Iron is one of the most common problems faced by well owners. We all know that well water is obtained by digging deep holes in the ground to access the water from iron-bearing rocks and soil.
Iron is one of the most abundant chemical elements that are naturally present in the earth’s substances, like water. But consuming these substances is not beneficial for the human body.
Increased amounts of minerals in the water can result in several health-related issues, which is why it is crucial to remove the Iron from the water.
In this article, we will talk about the cheapest ways will help you to remove Iron from the well water. This article also discusses how you can identify if an excessive amount of iron is in the water.
How to Identify the Iron?
Detecting the Iron in well water is effortless, and you will not require professional help.
Whenever there is a high presence of Iron in the water, the taste will be metallic, and there will be a strange smell in the beverages or food prepared by using that water.
The coffee, potatoes, or tea will turn black. Even the color of the water will be yellow, brown, or red, as Iron is very prone to rust and corrosiveness. You can also notice stains in your dishes, faucets, water pipes, or laundry.
Excess Iron in the water can clog the sprinkles, dishwashers, and other devices. These were the most common manual methods, which did not require specific equipment or professional service.
Furthermore, you can also run some laboratory tests or get professional help to confirm your doubts. The professionals usually run a laboratory test where they will check the contamination by Iron in well water.
This will help you to identify additional issues, like alkalinity, hardness, disease-causing microorganisms, and pH level. This can be a great way to find out all the general problems in your well water, and it will help you to take the appropriate steps to prevent them.
An iron level above the range of 0.3 mg/L can result in diseases and impact the health of an individual.
Also Read: Well Water Vs City Water: Which One is Better?
What is the Cheapest Way to Remove Iron From Well Water?
As mentioned above, there are different ways to identify the excess amount of Iron in your well water. Well Water usually has more Iron than city water because it directly comes from the rocks and soil.
The high amount of iron intake can result in several health-related issues like diarrhea, vomiting, abdominal pain, nausea, and constipation; continuously facing issues can result in severe problems with your digestive system.
So, it becomes essential to remove the Iron from the well water. Now, we will discuss the cheapest ways to do so.
If you don’t want to dig deeper, below is a list of all the ways:
- The Sedimentation Process
- The Activated Charcoal Method
- The Chlorination Method
- The Water Softener Method
- The Aeration Method
1. The Sedimentation Process
This is one of the cheapest and most ancient ways to remove Iron. We all have heard about the sedimentation process during our academic years, which is one of the simplest methods to remove Iron.
Before consuming the water, you will have to fill your bottle or a utensil with water and leave it undisturbed for a few minutes or hours, depending on the amount of water you want to filter. Sometimes people fill the water in a large storage tank and leave it overnight to use the water the next day.
After some time, you will see that the Iron has settled down in the utensil by noticing the color change. After seeing sedimentation, remove the water without disturbing the sediment. This is one of the cheapest methods, and the total expense may lie between 10-20$, as it does not require any specific equipment.
2. The Activated Charcoal Method
This is one of the cheapest ways to remove the Iron from the well water and requires around 10-$30. One of the major advantages of this method is that it eliminates toxins but does not remove the beneficial minerals and salt from the water.
So if you do not want the removal of the minerals and beneficiary component of the water, then you should use the activated charcoal method to remove Iron from the well water.
To perform this process, you must crush the activated charcoal first and place it in a very tightly packed container. Make sure that the charcoal is densely packed and does not have spaces, as it will not filter the water effectively.
After filling the water into the container, you will notice that the pure water will come from the container drop by drop. Collect filtered water into another container. This process can be performed at home without equipment and is one of the easiest and cheapest ways to remove Iron.
3. The Chlorination Method
This process is time-consuming, but we do not require special equipment to accomplish this process. Around 5-10$ is the maximum expense to perform this process.
All types of Iron are removed from the water and disinfectant water from disease-causing microorganisms.
Chlorination is the standard process used by the municipality department in the case of city water because chlorination removes the disease-causing organisms and controls the Iron and other chemical levels in the water.
The same process can be used in well water. This is the easiest and cheapest way to remove Iron from the well water. If you want well protection, leave the chlorine for about 8 hours before thoroughly flushing the water from the plumbing system.
