise the water seems clean. We drink rainwater out of stainless steel tank and everyone seems to like that. The bore is more than ten years old and no-one even remembers how deep it is and certainly no testing was done.

So two questions are, how does one get water tested here to see what I am dealing with and given that I dont seem to need a softener (accept any opinion there) what are my filter options for removing the greem slimy stuff, I was going to ask where to position the filter ie before or after the household pump but I see opinion is slightly divided there, my gut feeling is before, as I guess my real concern is the blocking of pipes by gunk buildup; ergo position the filter as soon as possible in the flow.