Water Quality - Washing Clothes.

[SpeedTriple]

Hi,

I live in Bpa Daet, just south of CM.

Have been back here for 3 months.

As soon as I got back I bought a cheapo washing machine, which despite the cost actaully washes really well.

My 2 teenage daughters have come to stay with me and their arrival seems to have coincided with the washing machine leaving brown/yellow stains on the clothes, This is something that has only started happpening in the last week or so, I am one seriously unpopualr dad at the moment.

I have been told that the water should be filtered for washing clothes, so I bought a 5 micron single stage filter, but am still getting the problem.

I even replaced all the piping after the filter as the old pipes are coated with black crap.

Any one had/have similar problems and found a cure? I currently have 5000 baht of washing machine and filter that I can't use.

Thanks in advance for any advice.

Rich.

[groo]

Hi,

I live in Bpa Daet, just south of CM.

Have been back here for 3 months.

As soon as I got back I bought a cheapo washing machine, which despite the cost actaully washes really well.

My 2 teenage daughters have come to stay with me and their arrival seems to have coincided with the washing machine leaving brown/yellow stains on the clothes, This is something that has only started happpening in the last week or so, I am one seriously unpopualr dad at the moment.

I have been told that the water should be filtered for washing clothes, so I bought a 5 micron single stage filter, but am still getting the problem.

I even replaced all the piping after the filter as the old pipes are coated with black crap.

Any one had/have similar problems and found a cure? I currently have 5000 baht of washing machine and filter that I can't use.

Thanks in advance for any advice.

Rich.

i think its best you send you machine in for claim of warranty cause the problem seems to be within the machine. perhaps some grease leak or something? if i was you, id google for "washing machine problems" and see what happens. I don't think there are many CM people who know washing machines well except using it.

[Ajarn]

Hi,

I live in Bpa Daet, just south of CM.

Have been back here for 3 months.

As soon as I got back I bought a cheapo washing machine, which despite the cost actaully washes really well.

My 2 teenage daughters have come to stay with me and their arrival seems to have coincided with the washing machine leaving brown/yellow stains on the clothes, This is something that has only started happpening in the last week or so, I am one seriously unpopualr dad at the moment.

I have been told that the water should be filtered for washing clothes, so I bought a 5 micron single stage filter, but am still getting the problem.

I even replaced all the piping after the filter as the old pipes are coated with black crap.

Any one had/have similar problems and found a cure? I currently have 5000 baht of washing machine and filter that I can't use.

Thanks in advance for any advice.

Rich.

i think its best you send you machine in for claim of warranty cause the problem seems to be within the machine. perhaps some grease leak or something? if i was you, id google for "washing machine problems" and see what happens. I don't think there are many CM people who know washing machines well except using it.

Agreed on the warranty.. Locally, these machines are covered up to two years. If you bought from Siam TV, then no problem, for sure.

At our house, we've been running a cheapo machine for 5 years with no problems- and no filtering either..

[Donz]

If all fails give it a few hard kicks.

I fixed a VCR that way.

Take it back of you can, are you using a different detergent recently?

are you washing brown clothes with your whites??

[cdnvic]

I'll put this in the house and land ownership forum. Alot of technical expertise in there.

cv

[SpeedTriple]

Thanks for your replies, looks like I'll have to take it back, tho it's difficult to imagine what could be wrong with it, it's about as simple a design as you could get.

For the record I'm not washing colours with the whies and I have kicked it numerous times

Bought it from Tesco Lotus as that's a lot easier to get to for me than Siam TV.

thanks again

Rich.

[SpeedTriple]

Have conclusively proved it's the water today, looks like we have a lot of Iron in the water here.

Put an old white T-Shirt over the pipe to the washing machine and ran the water for 30 seconds or so, result yellow stain on the T-Shirt.

As it it something that has happened recently, I'm guessing there must be some maintenance work going on somewhere down the line which is contaminating the water.

Am slightly disappointed that the filter makes little difference, guess the iron content is less than 5 microns. You'd think that TShirt material would be considerably more than 5 microns, but there ya go.

Short of buying a multi stage 8000 baht water filter, I'm just gonna have to put up with it and hope it's temporary, I doubt whether Mr Farrang complaining his shirts are no longer white will provoke any action

[koratsteve]

I have had similar problems in the past; it is made worse by some detergents or even worse if you add bleach.

The only way to get rid of it is to buy one of those big 3 cylinder water filters that cost around about 10,000bt.

The problem only seems to happen in the dry season when the water stocks are running low.

[seeker108]

Found this with a quick google search:

http://www.ext.vt.edu/pubs/housing/356-481/356-481.html

Iron Removal Equipment

Iron filters remove iron and manganese that can cause staining of clothes and plumbing fixtures. Ferric iron usually appears as rust colored particles floating or settling in the water. Ferrous iron is in the dissolved form and cannot be seen in water. When water containing ferrous iron is exposed to air, the iron oxidizes and ferric iron is formed.

