filtering chlorine help

Hi folks,

I need your experties. I would like to filter chlorine(better if chloramine is filtered too) from the outside faucet. It's the faucet that I used to water the lawn. I would like to know the cheapest way to build it but still maintaining reliability of the chlorine removal.

The reason I would like to filter chlorine is because I'm spreading beneficial organisms that is on my Dial N Spray can sprayer. This is connected to the end of the hose. I've read some docs that chlorine kills organisms. Water will just be used as the transport stream.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

Ron

There are a number of inline filters you can get at Home Depot, Lowes even
Wal-Mart. Basically any actived charcoal (aka carbon) filter will remove chlorine and chlorine byproducts. The easiest and cheapest way to test for chlorine is with a pool test kit. I like DPD but it's more expensive and harder to find than the Orthotolidine (OTO).

Check out my thead on the subject. It cost about $60 and will remove sediment, chlorine and odors, but it will not remove chloramines. That requires a very special (expensive) carbon filter. A standard activated carbon filter can't do it. However, 1/2 of a crushed camden tablet in 10 gallons of water will remove the chloramines within minutes.

So, camden tablets together with this, or similar, filter setup will get you what you are looking for.

I wonder if adding a small dose of crushed campden tabs into the housing would work to break out the chlorine from the chloramine in enough time for the carbon to deal with. If so, you could probably run 30 gallons through it or so before needing to redose.

http://heartspring.net/water_filters_guide.html#charcoal

http://www.waterfiltercomparisons.net/WaterFilter_Comparison.cfm

I just do like stated above and use campden tablets to treat the water before I use it. Campden tablets are cheap and all you need is a pill cutter and crusher you can get at a pharmacy or grocery store.

I was alarmed about one of those articles where it stated that a carbon filter could become moldy. I open up the filter housing after each use and allow the element and housing to dry out. I wonder if this is sufficient to prevent mold. I'm tending to think, not!

Last brew day, I decided to try something different and gathered all my brew water in my boil kettle and let it sit over night with K metabisulphate to remove the Chloramines.

Now that I think of it, does this remove Chlorine too?

Sean

Found out from the village that they don't put chloramine. So that's out.

Abracadabra,

With the inline filters added to the garden hose or to the outside faucet, will I still get the same water output pressure or even just a little reduced pressure?

It's because, as mentioned earlier, I will be connecting an Ortho Dial N Spray sprayer at the end hose.

Thank you very much guys!

Ron

I was at Menards a while ago and I saw the Omni U25 Whole House filter. On 2 sides are female 3/4" or 1" holes. I think, this is what I need. However, I really don't know if pressure will be reduced by more than 50% which I don't want to happen. Does anyone know?

Thanks,

Ron

v1rtu0s1ty said:

Found out from the village that they don't put chloramine. So that's out.

Abracadabra,

With the inline filters added to the garden hose or to the outside faucet, will I still get the same water output pressure or even just a little reduced pressure?

It's because, as mentioned earlier, I will be connecting an Ortho Dial N Spray sprayer at the end hose.

Thank you very much guys!

Ron

Click to expand...

The pressure should remain the same initially but the flow would be restricted somewhat depending on the filter so the pressure would drop. Some filters restrict the flow more than others. There should be some info with the filter to indicate the flow rate.

It seems I read somewhere that chloramines are formed any time chlorine is used to treat water. Not a certain on this, but it would be worth a check to make sure

Sean

Chlormine is made by mixing chlorine and amonia, its more stable than chlorine and doesn't eveporate out although it is less effective as a dissinfectant.

GAC (granular activated carbon) filters will remove organics including chlorine, chloramines, herbicides and pesticides. Some have a small amount of silver in them to inhibit bacterial growth but they should be replaced every 6 months to be on the safe side. As it happens, in my experience this seems to be the amount of time it takes for the filter to become saturated with chlorine/chloramines so it needs to be replaced anyway. (You can tell itis saturated because the fresh tasting water you get used to now tastes of chlorine again).

Campden Tablets are just as good at neutralising chlorine/chloramines for homebrewing purposes, they don't remove pesticides though and aren't as convenient as having fresh water available on tap.

Chloramine

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chloramine

The reason I asked about chlorine is because I am brewing a compost tea for my lawn. This aerated compost tea(ACT) is composed of beneficial organisms. Now, when I put ACT onto my Ortho Dial N Spray that will be connected to a garden hose, will the water from city(treated with chlorine) kill my beneficial organisms as it mixes both the water and compost tea?

Village says they don't have amonia. They only inject flouride, polyphospate and chlorine gas.

This is how the ACT looks like. You can see the videos I've built last week.

http://restricted.dyndns.org/aactbrewinglog.html

So yeah, I'm just concerned that chlorine might kill it. Or I really shouldn't worry? It's just that spraying with Ortho Dial N Spray is so easy. I can use a 2g garden water can but I won't be able to apply it to my whole lawn.

