Before installing an Iron Filter, our customer’s suffered from rust stains and an odor in their well water.
Another company had installed a water softener – and it just wasn’t cutting it!
This job was right in our backyard in the Martin Woods Subdivision of McHenry IL.
Fortunately for our clients, they called the local McHenry IL Water Treatment experts!
Finding The Source of the Problem
Our clients scheduled a site inspection and Free Water Test to get started.
We cycled their well pump on and off several times to get a fresh water sample for testing.
The water test came back with the following results:
32gpg Water Hardness
7.0pH
4.0 ppm of Iron
0ppm Hydrogen Sulfide
The smell was in their cold water – that ruled out a water heater problem.
Testing found no Hydrogen Sulfide gas.
The source turned out to be something we are very familiar with in this area: Iron Bacteria!
Why Iron Bacteria is a Problem
The 2 year old Kinetico water softener was doing a great job of softening the water. The water hardness was below 1gpg – nice and soft!
But water softeners have ZERO impact on Iron Bacteria.
Iron Bacteria is a nuisance microbe that grows in plumbing, water heaters, and…. water softeners!
It creates a red-orange slime that causes water discoloration. The slime also takes on a number of different foul odors.
In this case, the softener was actually providing a nice cozy home for these bugs. It was hardly a solution to the problem!
The Right Solution to the Problem
We installed a similar system to treat well water problems in Crystal Lake.
This Iron Curtain Junior filter uses a 12” tank and provides up to 6gpm (gallons per minute) of iron and odor-free water. That was enough for our clients. They could run a sink, toilet, and shower at the same time.
The system uses a digital Iron Filter controller to operate both Air Injection AND Chlorine injection. Air is used to oxidize Iron. Chlorine is used to kill Iron Bacteria. They work together beautifully.
The Iron Filter uses a light-commercial Hellenbrand H125 Iron Curtain control valve. The valve is a full 1.25” diameter. The large diameter helps make sure we can get a vigorous flush to improve the life of the filter.
Garrelts has Experience You Can Trust!
When you have a water problem, most people prefer the service they get from a local business.
You can make a phone call, talk to a real person, and get them to your front door – quickly.
That’s much better than talking to someone in a call center.
Nobody knows the water quality in McHenry better than we do!
If you have nasty well water in McHenry IL, call Garrelts Water at (815) 344-8186. We’re here to help!