We asked the water purifier technician to set the ppm of water at 80-100. He did it and it was 91 ppm, but after 4 weeks the Tds came down to 22 ppm and the water is tasting acidic. What to do? Does the tds become low again if the tds controller is set again at 80-100 ppm?
It's an RO water purifier
I’ve been using Soft Water Care's Shower Water Softener System for about three weeks now. I previously suffered from terrible dandruff, which left me with a constantly red, irritated scalp. My girlfriend also had frizzy hair regardless of the constant care to maintain healthy hair.
I was researching ways to improve my flaky dandruff and scalp health when I stumbled upon this water treatment system. After suffering for several months with dandruff and the feeling of sticky hair even after just showering this seemed like the next best thing after long use of medicated shampoo.
The box includes test strips, which explicitly verified that the system successfully softens the water. Beyond the chemical test, the physical results after three weeks are incredible:
Scalp Health: My scalp is no longer irritated from the harsh water, and the redness and dandruff are completely gone. *no longer using medicated shampoo
Hair Volume: My hair feels like it has significantly more volume now. It no longer has that sticky feeling from the harsh water.
Oil Control: My hair no longer gets oily by the end of the day.
On the plus side, my girlfriend is equally obsessed with it. She hasn't changed her hair routine at all, but she has noticed massive improvements:
Color Protection: It keeps her blonde hair vibrant and completely prevents it from getting that ugly, brassy tone. Hair is super soft regardless of it being bleached.
Less Product, Better Lather: She reports needing way less shampoo and conditioner because her products lather up so much better in the soft water.
Texture: Her hair is noticeably less frizzy and much smoother.
Attaching are the pictures of setup. Before and after of each of our hair.
For those with an under-link reverse osmosis system, do you also have a water softener? Where I live, our water is relatively hard, and have heard it’s recommended to have a water softener before going with RO. I guess hard water significantly reduces the lifespan of the RO membrane. Just curious what everyone’s experience with this is.
We just bought a new house, the well water test came back with a 6.1 ph. Is this a big concern and is it worth upgrading our filtration system? Our current filter, as I understand it, is the most basic and only takes out sediment.
Hey, i bought a new construction lennar home in cadence. I’m looking for some good water treatment for the home. The company that works for lennar is kinetico and it seems like a very good system but also seems pricey and the salesperson was very pushy and left a bad taste in my mouth. I entertained another company knocking doors out here called “Nevada Water treatment” guy seemed nice but I wasn’t sure if I should go with it, it just felt a little more cheap than the kinetico and about $5,000 less, It seemed off. Does anyone have any recommendations on a good middle ground company or what kind of system is most effective out here?
We are having well issues and aren’t sure the best way to remedy. Would love advice since we’ve gotten different suggestions from well companies. Short version is that the water turns brown/orange after heavy/moderate usage, and also the well can’t sustain a professional pressure washer. Details at the bottom.
Without actually inspecting the well, these are some suggestions we’ve gotten:
-Iron has clogged up the veins and we need to clean and blast the well to restore the yield.
-Blasting risks collapse, so we should brush, surge, and bail sediment from the well tank.
-Might need to deepen the well, or even drill an entirely new well.
Thoughts on these? Is blasting or surging too risky? We don’t want to jump to an extreme option, but are willing to do/pay what is needed to have reliable, quality water. FYI records show the test rate when drilled in 2017 was 15 gpm, and the pump is set at 140 ft. We have a water softener and a whole house sediment filter (which gets absolutely caked in iron) and water is usually clear. Thanks in advance!
Details:
After heavy (or even moderate) usage, the water will run brown from iron for 1-3 days. ie trying to fill our small fish pond, trying to use my residential pressure washer, running the hose to water newly planted trees. This used to happen more in the dry summer months but it has happened twice during this extremely wet spring. Our neighborhood has lots of iron, but none of neighbors have this same issue. Are we reaching the bottom of the well and stirring up the iron down there? Why does it happen so easily?