Thanks folks!

I have the Omni filters from Walmart and I plan to run two in series, one sediment and one carbon. The box claims it will run 5 gallons per minute. Now, running two in series might change that. I think I'm going to time filling a gallon jug both with and without the filters to see if I can conceivably live with the reduced flow for the whole house. Otherwise I plan to put it inline with only my kitchen sink where my fridge gets its water supply (and where I'll pull my brewing water). It would be a little inconvenient, but I can't justify installing in my brewing area and letting the rest of the family drink crappy water.

v1rtu0s1ty said:

The reason I asked about chlorine is because I am brewing a compost tea for my lawn. This aerated compost tea(ACT) is composed of beneficial organisms. Now, when I put ACT onto my Ortho Dial N Spray that will be connected to a garden hose, will the water from city(treated with chlorine) kill my beneficial organisms as it mixes both the water and compost tea?

Village says they don't have amonia. They only inject flouride, polyphospate and chlorine gas.

This is how the ACT looks like. You can see the videos I've built last week.

http://restricted.dyndns.org/aactbrewinglog.html

So yeah, I'm just concerned that chlorine might kill it. Or I really shouldn't worry? It's just that spraying with Ortho Dial N Spray is so easy. I can use a 2g garden water can but I won't be able to apply it to my whole lawn.

Thanks folks!

Click to expand...

Here's the thing, if you don't mind having a 55 gallon drum (plastic) sitting in your yard, you'd be in good shape to collect your rainwater runoff into there. You can also fill it from the garden hose and let it sit in the barrel. Chlorine will evaporate out of water if left to sit a couple days. Then just get a $30 pump from Harbor Freight that you can drop into the barrel to pump out.

The chlorine level at your house ideally should be 1 PPM ( part per million). You can test with a pool kit to see what it actually is. In my experience a great many county and or city workers are lazy and don't adjust the chlorine levels as they should.

What happens is that as the temp. rises so does the pressure in the chlorine tank and the amount of chlorine in the water also rises. And as the temp falls so does the pressure and resulting chlorine level drops. This happens not only seasonally but also every day and night. So some water workers err on the side of having enough when it's cold and then there is to much when it's warm. Some adjust it only when the tank is changed and is full and some only in the daytime which leads to may occasions when there is not enough chlorine.

That's why I suggest testing because most likely the amount of chlorine will change depending on when the water you are using left the treatment plant.

That being said a level of 1 PPM is there to maintain the treatment level not kill any signifigant amount of contamination reintroduced. So that level (1 PPM) would kill some small amount of bacteria but any large amount would simply over whelm such a small amount of free chlorine. Because free chlorine is unstable and binds too almost anything not just living organisms.

If you can smell the chlorine then you probably have a level higher than 1 PPM of course some people have a better sense of smell that others. Hence the need to test. I don't know what kind of load you would be introducing but I would suspect anything below 3 PPM would not signifigantly affect what you are trying to do.

One way to get an idea is test the water that will be used before it is mixed, then test the water that includes the ingredient you are introducing it will probably be 0 PPM. Also Chlorine takes some time to kill any organisms and spraying it on the lawn or garden during daylight hours will cause the sun to rapidly disipate any free chlorine.

To make a long story short you will probably be OK.

Bobby_M said:

Here's the thing, if you don't mind having a 55 gallon drum (plastic) sitting in your yard, you'd be in good shape to collect your rainwater runoff into there. You can also fill it from the garden hose and let it sit in the barrel. Chlorine will evaporate out of water if left to sit a couple days. Then just get a $30 pump from Harbor Freight that you can drop into the barrel to pump out.

Click to expand...

Wow, very neat and cool idea! Can you help me please find which one I need to purchase at Harbor Freight?

And am I correct that even while I'm not pressing my end hose sprayer, and pump is running, it should be fine for the pump right?

I really like your idea.

Thanks.

Ron

I searched at Harbor Freight but I only found fountain pumps. Something might be wrong with my search criteria.

Thanks!


EDIT:

Finally, I found it but I don't know if this is the one you were referring too. Please check.

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=45014

That's actually a good question. I've never run a pump like this with a completely blocked outlet. Anyone know the answer? I suppose you'd be ok letting it run for for short periods while you're running over to the nozzle.

Here's the one I'd get for $27.99: http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=45014

You'll just have to reduce the line down to get a garden hose barb on it.

Bobby_M said:

That's actually a good question. I've never run a pump like this with a completely blocked outlet. Anyone know the answer? I suppose you'd be ok letting it run for for short periods while you're running over to the nozzle.

Here's the one I'd get for $27.99: http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=45014

You'll just have to reduce the line down to get a garden hose barb on it.

Click to expand...

Got it! I actually edited my previous post but I didn't see this post. It's the same.

