Angst, Arrhythmia and Troubled Waters!

In a past blog post (Who, What, When, Where, Why and How) we talked about how it takes the right investigator to properly diagnose water problems, find the best solutions to treat the water, provide the customer the quality of water they are expecting and have a permanent solution to their water problem.  We have had two such problems recently that we helped homeowners resolve.

Here are the scenarios with each customer:

Customer #1:  They have been living in their home in Hartland, MI for 18 years, 2 adults, 2 teenagers (now).  When they moved into the home eighteen years ago they had a new water softener installed with a pre-filter and a new well tank at the same time.  Their water was always discolored and rusty, causing many problems in the home, laundry staining, rusty toilets, hated the taste of the water, etc.  They were told by many water treatment companies that they had “Tannins” (dissolved organic matter) in their water and there was nothing that could be done about it.  Meanwhile they are changing the pre-filter every month for 18 years because it gets so plugged up with gunk the water pressure in the house drops dramatically.

Customer #2:  Long time customers of ours.  They just bought a home on a lake in Chelsea, MI and had well issues (positive test for Coli-form bacteria) before they closed on the house so the well was chlorinated by a well contractor, the water was re-tested and passed inspection.  In the process of moving into the home they discover the water is really bad, hard, rusty, very discolored and even smells weird.  They have the company come out who installed the water treatment equipment seven years ago to look it all over and see what needs to be done to rectify the problem.  As it turns out they have “Tannins” in their water (which is not uncommon living on a lake). They also have high iron content and hard water.  The service tech explains the softener is not working properly and the head needs to be rebuilt and the tannin unit needs new tannin resin also.  The homeowner was rather suspect at this diagnosis because he said the tech hardly spent any time at all diagnosing the problem before suggesting a solution.  By the way I forgot to mention the well tank was bad (waterlogged) and needed to be replaced, the homeowner new that.  So they called us out to look at the system and give our opinion as to the solution.

Now we are going to tie both of these water problems together and figure out the proper solutions. The MOST important thing and FIRST THING done when diagnosing a water treatment problem is to “Listen to the Customer” before you do anything!  Let them describe the problems (as they see it) and ASK questions relating to the problems they have described. This can many times point us in the right direction from the beginning.  At the very least it will help us address the problem as the customer sees it and provide them the answers to their questions and concerns.

In neither of these situations were questions asked of the homeowners by the other water treatment companies, nor was a proper water analysis done to determine the water chemistry or look for potential water problems.  With the proper investigation both of these problems were diagnosed correctly, a complete water analysis/evaluation was done on-site and proper / permanent solutions were presented within a half hour of our visit with each homeowner.  Water samples were also sent out to independent labs for validation of the water analysis of both homes.

Water Evaluation Diagnosis:

Customer #1: No Tannins. 5 parts per million of iron and a series of well tanks going bad (5 in 18 years) the bladders kept going out in them (cheap well tanks), causing them to get water logged and in the process oxidizing most of the iron in the well tank. So the iron falls out of solution (Ferric iron/ Rust), plugs up the filter and rusty discolored water passes through the water softener causing many problems in the home. The water was extremely discolored every morning after it set in the well tank all night!

Solution:  New well tank, switch and gauge (The proper well tank) and an Evolve Series EVFE iron filtration system  

Customer #2: Tannins, 9 parts per million of iron, softener and tannin unit not working.  When the well was shock chlorinated none of the water treatment equipment was by-passed and the resin in both units was ruined by the high chlorine.  Also with the 9ppm of iron about 2ppm of the iron was ferric iron (oxidized) so it had already fouled out the tannin resin with iron.

Solution:  New well tank, Evolve EVFE iron filter, Evolve EVRS softener and re-bed of the tannin system.

Results:  Happy customers! Great water! The proper solutions to their water treatment problems and feeling great that we could help solve their water problems and give them the quality of water they were looking for!  Previous Angst over their water problems (gone), the wives love us, hence the Arrhythmia and we have solved their Troubled Waters problem.

So the next time you are experiencing Angst and Arrhythmia over your Troubled Waters.  Remember it takes the right investigator to properly diagnose the perceived, potential and actual water treatment problems along with the proper solutions to give you great water!

Below are some links regarding issues discussed in this article:

http://www.evolveseries.com/

http://www.awtworks.com/

http://www.watersystemscouncil.org/VAiWebDocs/WSCDocs/96111501_Tannins.pdf

http://www.livestrong.com/article/549859-is-tannic-acid-in-water-harmful/

                       

Good Days and Good Water to You!

Ray McConnell

Certified Water Treatment Specialist