Surin Well Water Problem

[haroldc]

Our house is in a village about 20 km. outside Amphur Muang on the road to Amphur Sikhoraphum. There is no public water supply, so we use water from a well for washing and bathing.

The problem is that I think there is some sort of mineral in the water. It forms a white coating on everything and every week we have to remove what look like white crystalline flakes from the hot water heater,

Does anyone know what might be causing this and what kind of water filter we need?

All advice gratefully appreciated.

[taurus8]

You have Calcium Problem.Very hard to remove.get approprate filters...need to spend some money.Try Home Pro or Home Mart. and your local Plumbing supply store.

Good luck

[kamalabob2]

You might have a better solution provided at a lower cost, with a better installation and better AFTER THE SALE SERVICE from a Surin or Buriram based pump, tank, water supply specialist. Buriram has a VERY BUSY pump / tool / tank / filter shop downtown which actually has at least four warehouses full of over 400 water pumps and dozens of water tanks. They just replaced our swimming pool pump for a fraction of the price of a famous Bangkok Based pool company. Perhaps Surin has such a shop, typically the shop that a small hotel, schools and villages use for water treatment. We have municipal water so we have two large metal filters, but I was told by the owner of the Buriram shop who UNDERSTANDS and SPEAKS English that if we had well water we would need a third different metal water filter. I believe we had one filter filled with Magnesium and one with Carbon. The shop empties the two metal filters once a year and adds new Magnesium and new Carbon to respective filters. We also have two tall blue filters with some sort of disposable 150 baht cartridge in each which in the photo it gives you an idea of how dirty our municipal water is when it enters they filtering system.

This pump shop also installed our two 2000 liter Sandstone water storage tanks and a 500 liter pressure tank so that we have suitable water pressure to activate the water heaters in even the upstairs bathrooms. In our small town the municipal water supply is not clean, is not dependable, hence the water filters and 4000 liters of clean water storage.

The particular shop we patronize GUARANTEES the materials and installation labor with free after the sales service, often the same day we call if there is an issue. I can't say the same about too many suppliers in Thailand. It is easy to compare the cost of tanks, filters, tools and pumps as they all have model numbers. Free delivery and intelligent installation are a major plus in my book.

Surin might also have a similar operation where you do NOT pay "5 star hotel mini bar profit margin prices" for materials and labor. The shops with "Mall rent" and / or "air conditioning" might naturally have higher prices than an independent "pump shop" that does a high volume of installation, sales and service of water pumps, tanks, filters and power tools. You might ask a few of the smaller hotel operators who they recommend for water issues.

[tig28]

Hi haroldc

Yes it can be a difficult problem. We seem to have overcome maybe 80--90% of it using a similar approach as kamalabob2--- but with a couple of differences.

When our system was installed it used only 2 (28 CM.) s/s filters (with 3 different minerals) -- which in our situation -- proved inadequate for the task. So after about 1 year we added 2 more s/s filters and have achieved a pretty good (but not perfect) result.

The four mineral media used in the s/s filters are :Anthracite (2 bags at 1,700 Bt ea.)---- Manganese (3 bags @ 1,300 Bt ea.)-----Activated Carbon (2 bags @ 1,700 BT ea.) --- and Cation exchange Resin (3 bags @ 1,800 Bt ea) Total 16,500 Bt. These minerals need to be replaced about every 12 months.

The other difference is that instead of using a pressure (bladder) tank to provide constant pressure and eliminate pump "cycling' --- we purchased the Hitachi Wm-p400gx Inverter pump. No need for a pressure tank as the pump design eliminates cycling and delivers constant pressure over an incredibly wide range --- from one tap half on --- to 3 taps at full blast. Brilliant!!

The Sandstone water storage tank is the only way to go -- here we use only one 2,200L tank.

Pic attached FYI -- left click to enlarge.

[kamalabob2]

I think Tig28 reply and photo should be pinned in the building forum. Very good answer, better than mine, with a more accurate list of the tank materials. We also have a Hitachi Inverter pump AFTER all the filters and two storage tanks, but it was cycling on too much with the draw to the 2nd floor in our home. Hence we bought the 500 liter pressure / bladder tank to keep the Hitachi Inverter pump from cycling on so often. I am guessing with Tig28 system he does not have "stained" toilet bowls nor "gray" linens that were bought as white linens. Great post and photo on his part.