well water/water softener

[poolhelp101]

i use well water to add water to my pool. i have a water softener but when adding fill water, i use the outside spicket that is not attached to the water softener. my question is....is that okay to add water from the non-filtered spicket or should i be adding from the water that is attached to the water softener? in the past i have had iron and copper in the water. i do also use a heater for the pool. thanks

[gwrace1]

I can only tell you what I did and the results I received. We had our 26000 gallon pool installed this past March. Our water comes from and Iron rich south Texas well. I checked around for water delivery prices but no one could guarantee me that the water would be metal free. So here is what I did.

I purchased a whole house iron filter and put it ahead of my water softener.
I then estimated how many gallons of softened water could be created with each regeneration cycle. I used nothing but this pre-filtered softened water to fill the pool. It took many regeneration cycles over a period of 5 days to complete the fill. As a pre-caution I also treated the water with metal out and polyquat 60% algaecide. I should tell you that I'm also using a 26" sand filter with Zeolite filter medium. With pump on I let this mixture circulate for 3-4 days before turning on the SWCG. The water has been crystal clear since startup. I should also tell you that because I am running a salt water pool that I do not top it off with the softener as that changes the salt levels. I place a whole house iron filter on the end of the hose and fill from pre-softened well water. Hope that helps.

[poolhelp101]

yes it helps. thanks.
also i apparently missed the post "metal control" that pooldoc responded to which answered the question also. he stated that it would help to use softened water. thanks again

[crackerjack]

I can only tell you what I did and the results I received. We had our 26000 gallon pool installed this past March. Our water comes from and Iron rich south Texas well. I checked around for water delivery prices but no one could guarantee me that the water would be metal free. So here is what I did.

I purchased a whole house iron filter and put it ahead of my water softener.
I then estimated how many gallons of softened water could be created with each regeneration cycle. I used nothing but this pre-filtered softened water to fill the pool. It took many regeneration cycles over a period of 5 days to complete the fill. As a pre-caution I also treated the water with metal out and polyquat 60% algaecide. I should tell you that I'm also using a 26" sand filter with Zeolite filter medium. With pump on I let this mixture circulate for 3-4 days before turning on the SWCG. The water has been crystal clear since startup. I should also tell you that because I am running a salt water pool that I do not top it off with the softener as that changes the salt levels. I place a whole house iron filter on the end of the hose and fill from pre-softened well water. Hope that helps.

Could you give a little more detail about the whole house iron filter?
Brand name or a link.

Thanks
cj

[gwrace1]

Could you give a little more detail about the whole house iron filter?
Brand name or a link.

Thanks
cj

I picked up the filter at Lowes or Home Depot. I think it was about $35-50 dollars and has the replaceable 2 micron cartridges. They advise against using this type of cartridge on a well with high metal content in the water. However I wanted to remove as many contaminants as possible even if it meant I had to go thru several cartridges to complete the fill. I think I used 3-4 for a 26000 gallon pool. I also bought a flex line installation kit for installing the filter ahead of the softener.

I have a 2nd whole house filter that I use for the end of the fill hose. To make that work I had to buy some hose fittings for the filter. All can be purchased at Lowes or Home Depot.