Shocked the well with chlorine in April following the usual procedure, ran taps until the smell was gone, and the orange staining in the toilet tank and on the bathroom fixtures cleared up. Three weeks later it was back exactly as before. Water tests at about 1.8 ppm iron, pH 7.2, no sulphur smell. Is repeat shocking pointless here, and what's the actual next step?
Also check whether the iron is dissolved or already oxidised when it comes out of the tap. Fill a clear glass and look at it immediately: if it's clear and turns orange over ten minutes, it's ferrous and a filter that oxidises then catches it will work. If it's already got orange bits in it at the tap, you may have a sediment or a casing problem worth looking at before you spend on treatment.
Small thing that helps meanwhile: the staining in the toilet tank comes off with a citric acid soak far more easily than with scrubbing. Doesn't fix anything, just stops you resenting the bathroom while you sort out the filter.
At 1.8 ppm you're in the awkward middle where a lot of people try to get away with a cartridge filter and end up changing it every three weeks. Ask me how I know. Whatever you install, price the running cost per year, not the purchase price.
Mine backwashes itself on a timer and I do nothing but check it twice a year. Media replacement is a several-year interval, not annual.
How often does the air injection type need servicing in practice? That's the bit I could never get a straight answer on.
@coopvent_cal · 6mo ago · 3 replies
Shocking treats bacteria, not iron, so at 1.8 ppm dissolved iron you're going to get that staining back every time regardless of how well you chlorinate. What shocking does help with is iron bacteria, which is a different thing that looks like orange slime rather than staining, and if you had both then the slime went and the iron stayed. You need removal, not disinfection: at that level and that pH, an air injection iron filter or a manganese greensand system is the usual answer, and a softener alone will clog eventually.
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@coopvent_cal · 6mo ago
Then the shock did its job and you've got a straightforward iron problem left. Get the test redone for both ferrous and ferric iron before you buy anything, since that changes which filter suits.
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@kraut_corner · 6mo ago
That distinction explains why it half worked. There was slime in the tank in April and now it's just staining, no slime.
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