What's new
What's new

OT. Domestic water conditioning question

bhigdog

Stainless
Joined
Jul 20, 2005
Location
Eastern PA
I'm thinking of installing an acid neutralizing unit for my well water. I'm getting some copper staining. The question is will it alter the taste of my water. I'm blessed with remarkably good water, soft and with GREAT taste. No iron or sulfur.
I'm assuming the sales folks will assure me it won't ruin the taste so I thought I'd ask here. Any one have some experence with these units?
Any do's or don'ts before I commit $2000 I'll regret?.....Thanks........Bob
 
Get a PH kit, add some baking soda to some water until it gets closer to neutral PH then taste it, it should be similar to what you will get.
Acidic water has a bit of a pleasant zip on your tongue, like the phosphoric acid they add to soda pop for the same reason
 
Acidic water (lower PH) is "better" tasting water, that's why most companies sell acidic water in "spring bottled water" though modified.

Pure, perfect water has no actual taste, it seriously just tastes wet. It sucks to drink honestly. It's like drinking air.

Putting in a neutralizer may make it taste better as some things make it taste worse.

My dad was a very high quality water technician with culligan and rain soft for a couple decades and I've learned enough about water to drive me nuts. But I can tell you I will never buy a house near a cemetery, emboming fluid is the hardest thing to remove from water!

Sent from my SM-G960U using Tapatalk
 
Last edited:
That is so creepy I’m going to have nightmares, the thought of sinking a well near the cemetery makes bottled water much more appealing
Mark
 
I have been using an acid neutralizing unit for 35 years on my well water, my water is very clean, good tasting and soft, but acidic right from the well, after running through the calcium carbonate (limestone) media, it tastes the same, but is a little hard (still foams up soap just fine) you can taste the calcium right after you refill the filter for an hour or so. I can always tell when the media is starting to run low, as I start to see the blue green staining, I go through 100lbs of the calcium carbonate a year, just for household water. It takes care of all the problems the acid can cause, you do get some calcium buildup on things over time. Overall I am very happy with it, the unit has an automatic back flush system, which I found to be totally unnecessary and a waste of water, unless you have dirty water, I disconnected that part many years ago.
 
Acidic water (higher PH) is "better" tasting water, that's why most companies sell acidic water in "spring bottled water" though modified.

Pure, perfect water has no actual taste, it seriously just tastes wet. It sucks to drink honestly. It's like drinking air.

Putting in a neutralizer may make it taste better as some things make it taste worse.

My dad was a very high quality water technician with culligan and rain soft for a couple decades and I've learned enough about water to drive me nuts. But I can tell you I will never buy a house near a cemetery, emboming fluid is the hardest thing to remove from water!

Sent from my SM-G960U using Tapatalk

My 37 years as a chemist tells me acidic water does not have a higher pH. That would be alkaline
 
PH ranges from 1 to 14 with 7 being neutral. 1 to 6 is ACIDIC, 8 to 14 is BASIC With the extremes being the strongest. Pretty basic Chem class.
...lewie...
Not when your playing with your 6 and 4 yr old at the same time

Sent from my SM-G960U using Tapatalk
 
House I bought had one installed. pH 7.3, TDS 260 - pretty much all from the CaCO3. Bypassed the system and re-checked: pH 6.2 and TDS 34. We get some minor copper staining from the fixtures, but overall we prefer the untreated water (we did install a 20 micron sediment and a 1 micron carbon whole house filter system). Water tastes really good - but generally needs some mineral additions for brewing or making coffee taste the best.

EPA guidelines for pH are 6.5 to 8.5, but my understanding is that the lower limit, in large part, is to protect pipes. Our house is mostly plumbed in PVC (yuck) so I haven't worried about it. 10 years and not dead yet...
 
Water guy was here yesterday. PH about 6.4. He recommends a calcite system with by pass, back flush, etc etc. Bottom line $1800 installed. Guess I'll do it and hope for the best. Every pipe in the house is copper and I'm afraid of pin holes............Bob
 








 
Back
Top