A Well and The Quest For Clear Water

When we moved into the house, there was noticeable rust staining on the tub and toilet, suggesting our well had heavy iron and sediment levels. There was also a noticeable sulfur smell from the hot water which can associated with a bacteria that feeds on iron. There was an existing inline charcoal filter in place just before the pressure tank. After a little research it seemed that a filter before a pressure tank is not the best location as it can cause issues with the tank if the filter was to clog. I decided to build my own 3-stage filter as it was going to be much cheaper that buying a pre-made unit.

I hung a sheet of plywood off of a floor joist (well a floor log in our homes case) to attach the system to. Before the 3-stage filter is a spin down sediment filter that takes care of the larger debris that can be periodically flushed via a valve on the bottom. Over the next few months I will test out what filters work best for our home, for the first month I only had 2 filters hooked up and ran a 50 micron -> 5 micron.  The filters held up pretty well, after a couple days they were tinted red, but seemed to still have some life in them after a months use and there was no noticeable drop in water pressure. This month I am running 5 micron -> 1 micron -> charcoal filter to see how well the filters last and how the water tastes. 

So far the water tastes great, if we leave a glass set out over night, there is almost no discoloration. Prior to having filters installed, the water would be tinted red overnight, and would turn red when we went to boil water. I also plan on submitting another water sample as I had it tested before we installed the filters to see what kind of improvement we have gained. The next step may be installing a water softer or air injecting system, either one would take place prior to renovating our bathroom as I plan on moving all the water filtration into our utility room upstairs.