While flushing, you will notice some rusty water, which is nothing but excessive Iron present in the water.
Besides chlorine, other chemicals are also used to solve water issues. Citric acid is used to decrease the pH of the water, and sodium carbonate is used to increase the pH of the water.
Hydrogen peroxide is used for oxidizing the Iron and removing the hydrogen sulfide from the well water. If you face any issues apart from Iron, you must consider these chemicals.
4. The Water Softener Method
Several types of water softeners are available in the market. Generally, people prefer to install the water softener at the main water supply area so that every home faucet would receive better quality water.
This is the water’s most effective method, as it removes Iron and the hardness of the water. It is an expensive method that will cost you around 300$ to 500$ depending on the brand and the type of equipment you use.
The water softener is the advanced method to remove Iron from water. It removes the hardness by eliminating magnesium and Calcium from water.
If you consider this option, we will always recommend you take professional help to figure out what type of filter you require to solve 100% of your water problems.
5. The Aeration Method
is the natural process where an excessive amount of Iron is removed along with Methane, chlorine, ammonia other harmful substances. It is the most expensive method and will cost around 150 to 1000 Dollars.
In this method, the air and water come in contact to dissolve the gases in the water. This process results in turbulence, thus activating the oxidation and scrubbing process. This effectively removes Iron from the water, apart from some other chemicals.
The above listed are the cheapest ways to remove Iron from the well water. Although sedimentation is the Cheapest Way to Remove Iron From Well Water.
Pasteurization and reverse osmosis are the additional ways to remove Iron from the water.
Pasteurization is a ubiquitous process in the food industry. In the case of well water, the temperature is raised to 60 degrees celsius for 30 minutes to remove the iron content from the well water.
It is an effective method but very expensive compared to the other methods listed above. Reverse osmosis uses specific membranes to purify the water and is considered the most effective method that gives the purest water. However, it is a costly process.
Read More: How Does Well Water Work?| All You Need to Know
Types of Iron Found in Well Water
Water always has a very high range of Iron compared to city water or other water forms. The well water is directly excessed from the earth’s crust which has a very high amount of iron content. The different types of Iron found in the Well water are listed below:
- Ferric iron: This kind of Iron is not entirely dissolved in the water. It is easily identifiable by noticing the brown, red, and Orange colors in the utensils or water faucets.
- Ferrous Iron: The Iron wholly dissolved in the water is known as ferrous Iron. You can quickly identify it by leaving a glass of water in the open environment, as it will soon oxidize and result in brown or red flakes.
- Bacterial Iron: This type of Iron is bounded by the other types of Iron in the water. If you notice a sled type of material, the bacteria-virus is present in the well water.
It can easily damage plumbing pipes and clogs the well pump, due to which the bacteria can quickly grow and highly impacts your health. It commonly happens when you do not periodically maintain the well and do not hire professional help for its servicing.
Frequently Asked Questions
What are the negative impacts of iron consumption?
The increased amount of Iron can quickly impact your hair, skin, and digestion-related issues. People are more prone to be affected by dryness, clogged pores, eczema, etc., and common digestion-related issues. These can result in other severe problems like kidney failure.
What to do if there is a high presence of Iron and bacteria?
The best method to solve your issue will be chlorination because chlorine kills the bacteria and oxidizes the Iron. To know more about the process, go through the chlorination process section in this article once again.
What is the best way to detect Iron in the water?
Highly noticeable sediments or changes in the color of water while coming in contact with the environment, brittle hairs, stains in utensils, and smelly food, are all factors that you should notice if you doubt of high iron content in well water.
Conclusion
Well water can have a very high quantity of Iron compared to city water or other water forms. The high amount of Iron in daily intake can highly impact our health, so it is essential to check the iron content in the well water.
Periodical maintenance and servicing are necessary to regulate the quality of water. In this article, we have discussed the easiest and cheapest way to remove iron content from the water.
Depending on your feasibility, you can choose any method to remove the Iron from the above-listed techniques. Pasteurization and the reverse osmosis processes are the most effective methods to remove Iron, but they are costly. We hope this article has helped you solve your issues with well water.