This is Alpha, the first-born, when he was 2YO.
This is Beta, the second-born, when he was about 2YO.
This is Gamma, the third-born, when he was about 18MO.
Fe Fi Fo Filter
Jul
26
2011
Intro to Our Water Problems
Our water softener was hurting. It still worked, kind of. It was going through salt like normal, but the water was tasting worse and worse. Salty-ish, in fact.
My wife refused to drink the water, so we were going through dozens of cases of bottled water from Costco. It finally got to me too. When you have to spit out any water that gets in your mouth during your shower, you know something’s not right. So I talked to some people, and got referred to my local hardware store.
I filled up an empty water bottle (we had lots of those available) with our hose water (from before the softener) and took it to the store. The manager guy took it in the back to test it. It took him quite a while.
When he finally came back, he told me that he tested it twice because the numbers were off the chart and he didn’t believe the first test.
Fixing Our Water
For those who are interested: our water has an iron content of 3.5 and a hardness level of 67. I forget the units on those numbers, but I think the hardness involved grains.
The store manager said they had an iron filter that would help, but he wanted the water treatment specialist (and installer) guy to look at our system in person so he could make sure nothing else was wrong. Maybe he thought we connected the water softener backwards or something.
The water treatment guy came out and tested our water. He hadn’t believed the store manager’s results either. Sure enough, he got the same result. Our well was fine and the rest of our system was fine. It’s just the groundwater in our area is very hard. Based on his assessment, we got an iron filter from the store and he installed it.
It cost around $700, but it was well worth it.
Get it? Well worth it…
Ahem.
Financial Stuff
I didn’t consider the financial gains before buying the iron filter. I just bought the thing because I was tired of bad water and tired of buying bottled/jug water. Not the price, necessarily, but the hassle of loading those things on the cart and then into the van and then into our kitchen.
But it does make financial sense too.
- Exhibit A: Cheaper Salt
I was buying the iron-out / rust-handling softener salt at $6.79 a bag. Now I buy the regular salt at $4.39 a bag.If that’s the only difference, I come out ahead financially after 292 bags of salt. Since I was using a bag a week, that would payoff in 5.6 years.
Not impressed? Keep reading.
- Exhibit B: Less Salt
I was going through about one 40-lb bag a week. I didn’t keep close track, so that’s just an estimate.The iron filter cuts down the workload of the water softener, so now I go through a bag every other week.
So 52 * $6.79 = 353.08 (roughly a dollar a day in salt).
And 26 * $4.39 = 114.14 (roughly 30 cents a day)That’s a savings of $238.94 per year, for a break-even point of 2.9 years.
Okay, maybe it’s not exactly impressive, but it’s not a bad expenditure.
Iron Filter Conclusion
So it’s cheaper in the long run, gives us better water, and I don’t have to drive to the store, buy salt, and lug it downstairs as much as I used to. I don’t see a downside.
I’m happy with it.
If you’re buying the special salt to remove rust, I’d recommend looking into getting an iron filter.
Disclaimer: I got a greensand filter, which does have some maintenance in that you need to pour about a quart of chemicals into a tank every couple of months. That does erase some of the monetary gains, but if you want to get picky you would have to account for the gas and mileage on the van to carry the extra salt. Plus it’s physically easier to carry a couple pounds of chemicals than a 40-pound bag of salt.
Of the gold, the silver and the bronze and the iron there is no limit. Arise and work, and may the LORD be with you.
1 Chronicles 22:16
This little article thingy was written by Some Guy sometime around 11:30 pm and has been carefully placed in the Projects category.
July 27th, 2011 at 8:36 am
I’m thankful for city water. Good to drink right out of the tap. Cost = $30 / month (and that includes sewer).
July 27th, 2011 at 12:09 pm
Now mine’s good to drink out of the tap. Although Alpha was used to the water-with-a-taste-to-it, so he misses it.
September 27th, 2011 at 6:31 pm
[…] Some of you may recall that we had an iron filter installed. […]
October 4th, 2011 at 6:36 pm
[…] of you may recall that we had an iron filter installed several weeks ago. That improved the general quality of the water, but I wanted to ensure that I […]