We had a professional pressure washer come do our small deck, and he kept having to pause because the pressure was dropping to zero. By the end of the job the water had turned brown. He estimated he had used maybe 100 gallons, and said he very rarely sees wells struggle like this. Not sure if our well is low capacity or what, but it seems like it should be able to handle a small power washing job. This is the only time the pressure has dropped like this…usually the water flows fine, it just turns brown.
This has been bugging me for eight months and I finally need to say it somewhere people might actually understand.
My neighbor Dave called me in a panic last July. Middle of a heat wave, his AC had basically stopped cooling, and a contractor had just left his house after telling him the system was "beyond the point of repair" and he needed a full replacement. Quote was $11,500. Dave's not a handy guy, he trusts people in uniforms, and he was already pulling up financing options when he texted me.
I'm not an HVAC tech. I want to be clear about that. But I've worked on my own systems enough to know what some of the common failure points look like so I asked if I could take a look before he committed to anything.
The condenser coils were absolutely caked. Like I'm talking visibly grey with debris from the outside. The capacitor was bulging — you could see it just looking at the unit. And when I pulled up his maintenance history he genuinely could not remember the last time anyone had serviced it. The system was 13 years old which apparently is the magic number where contractors start recommending replacement whether it's justified or not.
He called a different company the next morning. Different tech came out, spent about an hour and a half on it, cleaned the coils, replaced the capacitor, found the refrigerant was undercharged and topped it up. Total came to $340. The system has run perfectly through the rest of last summer, all of this winter, and is cooling his house right now as I'm typing this.
I keep thinking about what would have happened if he hadn't texted me. He would have financed $11,500 for a system he didn't need. And the worst part is he would never have known. The new system would have worked great and he'd have just assumed the old one was genuinely done.
I'm not saying every contractor is trying to rip people off. I don't believe that. And I know there are real cases where a system is genuinely at end of life — cracked heat exchangers, dead compressors, old refrigerant types that are expensive to service. Those situations exist and replacement is the right call.
But dirty coils, a bad capacitor, and low refrigerant are not those situations. They're maintenance issues. And they can make a perfectly functional system act like it's completely dying.
The honest thing that frustrates me is most homeowners have absolutely no reference point. When someone who presumably knows more than you tells you your system is shot, you believe them. There's no reason not to. And the financial incentive between a $340 repair visit and an $11,500 install is so wildly different that I genuinely don't understand how this isn't talked about more.
Get a second opinion. Always. Especially if the first one comes from someone who also happens to sell new systems.
Curious whether the actual techs in here think I'm being unfair or if this is something you see regularly.
One thing I underestimated early on was how important technician buy-in is when trying to standardize PMs.
I've seen planners build really detailed job plans that looked great on paper but completely ignored how the work actually gets done in the field.
Then nobody uses them.
The best implementations I've seen usually involve experienced techs early:
- what actually matters
- what gets ignored
- what failure signs are worth documenting
- what tools/materials are realistically needed
Otherwise the PM becomes paperwork instead of something useful.
Feels like the real challenge isn't writing PMs. It's getting something practical enough that crews actually trust and use it.
I've been told our old water softener is about 80% effective, letting some minerals through and a small amount of iron. Once in a while we get sulfer smell from our water. I've been told a bigger softener might take care of all of our problems.
We have well water and I really don't know where to begin with figuring out what softener we need or getting our water re-tested without calling an expensive company. I'm fully capable of getting a unit and installing it. My only knowledge of water testing is from testing pool water levels and it's taken me a long time to understand that.
Just bought a new house and my plumber said water drop g3p600 is really good and he recommends it. The system looks great along with good reviews but I tend to prefer alkaline because of the taste and I found the G5P700A.
My question is, has anyone here installed the G5P700A? Curious to know if they like it and if they like the taste of the water.
I have an Apec RO under the sink system now, I like it but the water just tastes the same. Kind of getting tired of it.
Thanks!
I live in an area with very hard water. I have little ones and I am becoming more aware of how our drinking water is not that great. With the recent rollback of regulations, I would like to ensure our residential drinking water is safe. I am very new to this and if anyone can explain water treatment I would greatly appreciate it. Please link posts if you know of them and can take a look there as well.
