Replacing Whole House Water Filter

[MockY]

I'm living rural enough to have a well and the ground around this entire part of "town" consists of just clay and thus the water has very high contents of various minerals and is quite hard. The house is fitted with a system from LifeSource. It's supposedly a maintenance-free system with plenty of throughput that does not require filter changes, tank exchange, salt additives and the likes - at least that's what they claim. More information can be found here LifeSource Water: Whole House Water Systems
Right before I moved to this place 2 years ago, I underwent back surgery and have therefore not brewed since, and subsequently had no reason to send the water for testing (I used to do this twice a year where I lived before). In other words, I have no idea what I'm dealing with. But now I'm healthy enough and ready to get going with brewing , so water is a priority once again. The water system is well past its service life and I'm now looking to replace it before I get going. So before I send the water for testing, I'm replacing the whole house system first.

Instead of defaulting to replacing it with a new LifeSource system, I wonder what members here with a well on their property are using for their whole house filtration.

 

[day_trippr]

Having owned four homes with wells and installed treatment systems in all of them I would strongly recommend obtaining a high quality raw water report first, as it can easily drive what equipment is needed. Otherwise there's every chance unneeded equipment could be installed instead of the proper equipment for the specific water quality.

For examples, if your well runs significantly acidic (ph <7 by more than a few tenths) and you have copper or brass plumbing or fixtures a neutralizer could be part of the system; or, if the iron content is high, a green sand filter may be desirable, and so on.

Cheers!

 

[MockY]

Do you have any preferred place to use for such tests? Would Ward Labs have something that would fit the bill? Like their W-5 Household Complete Mineral Test.

 

[AkTom]

BuckEye Hydro has a test. It’s a bit more $, but in my case… well (pun intended) worth it. I’m still waiting on a call back from 3 local well drillers, as my water is so bad. Russ is a great guy.

 

[day_trippr]

I totally agree, having consulted with Russ @Buckeye_Hydro when upgrading my RO system and bought just what I needed from him and nothing more

I've typically used local firms for water testing just for the expediency but did get a "brewer's" test from Wards and they were quite prompt and the price (with my own container) wasn't punitive. But definitely, get a test first. Between those four houses I mentioned the needed equipment varied enough to matter...

Cheers!

 

[Buckeye_Hydro]

Here you go: Drinking Water Test - Buckeye Hydro

If you haven't tested the well water in the last year, I'd opt for the bacterial testing option as well. Be advised you may be able to get that bacterial testing done free of charge @ your local health department.

Testing is definitely the place to start. In the water treatment world, we can address nearly any contaminant once we know what it is, and its concentration. Without that info we are shooting in the dark.

Russ