On copper pipes, real damage from acidic water typically starts within 6 to 18 months, depending on how low your pH is and how much water you use. Here is what moves that date for your house, the order the signs show up in, why the hot water side goes first, why it is never too late to stop it, and why switching to plastic PEX pipe does not end the corrosion.
Katalox Light is an iron filter media, made by Watch Water, that takes iron, manganese and the rotten egg smell out of well water without chemicals. Our filters with it are rated to 30 ppm iron, 15 ppm manganese and 10 ppm hydrogen sulfide. It needs a valve with a strong backwash, works best near pH 8 and lasts about 6 to 8 years. Here is what it is made of, how much your filter takes, how to replace it, and whether it will work in a tank you already have.
Test water hardness with a strip from Lowe's, Home Depot or Amazon: dip it, hold it level about 15 seconds, and match the color to the chart on the bottle. 7 grains per gallon (120 mg/L) or more is hard, and that is where I recommend a water softener; over 10.5 grains (180 mg/L) is very hard. Divide mg/L by 17.1 to get grains. For an exact number, use a certified lab test or your city's Consumer Confidence Report.
The settlement company's water test only checks bacteria, nitrates and turbidity. It misses the problems that actually cost you money: low pH, iron, hardness and sulfur.
Test first, then buy only what the test calls for. Most wells need one or two systems. Sand takes a sediment filter; rust or black stains and a rotten egg smell take an iron filter; hard water takes a softener; blue-green stains take an acid neutralizer; bacteria takes a UV light. Of 344 well tests my customers sent in, more than half showed one of those problems or none. Here is the match, with today's price for each system.
You can test your water's pH at home with a strip kit (about $25) or a digital pH meter, and a certified lab test is the most accurate. The hardware-store strip kits only read down to about 5, so below that you need a meter or a lab. Here is how I rank the three tests, how to take the sample, and what your number means: below 7 is acidic, at 6.0 and up plain calcite works in any size tank, and below 5.5 it takes calcite with FloMag mixed in.
The best acid neutralizer for most wells is a Clack 2.5 cubic foot non-backwashing tank filled with calcite: it brings acidic water up to a pH between 7 and 8 with no drain line, no electricity and no moving parts. Here is my pick for each situation with today's price, when iron above 0.5 ppm calls for a backwashing tank, how your pH picks the size, when to add FloMag, and what arrives in the box.
A "pH water filter" is an acid neutralizer: a whole-house tank of calcite, which is crushed limestone, plumbed in where the water enters the house, that raises low pH well water to about 7. Google shows four things under that name, a pitcher, an under-sink cartridge, the whole-house tank and a chemical pump, and only the tank treats every pipe in the house. I go through which one you are looking at, why the limestone is the natural fix, how to find out whether your pH needs one, where the tank goes, and what changes after it is in.
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On copper pipes, real damage from acidic water typically starts within 6 to 18 months, depending on how low your pH is and how much water you use. Here is what moves that date for your house, the order the signs show up in, why the hot water side goes first, why it is never too late to stop it, and why switching to plastic PEX pipe does not end the corrosion.
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Katalox Light is an iron filter media, made by Watch Water, that takes iron, manganese and the rotten egg smell out of well water without chemicals. Our filters with it are rated to 30 ppm iron, 15 ppm manganese and 10 ppm hydrogen sulfide. It needs a valve with a strong backwash, works best near pH 8 and lasts about 6 to 8 years. Here is what it is made of, how much your filter takes, how to replace it, and whether it will work in a tank you already have.
Test water hardness with a strip from Lowe's, Home Depot or Amazon: dip it, hold it level about 15 seconds, and match the color to the chart on the bottle. 7 grains per gallon (120 mg/L) or more is hard, and that is where I recommend a water softener; over 10.5 grains (180 mg/L) is very hard. Divide mg/L by 17.1 to get grains. For an exact number, use a certified lab test or your city's Consumer Confidence Report.
The settlement company's water test only checks bacteria, nitrates and turbidity. It misses the problems that actually cost you money: low pH, iron, hardness and sulfur.
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Test first, then buy only what the test calls for. Most wells need one or two systems. Sand takes a sediment filter; rust or black stains and a rotten egg smell take an iron filter; hard water takes a softener; blue-green stains take an acid neutralizer; bacteria takes a UV light. Of 344 well tests my customers sent in, more than half showed one of those problems or none. Here is the match, with today's price for each system.
You can test your water's pH at home with a strip kit (about $25) or a digital pH meter, and a certified lab test is the most accurate. The hardware-store strip kits only read down to about 5, so below that you need a meter or a lab. Here is how I rank the three tests, how to take the sample, and what your number means: below 7 is acidic, at 6.0 and up plain calcite works in any size tank, and below 5.5 it takes calcite with FloMag mixed in.
The best acid neutralizer for most wells is a Clack 2.5 cubic foot non-backwashing tank filled with calcite: it brings acidic water up to a pH between 7 and 8 with no drain line, no electricity and no moving parts. Here is my pick for each situation with today's price, when iron above 0.5 ppm calls for a backwashing tank, how your pH picks the size, when to add FloMag, and what arrives in the box.
A "pH water filter" is an acid neutralizer: a whole-house tank of calcite, which is crushed limestone, plumbed in where the water enters the house, that raises low pH well water to about 7. Google shows four things under that name, a pitcher, an under-sink cartridge, the whole-house tank and a chemical pump, and only the tank treats every pipe in the house. I go through which one you are looking at, why the limestone is the natural fix, how to find out whether your pH needs one, where the tank goes, and what changes after it is in.
