AboutSteve Young Expertise I will answer questions on residential water treatment, i.e. use of softeners, filters, reverse osmosis systems, disinfection, iron and/or sediment removal and other issues facing the homeowner.
Experience I have worked in the water treatment area for 15 years. I have specialized in the design of reverse osmosis, deionization, and water softening units. I have also done work in water quality and stream and river remediation as it relates to the Clean Water Act.
Organizations I am currently serving as an Expert for Home Improvement, Travel (New Mexico) and Travel (North Carolina)
Expert: Steve Young Date: 7/24/2008 Subject: Rust in water
Question Steve,
Okay. My husband has put the softener on bypass and we are doing the first load. I appreciate your approach to diagnosing the problem. Here is some more information: we thought our old water softener was "going out" because it seemed to use a lot of salt at some times, and then not much at others. It did not seem as if it was regenerating properly. My husband wonders if some of the problem could be that we had some significant flooding a few weeks back. Could that have contributed to our present problem? He went to Sears today to ask them about the Softener. They recommended we bring in water samples, and suggested that we would want to buy a filter. Apparently, there are two types: one that needs to be changed monthly, and one that is installed with your softener (??). We have added "Iron-Out" to our salt, and perhaps that will help. By the way, I had tried everything to get my whites back to white again, and nothing has worked! I added Iron-out to the washer and soaked the clothes,tried cream of tartar and salt, and also tried something called "Whink". Interestingly enough, the clothes looked white after soaking in these liquids, but turned orange again once they were washed. Does that tell you anything about what might be going on? We really appreciate your help, and I will let you know as soon as I have done both loads. (Although, I am a little reluctant to do two loads, as I am afraid if they turn rusty I will never be able to bring them back to the right color!) Do I need to do two loads to make sure that all the water in the washer has truly been bypassed? Once again, thank you for your time and your help!
Answer Hi Mary,
No, you can just do one if you are afraid you might ruin clothes. I would prefer two though - do you have any rags or something you can run through just to see. The reason I want two is that there might be some residual in the first load but it should all be out after the first load. But if you can only do 1 that's fine.
The salt usage increase in your old softener sounds like a regeneration timer issue rather than the softener itself going out. In any event, it's gone so it's water under the bridge so to speak :-)
When you say significant flooding a while back, is there a chance that the well head was flooded? If so, is there a lot of red clay around the well head? Because if there is and that got into the well then that could be causing the problems. And you cannot get that red clay out with anything! I think you could soak it in pure sulfuric acid and it would eat the clothes up but that darn red clay would stay there!! Could that have happened?
If not, then you may have an iron problem. The idea of getting water samples and having them testing is a good one. I would like you to let me know the results and I can make a more informed decision.
So, I hope this helps. Let me know the answers to these questions and the results when you get them.
Take care,
Steve
