Well water?

[Greg78]

Prepping ground for arrival of an Intex ultra frame 16'x48". We will be filling the pool off our well. Should I fill direct from the well or after it has went through the softener?

Thanks in advance.

Greg

[Watermom]

YIKES! Another one!!! We have had SO many people filling Intex pools with well water this year. It presents a lot of challenges. Let me see if I can find some other threads for you to read in regards to this type of situation. I'll be back in a few minutes with some links to threads. In the event that you can't access them while logged in (which sometimes happens for trial users, try logging out and then seeing if you can see them.)

Welcome to the forum, by the way!

[Watermom]

OK. See if you can access these links:

http://www.poolforum.com/pf2/showthread.php?11995-Well-Water

http://www.poolforum.com/pf2/showthread.php?11846-Experiment-Homemade-Sump-Pump-Filter-to-get-rid-of-brown-water

http://www.poolforum.com/pf2/showthread.php?11889-got-new-24x5-round-intex-pool-need-help-with-water.-Sandy-water..help

http://www.poolforum.com/pf2/showthread.php?11815-New-pool-owner-and-well-water

There are MANY more like them!

Do you know if you have metals in your well water -- mainly, iron or manganese?

[PoolDoc]

Watermom, captured my initial reaction to your post exactly: "Yikes, another one!"

If you haven't started filling, let's try to do this right, and get you a testkit AND a plan BEFORE you start filling. If at all possible, purchase a Taylor 2006 or 2006C kit. If you like, you can order one through the Amazon link in my signature. (If the seller is not "Amato Ind", wait a day -- some of the other sellers are mixing kits up.)

[Greg78]

YIKES! Another one!!! We have had SO many people filling Intex pools with well water this year. It presents a lot of challenges. Let me see if I can find some other threads for you to read in regards to this type of situation. I'll be back in a few minutes with some links to threads. In the event that you can't access them while logged in (which sometimes happens for trial users, try logging out and then seeing if you can see them.)

Welcome to the forum, by the way!

Thanks for the welcome. I have subscribed to be a support member so I can access the threads no problem.

[Greg78]

Old well was really bad had rust stains all over the tubs, sinks and dishwasher. Had new welled drilled about 11 months ago and haven't had any staining and water quality seems to be better. How would I test for iron or manganese.

[Watermom]

You will probably have to have a pool store run a metals test on a sample of your well water for you. But, do NOT let them talk you into buying anything until you run it past us here first. Use this time to do a bunch of reading and go ahead and get a kit ordered.

EDIT --- I just found a different thread where Ben gave these suggestions for testing well water for iron and manganese.

#1 - Find out if your water has iron or manganese in it. One way is to cut the top off a milk jug, clean it, fill it with well water, add a teaspoon of baking soda, and a teaspoon of bleach, mix . . . and then let it sit overnight. Looking at the water the next morning (or the gunk on the bottom of the jug should give you a clue.

BE SURE TO USE THE WATER YOU WILL FILL WITH! If you have a softener for the house, but will fill the pool with unsoftened water, you need to sample unsoftened water. (A softener removed iron and manganese before it removes calcium.) If you do plan to use softened water, find out what your unit's "break-through" point is, and plan to regenerate often during filling.

[Greg78]

You will probably have to have a pool store run a metals test on a sample of your well water for you. But, do NOT let them talk you into buying anything until you run it past us here first. Use this time to do a bunch of reading and go ahead and get a kit ordered.

EDIT --- I just found a different thread where Ben gave these suggestions for testing well water for iron and manganese.

#1 - Find out if your water has iron or manganese in it. One way is to cut the top off a milk jug, clean it, fill it with well water, add a teaspoon of baking soda, and a teaspoon of bleach, mix . . . and then let it sit overnight. Looking at the water the next morning (or the gunk on the bottom of the jug should give you a clue.

BE SURE TO USE THE WATER YOU WILL FILL WITH! If you have a softener for the house, but will fill the pool with unsoftened water, you need to sample unsoftened water. (A softener removed iron and manganese before it removes calcium.) If you do plan to use softened water, find out what your unit's "break-through" point is, and plan to regenerate often during filling.

Thanks for the help. I will try that experiment tonight.

[Watermom]

Greg,

Your posts will now appear instantly on the forum instead of having to go through the moderation queue. One of the benefits of becoming a supporter! :) (Thanks for doing so, by the way!) We appreciate the financial support in keeping our forum alive and running!

[Greg78]

Greg,

Your posts will now appear instantly on the forum instead of having to go through the moderation queue. One of the benefits of becoming a supporter! :) (Thanks for doing so, by the way!) We appreciate the financial support in keeping our forum alive and running!

It's my pleasure to help keep this wonderful resource available.

[Greg78]

Just wanted to give an update. Have had pool set up for 4 days now. We did have iron in our well water.

Filled pool with water after softener, used some aquarium filter floss inside several rags over end of hose to try and collect as much iron as possible, worked pretty good. After fill was completed water did have a slight yellow tinge.

Hung sock of CYA and started dosing with bleach as needed. Rinsed filter element several times (running filter 24/7), was really rusty looking. On second day water was crystal clear and still is. I hope to keep it that way.

Thanks to the forum for all the advice.

[Watermom]

You are welcome! And, thanks for sharing your info about the aquarium filter floss as another idea that someone who is trying to remove iron might try. That is one of the best things about this forum ----- everyone sharing their experiences, both good and bad. There is always something to be learned from both!