Needs:
Water softener (pipe burst and this was recommended)
Filter for drinking water
Questions:
Do we need a whole house filtration system?
If we have a whole house system, do we need a reverse osmosis system?
Is a reverse osmosis system enough?
How does a water softener fit into all of this?
Notes:
A water softener was recommended but when asked about water filtration system, they said we don’t need it if we get a water softener (?).
I am a bit confused and don’t know where to start. We currently only use a fridge filter if that’s any help as to where we are starting from. I’d appreciate any help. Thank you
I have Leaf Home Water Solutions come out and do a water test and give me a quote they tried telling me I need a whole home system with a carbon filter water softener and an RO system they were asking almost $6,700 I feel like that’s a little much.
I was looking at doing a whole house carbon filter -> https://affordablewater.us/collections/upflow-carbon-filters/products/upflow-carbon-filter-1-0-cubic-foot
And an Ro system under my sink for drinking -> https://affordablewater.us/collections/tfc-300-ro-system
Are these what anyone else would recommend first time dealing with this we have 1 bath 2 adults and 1 infant here’s my water test:
FCL - 0.18 ALK - 65 TCL - 2.89
HARDgpm - 8.5 CCL - 2.80 pH - 7.8
I rent a basement, which flooded over the weekend due to pipe burst in the foyer ceiling resulting in 8-10 inches of water in the unit. Since i wasn’t home, i didnt know about it until an hour or maybe 2 hours into it.
I have tenants insurance but they are getting 3rd party claims company to work with me which is extremely hard to get ahold of, not sure if they will be sending an adjuster to look in person but they asked to send all the photos of the damaged property.
Now the landlord’s insurance hopped on it real quick and started doing restoration. The kitchen cabinets, flooring, walls, insulation, baseboards all that would be done now over 6-8 weeks.
I have remaining 4 months left on my lease. Since i need to move all my belongings (& cant discard them due to insurance asking me to keep them for now), I would need to move my personal belongings to a storage unit.
Its an active construction unit with initially 8 fans and 2 dehumidifier placed everywhere. Now, Walls ripped out, baseboards taken out.
My landlord gave me an offer to pay 1 more month to get off the lease. Now, I cant understand why i would need to pay since I am doing emergency evacuation and why isnt this cause enough to terminate the lease due to
-Breach of Peaceful Enjoyment
-physical state of the unit makes the original contract impossible to fulfill.
+ I am having to pay deductible as well on the damages.
+ he declined rent rebate
Moreover, my current roommate had given me a notice last month and I had found another roommate, who i had to inform about the mishaps so I am left alone to pay the full rent amount.
Sadly, I have my tickets booked to leave the province for 2 months, so i pitched an offer to my landlord to pardon my rent until restoration is happening and when the work is done, to inform me so i can come back, which he declined saying that It wont take 2 months and flooring should take only a day.
Now, if there is anyone educated on this issue, please advise
This is a picture from the 5 micron filter that precedes my Kinetico softener. It’s an extreme case, but I can reach such levels of clogging if I don’t rinse my filter every few weeks.
I live in a remote region, with very limited access to water treatment professionals, so I’m seeking help here!
The thing is honestly manageable, the main issues being the cost of the filter replacement, a light orange tint everywhere, and low pressure. Most of it seems to get caught in that first filter.
I’ve read about chlorine shocking and I’m about to try this next, but I wanted to check first if anyone can confirm my assessment. If I understood correctly, this is a living thing that would get killed by the chlorine, so I’d remove the source of the problem. My other avenue is to find a more durable way to filter it.
Thanks for the support!
So as the title suggests, I have well water with very very high iron. I do have a water softener and a separate iron filter(idk exactly what it's called but it looks like a water softener without the salt tank and only removes iron) that feeds into it. I don't have EC/ppm readings right now, but I'll get them when I get home later today.
My concern is that because I have such hard water, after going through the softener it'll be high in sodium, which will cause a nutrient lockout with my plants. So I need some suggestions or advice as to how to filter my water so it's usable, without dropping 2k on a large RO system.