So yeah, I'm afraid that my Ortho Dial N Spray end hose sprayer won't be able to handle 21gallons per minute. And also my earlier concern when I'm not pressing it. There are other ways that I can use like a sprinkler head which is always open but how do I pull my beneficial organism from a different can? I heard that I can use siphon to suck it. Do you guys have other ideas?

Bobby_M said:

I have the Omni filters from Walmart and I plan to run two in series, one sediment and one carbon. The box claims it will run 5 gallons per minute. Now, running two in series might change that. I think I'm going to time filling a gallon jug both with and without the filters to see if I can conceivably live with the reduced flow for the whole house. Otherwise I plan to put it inline with only my kitchen sink where my fridge gets its water supply (and where I'll pull my brewing water). It would be a little inconvenient, but I can't justify installing in my brewing area and letting the rest of the family drink crappy water.

Click to expand...

Bobby

I used the omni whole house filters in series like you descirbed before I switched from well to county water and it worked just fine I don't think you notice much if any difference with them as far as your flow rate goes.

Good point about letting the sun disipate the chlorine too.

virtuosity


I don't know what your water situation is we are having a drought here but

you might also consider using gray water. be sure and check if your local code allows it.

That something I am putting on my list of things to do.

I plan run everything except the toilets to a 6 way pool valve so I can send the gray water to the lawn or garden or to the septic tank.

Here's what I am using from Culligan now that I'm brewing 10 gallon batches outdoors. I attached the short hose to the faucet, then the filter, then a food grade RV hose to the filter to fill my keggles. I put a ball valve at the end of the line to turn the water on and off.

This thing cost $19 at waterfilters.net




Culligan RV-600 Recreational Vehicle Water Filter:
The Culligan RV-600 recreational vehicle water filter is a compact system designed to fit in your recreational vehicle or boat. The Culligan RV600 RV filter is a disposable water filter. The Culligan RV-600 filter removes contaminants from your drinking and cooking water. The Culligan RV-600 RV water filter reduces chlorine taste and odor, bad taste and odor, and sediment from your drinking water. The Culligan RV-600 water filter cartridge lasts up to 2000 gallons and is easy to replace with a new RV-600 filter or a Culligan RV-500 filter. The life of the filter also depends on the amount of water used and the amount of contaminants in your drinking water. The Culligan RV-600 has a maximum flow rate of 3 gallons per minute. The Culligan RV-600 has 3/4" hose fittings.

The pump won't run at full flow anyway because you're restricting it down to 5/8" hose. I don't know exactly what you'll get, but I promise you it won't be anywhere near 21 gals per minute. That rating is unrestricted 1.5" outlet with no head pressure (rise).

Bobby_M said:

That rating is unrestricted 1.5" outlet with no head pressure (rise).

Click to expand...

What does this mean? Is it a disadvantage?

head pressure is the amount of rise or fall from the inlet or the outlet.

Let's take a pond, if the outlet from the pond is 10 feet below the surface of the pond then that outlet is said to have 10 feet of head pressure. And the flow rate would depend on the size of the pipe. The larger the pipe the greater the flow rate.

for what you are talking about doing using I think a water filter is a complete waste of your money.

Beer is one thing, ed's post about the culligan water filter is awesome.(for beer)

Filtering water for a garden or lawn is overkill. the little bit of chlorine that should be in your water supply won't signifigantly effect your fertilizer. Unless your water is totally screwed up. And your water distribution system is run by complete idiots.

When I was in my early 20's I had a class 2 Ga. Waste Water Treatment Lic. I hated working for Dekalb county Georgia we were ordered to release sludge directly into the South River. Management was a bunch of a$$eholes that didn't give a flip about the enviroment. Drinking water Management was just as bad. That's why I suggested testing.

Filter the water that you are using for beer, drinking, and cooking. If you take very hot showers and can smell chlorine, filter that too, Anything else and you are wasting your hard earn money. But hey it's your money spend it as you see fit.

hi abracadabra,

I won't be filtering the chlorine in the water anymore since I am going with a different route now.

Actually, I would like to follow Bobby_M's recommendation. However, I posted the $27 submersible pump on a plumbing forum and they told me that this pump doesn't have enough power to drive a sprinkler.

I couldn't remember if I posted what I was planning to do. Here it is

Use a 50 gallon plastic container and fill it with water. Let it sit for a couple of days so that chlorine evaporates. Put my biology/organisms to the water and have the pump suck the water out to the sprinkler.

But like what one person told me, the pump I showed to him(also on this thread) isn't enough to drive the sprinkler. I need at least 20 to 40 PSI. He also recommended a well pump. However, I'm not really sure if it's going to work. All I want is to apply the water with biology into my lawn with ease. I don't want to apply it using my 2gallon water garden can anymore. It's so tiring.

Any help would be greatly apprecaited.

Thanks,

Ron