Question for the Metal Masters, or other chemical types

[ChuckD]

Not about pools, but metal stains anyway.

We're on a well and it's pretty clear that the original owners didn't filter for a while and we're still cleaning reddish, rusty stains from a lot of surfaces. At some point they did install a point of entry filter but it was grossly inadequate. I replaced it with a GE model that takes a 4.5"x9" cylindrical element. Still not ideal, but the house flowrate's back up and we seemed to have stemmed the staining.

Anyhoo, I've since started using Doulton reusable elements. They're a pleated, polyester material and supposedly can be washed and reused up to 50 times. Unfortunately Doulton (whom I've contacted about this already) claim I should only need to brush it out with a stiff nylon brush, or use a 'household solvent'. Well, the brush doesn't phase it and I don't know what they mean by the solvents. This is domestic water.

So I throw the question out to the bunch: what do you think would be a good solution to use to soak this in that would break down your run-of-the-mill iron and sediment deposits?


Thanks for any ideas.

C.

[mbar]

You can try putting some ascorbic acid in water and soaking them. Ascorbic acid is vitamin C - you can buy it in bulk, or you can buy something at a pool store that says stain remover - Jack's Magic #1 is one product that contains ascorbic acid, some other stain products use citric acid - it would probably work as well. Let me know if you have any other questions.:)

[ChuckD]

Thanks Marie, I was hoping you'd chime in. Sorta predicted what you'd say too, but wanted to throw it out there.

This thing is a 4.5" x 9" high cylinder. Say I put it in a three gallon bucket, how much AA to be effective?

[mbar]

I'm not sure, but my guess would be that a cup would probably be plenty. You could probably dissolve a bottle of vitamin C tablets in the bucket and it would be enough. You will know that there is enough when you see the metal stains start to lift very quickly. Let me know how you make out:)

[ChuckD]

So my wife picked up a bottle of Vit. C tablets (chewable, and quite tasty). After tasting one, I reluctantly dumped them in said 3 gal. bucket added hot water and then the filter element.
Next day the water was real rust colored, and the element looked... better. There's still staining on it which is likely the other sediments that might be found in ground water.

So it seems like a worthwhile endeavor. Thanks for your help!

C.