Water with a high iron or manganese content is not considered a health problem, but can be very objectionable in taste, odor, or appearance if iron is present in amounts greater than 0.3 milligrams per liter or manganese is present in amounts greater than 0.05 milligrams per liter.

Iron bacteria are nuisance organisms often associated with soluble iron in water. Because they cause a slime buildup, they can be quite objectionable with iron concentrations as low as 0.1 milligrams per liter ferrous (soluble) iron.

The presence of iron bacteria is indicated by a gelatinous slime on the inside wall of the toilet flush tank and gelatinous "rusty slugs" being discharged at the tap. High dosages (200 to 500 milligrams per liter) of chlorine (known as shock chlorination or disinfection) may be required periodically to control iron bacteria. Shock chlorination must include the well and pumping system.

General Description and Maintenance

Five types of iron-removal equipment are available:

Iron Filter. Iron filters are only useful for removal of ferrous (soluble) iron and manganese; ferric iron will plug them. They look like water softeners but contain a bed of natural or synthetic manganese green sand. Manganese dioxide oxidizes iron and manganese and the oxidized particles are then filtered out in the lower part of the bed. Most such filters can remove 75 Ç 90% of ion in concentrations as high as 10 Ç 15 milligrams per liter.

The filter bed must be backwashed frequently to remove the accumulation of iron particles. For backwashing, a flow rate more than double the normal service flow rate is usually required. The exhausted manganese greensand must be recharged by adding potassium permanganate.

Acid water below a pH of 6.8 will pick up manganese from the green sand and cause loss of oxygen-exchange capacity. Therefore, neutralization treatment (at right) may be necessary. Also, the slime produced by iron bacteria will clog the filter.

Water softener. Water softeners contain a zeolite mineral in the resin that will remove soluble iron on an ion-exchange basis (the same way calcium and magnesium are removed in water softening). Depending on the kind of zeolite used and the regeneration process, up to 5 milligrams per liter of soluble iron can be removed. The slime produced by iron bacteria will clog the zeolite and reduce its effectiveness.

Polyphosphate feeder. These units can handle up to 3 milligrams per liter of iron in solution. They contain a phosphate compound which coats the soluble iron and prevents its oxidation when the water is exposed to air. The compound is not effective against ferric iron that has already oxidized. Polyphosphate is only effective in treating cold water. Heating the water will release the iron so that oxidized iron accumulates in the water heater. The heated water will be rusty and unsatisfactory for home use.

Chlorinator and filter. Chlorination followed by filtration through a sand filter can remove any quantity of iron in any form. The chlorine oxidizes and precipitates the iron and the filter strains out the particles. Carbon filtration may be required to remove excess chlorine residue. This method also destroys iron bacteria. When the bacteria cannot be permanently eliminated by shock chlorination, continuous chlorination is required.

Aerator and filter. An alternative to chlorination for iron removal is that of aeration followed by filtration. An aerator introduces oxygen into the water, thereby causing ferrous iron to precipitate through oxidation. Aeration equipment for household use has become more available in recent years.

Limitations

Iron removal from your water supply can involve complex choices. Careful planning is needed when iron removal equipment is used in conjunction with other water treatment equipment. The type of iron removal equipment chosen depends on the type and quantity of iron in the water, the characteristics of the water supply, other water treatment equipment in use, and the user's requirements for cost, ease of use, and maintenance.

[SpeedTriple]

Thanks for all your replies - have found a short term solution, I put an old T Shirt on top of the rest of the clothes during the spin cycle and that seems to catch all the iron.

It's worked so far.

[phibunmike]

Hi,

I live in Bpa Daet, just south of CM.

Have been back here for 3 months.

As soon as I got back I bought a cheapo washing machine, which despite the cost actaully washes really well.

My 2 teenage daughters have come to stay with me and their arrival seems to have coincided with the washing machine leaving brown/yellow stains on the clothes, This is something that has only started happpening in the last week or so, I am one seriously unpopualr dad at the moment.

I have been told that the water should be filtered for washing clothes, so I bought a 5 micron single stage filter, but am still getting the problem.

I even replaced all the piping after the filter as the old pipes are coated with black crap.

Any one had/have similar problems and found a cure? I currently have 5000 baht of washing machine and filter that I can't use.

Thanks in advance for any advice.

Rich.

While you are sorting it out, just send all the clothes to a lady in the village for 100 Bt - then you will be back in favour with the daughters.

[lopburi3]

I would agree with the suggestion to send your laundry out during the dry season as it is not that expensive. Hopefully they will have a filter.

This time of year the supply probably contains a much higher percentage or well water, which has the iron. The normal method of removing this upcountry is a large outside filter that holds about 30kg or more of green manganese and the cost would probably be in the 10k range. It should be outside as you need to back-flush it often and they stand about 4 or 5 feet high.