- Joined
- Jun 22, 2021
- Messages
- 97
First off I chose the construction forum because it seemed like a good fit. Also, I have crossposted this post verbatim on other forum sites, to get a variety of answers.
So here goes: I had a well put in, and got the water tested at ETR Laboratories. I was really sweating this, because with an oil/gas well 500 ft away, I was worried that I might wind up with a $15,000 mop bucket. Thankfully .. no toxins were present, only some coliforms that I can sterilize out.
I have some rain catchment going but I can't do it all with that. I will be watering some sheep, chickens, pets, and an orchard of 8-10 fruit trees, and watering the grass.
The other thing is that this water is HARD. Seriously. They came back with a hardness number of 275.5 mg/L. 75 or more is considered hard, so I pretty much have gravel coming out of the pipe
So it looks like a softener is the order of the day. I'm not buying the science behind the electronic ones, and I don't like the saltless conditioners, because they just can't handle the hardness levels I have. So if I have a softener, it appears I have to use a regenerant. I don't like the idea of dumping out 65 gallons of salt brine into the woods every other day. The other alternative is to use Potassium Chloride, which as I understand is not hard on the environment, but is much more expensive, and I have to use more of it.
The other alternative ... is to just not use a softener at all. All the long piping is PEX. But there is copper in the tankless water heater, and all the pex fittings are brass, so eventually they will get crudded up.
Or, I could filter & sterilize some rainwater to use for the house, and just let the chickens/animals/plants have the well water.
So ... now I have more questions than answers
I guess first off ...
So here goes: I had a well put in, and got the water tested at ETR Laboratories. I was really sweating this, because with an oil/gas well 500 ft away, I was worried that I might wind up with a $15,000 mop bucket. Thankfully .. no toxins were present, only some coliforms that I can sterilize out.
I have some rain catchment going but I can't do it all with that. I will be watering some sheep, chickens, pets, and an orchard of 8-10 fruit trees, and watering the grass.
The other thing is that this water is HARD. Seriously. They came back with a hardness number of 275.5 mg/L. 75 or more is considered hard, so I pretty much have gravel coming out of the pipe
So it looks like a softener is the order of the day. I'm not buying the science behind the electronic ones, and I don't like the saltless conditioners, because they just can't handle the hardness levels I have. So if I have a softener, it appears I have to use a regenerant. I don't like the idea of dumping out 65 gallons of salt brine into the woods every other day. The other alternative is to use Potassium Chloride, which as I understand is not hard on the environment, but is much more expensive, and I have to use more of it.
The other alternative ... is to just not use a softener at all. All the long piping is PEX. But there is copper in the tankless water heater, and all the pex fittings are brass, so eventually they will get crudded up.
Or, I could filter & sterilize some rainwater to use for the house, and just let the chickens/animals/plants have the well water.
So ... now I have more questions than answers
I guess first off ...
- How worried do I need to really be about the whole salt discharge thing? Or the potassium chloride thing?
- Are there alternatives I'm not thinking of?