Good Afternoon Alice / ALL, First off THANK YOU ALL. I am much more informed after reading this post. I am not an engineer nor a Chemist. I am homeowner looking for some coaching from some VERY intelligent people (you all) I am looking to do something with my water. Was looking at EasyWater but scared now.. It is expensive and I hate to give money away as it is hard to come by in today’s economy. I sent my water in to get tested by Easywater (see results below) but after reading this post I do not trust EasyWater as I see the professionalism form some of their reps who posted earlier. I am on a well. I will do whatever it takes to get my water drinkable and to STOP stains. Would you mind giving me some advice?? What do you recommend? Should I get a new water test? Iron 2ppm (iron stains at .3ppm) Hardness 29 gpg (7gpg is hard and 10.5 gpg is extremely hard) pH 7.8 Manganese was not detected. TDS 498 (you shouldn’t drink over 250ppm)

You need to get into the master programming of the 7000. When you get in there don't change any values EXCEPT what I tell you to. Write down what the values are set at BEFORE you change them. If you don't know how to get into the master programming here's the manual... click here VALUES TO CHANGE: C = 27 x1000 H = 13 RS = SF SF = 20 DO = 8 BF = 23 You might want to consider getting a small computer UPS (uninterruptable power supply) like a 500va or so to provide power to the 7000 in case of an outage. The 7000 will remember it's settings but a power outage in the middle of a regen will stop the 7000 from advancing through the stages and water will continue to run to drain. It's cheap insurance and protects the 7000 from power spikes, surges, and brown outs. Advice to assemble... If the top basket is not installed on the 7000 click it in now. Make sure it fits the dist tube. There are different diameter tubes. Tape or plug the top of the distributor tube so no resin gets inside. When you start putting stuff in the resin tank it will get heavy so place it where you want it FIRST. Add a few gallons of water to the resin tank. Put the dist tube in and place the nose of the bottom basket in the dimple in the tank bottom. Center the dist tube. Carefully pour the gravel in slowly so you don't damage the basket. Gravel should cover the basket and dist tube should be centered. Add resin to tank careful not to move or pull dist tube. Use food grade plumber's silicone grease (do not use a petroleum product) on the 7000 big o-ring and on the smaller o-ring in the bottom that slides over the dist tube. Once you have set the 7000 on the dist tube do not attempt to pull up or remove the 7000 or the dist tube will lift and you get to start all over.

Jake, I agree with you totally as far as overdoing with home water treatment. I took the Kinetico bait, hook, line and sinker. I wanted to make sure my water was safe, but I am on domestic water that meets or exceeds all federal standards and the Kinetico system was way overkill. That is my point. If you have a Kinetico salesman test your water, you will be told you need a Kinetico system and they are way overpriced as far us purchase price and long term costs. My experience with the K5 and Kinetico water softener I installed in 7/2012 started with a kiosk at Home Depot. I sent in a water sample and of course I was told I had hard water and would benefit greatly from a K5 and if I buy a Kinetico water softener at the same time, I get a 10 year warranty. We know how that story goes. It can be helpful to have a water softener and maybe you need a water filter at the sink for drinking water. The point is to have your water tested by someone who does not profit from selling you something. It is required for domestic water to be tested and to meet federal guidelines, and it is free to find out the results of the testing by the local domestic water provider. Once you learn about your water from an independent source, then do your own research to find out what you need, if anything, to clean up that source to your liking. The plumber I hired is from our local area and knows our water test results. He is familiar with the 3M system, which more than handles our water purification needs. I reviewed multiple Amazon verified purchaser reviews for the 3M system before purchasing. It is not perfect, but it is a reliable system that is user friendly. There are no Amazon reviews for Kinetico water softeners or K5s because of the proprietary Kinetico marketing scheme that locks the consumer in to one dealer that charges whatever they want to service the overpriced Kinetico system. The Kinetico dealer lives 2.5 hours away and knew nothing about the local water test results, but he did know how to recommend a $5000 Kinetico system, which I purchased. Unfortunately I learned that Kinetico is all about the sales and not about the follow up customer. service. Lesson learned about people's expertise online. None of us know each other and I assume that AIW and Jake are actually different people, but there is no way I have to prove that. We have to trust each other somewhat and online communication makes it easy to hide behind fake names and multiple personas. Bottom line is buyer beware. If it sounds too good to be true it probably is, and there is no such thing as a free lunch.

General iron removal information: Softener: A softener with specialty resin is capable of removing dissolved iron, up to 7 ppm (mg/L) but asking a softener to remove iron at those upper limits is really pushing it so I do not recommend this method. In addition, a softener will become fouled with particulate iron. A softener will not remove sulfur compounds. Oxidation/Filtration: An oxidizer such as ozone, air, or chlorine may be used to react with the iron and force it to become particulate iron that can then be removed via filtration. This will also remove most sulfur compounds. A typical setup would involve the oxidizing unit, a holding tank, then a media filter. This type of system works quite well, but takes some expertise in sizing - you would want a water treatment pro that you trust to help you with this option. Oxidizing filtration media: This type of treatment consists of a sealed tank filled with one of several media. Water passes through and is oxidized and filtered by the media. Most will remove sulfur compounds as well as iron. These are relatively easy to operate and what I would recommend for the average homeowner. There are several different media that can be used: Manganese greensand: water runs through for treatment. The media must be regenerated with potassium permanganate. Care must be taken with dealing with potassium permanganate as it readily dies organic material, such as your skin, a purple-brown color. Some people are quite comfortable dealing with the chemical; others are not. Synthetic greensand: This is essentially the same as option (1) but consists of a coating of greensand on a silica sand core so does not require as much backwash flow. Service flow rate is 2 - 5 gpm/sqft. Backwash flow rate is 12 gpm/sqft. Birm: This media acts as a catalyst to force oxidation of iron. While it does not need to be regenerated, it does need fairly high dissolved oxygen in the water. If your water does not have adequate dissolved oxygen (and it probably doesn't since it is well water), air injection would be necessary prior to the birm. Additionally, birm requires a minimum pH of 6.8. Service flow rate is 3.5 - 5.0 gpm per sqft. Backwash flow rate is 11 - 20 gpm, depending upon water temperatures and desired bed expansion. Pyrolox: an ore that oxidizes then filters the iron out. It does not need regeneration, but needs to be backwashed (to rinse out the iron) at a high rate. pH range is 6.5 - 9.0. This type of filter works very well, but backwash is critical. Service flow rate is 5 gpm/sqft. Backwash is 25-30 gpm/sqft. Backwash daily. Terminox: Similar to Pyrolox, but a proprietary formula . It does not require as much backwash flow rate and is more resistance to a low pH. The particulars are only available from the company that sells it - this means you have to rely entirely on the vendor for proper sizing. Backwash daily. Filox: Also similar to Pyrolox. pH range 5.0 - 9.0. Backwash flow 12-15 gpm/sqft. Service flow 6 gpm/sqft. It must be backwashed daily. Pro-OX: Essentially the same as the previous three. Requires 12-15 gpm/sqft backwash. As with Terminox, specs are lacking information so you'll have no way of knowing if the unit you get is sized appropriately. Katalox-light: Similar in action to the previous four, but is comprised of zeolite, manganese dioxide and hydrated lime. It should be designed for 6 - 12 gpm/sqft service flow and 8 - 10 gpm/sqft backwash. For well water, it's a good option as it requires lower backwash. In all cases, media ought to be replace somewhere between 5 - 10 years. If any vendor tells you their media lasts forever, walk away - they aren't trustworthy.