The guy from Action Well told me wells up here tend to have a lot of iron in them and he wasn't kidding - mine tested at 5ppm, which is enough for the water to turn opaque orange if it sits in a 5 gal. bucket for a few hours. He tried to sell me on their expensive (and high maintenance) chlorine injection system, but a neighbor said he had good results removing the iron with his water softener. I was a bit skeptical, but it turns out that softeners with the newer "fine mesh" resin that are recharged with an "iron fighter" salt (ie - one with citric acid added) will remove up to 8 ppm or so of iron at the cost of higher salt consumption. Since I was planning on softening the water, anyway, it wasn't going to cost me anything to try and sonuvabiscuit, it works. The specific softener my neighbor recommended was the Aquasure Harmony, which he got from Lowe's, but I ordered the same one directly from the manufacturer for a slightly lower price and it was shipped to me, rather than having to drive to Live Oak to get it from Lowe's myself. After some trial and error I determined I could safely process 2000 gallons of water per regeneration cycle using about half a bag (or less - it's hard to tell) of iron fighter salt. One advantage of the chlorine or peroxide injection system is that it also disinfects the wate, but I addressed that potential issue with a UV sterilizer.
What if you have to replace the pump down the road?
The guy from Action Well told me wells up here tend to have a lot of iron in them and he wasn't kidding - mine tested at 5ppm, which is enough for the water to turn opaque orange if it sits in a 5 gal. bucket for a few hours. He tried to sell me on their expensive (and high maintenance) chlorine injection system, but a neighbor said he had good results removing the iron with his water softener. I was a bit skeptical, but it turns out that softeners with the newer "fine mesh" resin that are recharged with an "iron fighter" salt (ie - one with citric acid added) will remove up to 8 ppm or so of iron at the cost of higher salt consumption. Since I was planning on softening the water, anyway, it wasn't going to cost me anything to try and sonuvabiscuit, it works. The specific softener my neighbor recommended was the Aquasure Harmony, which he got from Lowe's, but I ordered the same one directly from the manufacturer for a slightly lower price and it was shipped to me, rather than having to drive to Live Oak to get it from Lowe's myself. After some trial and error I determined I could safely process 2000 gallons of water per regeneration cycle using about half a bag (or less - it's hard to tell) of iron fighter salt. One advantage of the chlorine or peroxide injection system is that it also disinfects the wate, but I addressed that potential issue with a UV sterilizer.
Bob, great information! Thank you for sharing. I will consult with you when it comes time.