Transitioning RO system from city, to well water

[Ridenour64]

Hey Everyone,

I just bought a new home and move in on February 27th. My prior home was in the city suburbs and I was on city water. The new home is more rural and uses well water. My RO system is the premium RO system from Buckeye. I have also been using a pressure tank and a permeate pump. Given I have 0 experience with well water, I’m looking for advice. My RO system has a sediment filter, carbon block, and RO membrane. I would think I don’t need the carbon block on well water? If that is correct, do I simply remove the carbon block and leave that container empty? What about water pressure? My city water was high pressure, I assume the well is less so. I will test the pressure after I move in. The well at the home has the type of pump that is in the basement of the home, not in the ground. There is a blue storage container for the water as well. Idk how many gallons the tank is but I would guess 30-60 gallons. I don’t know anything about the water quality. Any thoughts, suggestions, tips are appreciated.

 

[day_trippr]

Definitely get a comprehensive water report - not just a brewer's version but the whole enchilada.

Does the house happen to have any type of water treatment system installed already?

Anyway, you can delete the carbon filter cartridge and just reseal the cannister and let the in flow go straight to the out flow. But carbon filters can remove "taste and odor" stuff and improve the drinkability of water, so you may want to do a comparison with the cartridge in and out.

Water pressure and water temperature have direct effects on RO membrane performance. Throughput decreases as water temperature drops, while more obviously throughput increases with higher pressure. You may be able to find the performance charts for your membrane, and adjust your well pump "high side" setting to better optimize RO membrane performance. In some cases you may decide to add a booster pump between your last pre-filter and the input to the RO membrane cannister so you can run the pump at the membrane's optimal pressure.

Cheers!

 

[Ridenour64]

I agree and will definitely get a report because I’m curious what it’ll say, but I’m wondering if it’s really necessary given that I will be running it through an RO system anyways? I assume I would use RO water for everything at that point, cooking etc. Could my process change based on what the report would say?

I assume you mean a water softener? I’ll have to take a better look at everything once we get in there, but all I remember seeing was a well pump and a blue storage container. So I don’t believe so.

Good idea on the booster pump. I will look into this after testing the pressure.

 

[tracer bullet]

Try contacting Buckeye again as well if you need help. I've always found him to be super fast and helpful.

 

[bellhp]

You can keep the carbon filter , when it's time to change it you can consider it optional if you like.
most important is input pressure , the membrane has a rated GPD and it is dependent on the pressure which will usually be between 40-80 psi , the blue tank is likely a diaphragm tank and gives you a pressurized source of water so that your pump doesn't come on every time you open a faucet . Check the pressure of water coming out of the tap and if it's below 40 psi ... get a booster as recommended by daytripper . tracer bullet has good advice as well ... just call em and ask ...AFTER you check your output pressure ... they will want to know that info .

 

[scrap iron]

I lived in a rural area with my own well. The first thing I did was call the county health dept. and get a water sample test kit. The test is basically for water safety. After you're sure it's safe to drink then you can send a sample to Ward's lab for more information. I'm not sure where you live but my water was very hard with high alkalinity and TDS.
Where can I get my well water tested? | U.S. Geological Survey

 

[Spivey24]

if you don’t have a softener, it will be hard on the RO membrane. But definitely send out a sample to Ward or similar to see what you are dealing with. It’s good to know anyway and not just for brewing.

 

[Buckeye_Hydro]

"Well water" tells us nothing other than where the water came from. Well water quality varies from very good to horrendous. There are two broad categories re the water quality - 1) dissolved mineral, and 2) bacteria. So even if you have a fantastic mineral content for drinking or for brewing, the water may be unusable in its current form due to bacterial issues. You can likely get a bacterial test from your local health department at no cost. It's good practice to do that at least once a year. as bacterial issues can change over time. If you have bacterial problems - those are typically "fixable" and the solution isn't expensive. As mentioned above you'll want an analysis of the dissolved minerals that is more robust than a Ward's Lab Brewers Test. Here's one option: Drinking Water Test - Buckeye Hydro

Most residential wells are run by a well pump that is controlled by a 30/50 or 40/60 pressure switch. The pressure can be adjusted on these pressure switches. Sometimes houses have a variable speed/pressure pump that maintains a specific water pressure in the tank. Your blue tank is called a "well tank."

Do you need a water softener? Even though a softener is the most common piece of equipment used to treat troublesome well water, any honest water treatment professional will tell you that we can't answer that question without seeing the results of the lab analysis. Other common well water problems are high sediment loads, iron, manganese, and hydrogen sulfide. And as we're in a discussion with brewers, you can add alkalinity to that list of common problems too.

Russ