With my hydro grow I use roughly 70-90 gallons a week, which involves draining and refilling a 60 gallon drum, weekly. It's not realistic for me to get a smaller RO system that only does 100gpd because my plants get watered at least twice a day, and I need time to mix nutrients into the still 60 gallons before the plants are watered (it's on a timer)
I've looked into a deionization filter, but those seem to be just as expensive. I do also collect rain water from the gutters but it's not reliable enough because I use so much water and with how dry it's been where I live.
So basically, what are my options? What's the cheapest option? What is the best option? I know I'm going to have to spend a few hundred dollars, but money is tight right now(as it is for everyone lol) and I don't have thousands to spend.
Thanks in advance for your help!!
Edit: before I installed the new system I think my water was reading at 2.5 EC after the softener. It was also 30 years old, so I doubt it was doing much, if anything.
Hi all! Would really appreciate some experienced eyes giving my home water treatment plan a once-over. All feedback appreciated.
We bought a rural property and got a lab test for organic and inorganic levels. Organic test came back with some non-e. coli bacteria (which was addressed by shocking the well), but since this is a seasonal property, we wanted the peace of mind of a UV filter.
But the hardness (366ppm/21gpg) and TDS (494ppm/29gpg) are very high and there's enough iron content (0.32ppm) that exceeds what a lot of UV filter manufacturers list as the upper limits of what the filter can handle. Full water tests are below.
One bathroom, 2 adults, 2 kids, standard appliance needs (washing machine, dishwasher).
Stage 1: 10" Big Blue with a 5 micron sediment filter for turbidity and large particles
Stage 2: Clack WS1 with 10% crosslink resin, 32k grain
Stage 3: Another 10" Big Blue with a 5 micron sediment filter (in case of resin leak when backwashing)
Stage 4: Viqua VH200
(I used AI to take the PDF test results and format the mg/L to gpg conversion. Sorry for any weirdness in how they display.)
I have no well cap. Can I open the pipe at the pressure switch and add bleach there to shock the well?
Hello! I’m 20 years old and I’ve been rolling around ideas of what I want to do as a career and I think I’ve gone with drinking water/waste water operator as it. Is it worth it?
We recently moved to Naples, FL and bought a house for retirement. We looked in Sarasota for about 5 months and finally came down and fell in love with the community here. We felt obligated to the Sarasota realtor we had used and gave him commission in Naples. He recommended a guy he used for water treatment and filtration as the FL water is funky .When we moved in I noticed a strong sulfur smell out of the bathroom sinks in primary and guests. We contacted the sales guy and he told us that he would ship the unit and it would take care of the sulfur smell and soften the water. He asked us to Zelle $5900 to his boss who would send out their plumber from Sarasota who specializes in the unit. The unit was a Carico Ultra Tech. We paid the money and the unit got shipped to our house. The plumber came in a small car to install the unit. He was having problems and had to come back the next day. Unknown to us he took away the Kinetico Water softner the previous owner installed. After 3 days the water was hard and still the sulfur smell in the sinks. We took a water test and it came back unfiltered and PH was way off. We called and he bascially said to contact company nothing he could do. We called realtor who said he never had a problem with him. We contacted the Zelle email of the boss and my husband threatened legal action. He asked to send someone to look to see if it was installed correct. The plumber was surprised the softner was taken away as they should go together. We asked for our money back and come take the unit. Inbetween we had Culligan check water and it tested unfiltered as well. The boss called back and said sorry the best they can do is sell us water filters for shower heads and sinks at cost. My husband said no way, refund us. They told us good luck going to court. So we are out of 5900 and had to have Kinetico come out to put water softener replaced. Which the one they took way was 7200 and under warranty and the water still smells like sulfur. We had to put out more money for Kinetico for unit that they will install once kitchen remodel is done. Do you have a chance at small claims court against these guys? They gave us no receipt and we trusted the realtor with the recommendation.
I live in a double wide in the White sands area with a well. water it self seem pretty clean? tested fine when I bought house, and I can not find ANY existing filters? But it is for sure hard water.
What is the cheapest setup I can get and prepare my self so that they just have to tap in to my well main?