Before you go buy an iron water filter for your home, make sure you know what’s causing the iron contamination and also the levels of iron in your water. Without knowing a few important facts about iron water, you can easily make the mistake of buying the wrong iron water filtration system.
Firstly it’s important to have your water tested by Water Testing Laboratories in your area. Or you can go out and buy a water testing kit but make sure that it will be able to show results of iron concentrations in the water.
The results should show you what type of iron you have in the water. There are 2 main types. They are:
1) Soluble
This variety is most often reported. In this case you will find that clear water comes out of the tap but if you leave to water for a little to settle in the glass, you will find reddish brown bits accumulating on the bottom of the glass.
and
2) Insoluble
This type of iron water is known as “red water” because when you pour cold tap water into the glass, the color is shaded with a rusty red color. The color is not as off putting as the metallic taste and if there is sulfur hydroxide in the water too, it might smell like rotten eggs too!
The insoluble form also results in an organic complex because iron mixes with other naturally occurring acids in the water. The result might be a yellow brown coloring to the water.
The last insoluble form is iron bacteria. This happens when iron combines with certain types of bacteria. It’s very obvious to notice because it forms a yellow orange reddish slime or sludge in toilet tanks or wells. It can become a huge problem because the iron bacterium clogs up drains or pipes supplying water to the house.
Now that we know what type of iron there could be in your water system, it’s also important to find out the concentrations of the iron. This is a test that only the labs can perform. That’s why it is ultimately best to get a third party to do the testing.
It’s also important to find out where the high levels of iron are coming from. If your water supply comes from a public water supply, then find out from your local town office if this water does have high iron concentrations and if not, then it must be coming from your pipes.
If you get water from a well, then it might even be better to talk to a well driller and your neighbors and find out how deep their wells are and if they have the iron water problem too. If they don’t have this problem, then find out the depth of their wells. It is often costly to get your well dug deeper but it’s cheaper in the long term than treating your water with regular iron filters for well water.
Low to medium concentrations of iron in the water supply, mean that certain iron water filters will be suitable. Higher concentrations used together with normal iron purification systems may result in you having to constantly change and buy new parts for the machine.