I go through this every year when we go on our long summer trip, sometimes 4 weeks or more. I do what Sally suggests except I don't have enough shade so they are on a plastic shelf unit on the northeast side (least sun) but accessible to rain. Last year it worked fine, enough rain. Previous year we hooked up a timer/sprinkler and that was a disaster because snails LOVED the setup, all that wetness and munched them to pieces. I think less water for orchids is preferable to too much water. We have salt irrigation too so turned it off 2 years ago and use city water when plants need water. Because we fear a sky-high water bill if someone leaves the faucet on we shut off our water main when we leave. (One of my neighbors left his hose on by accident and got a $900+ bill. They adjusted it down but yikes). Good luck. Denise

If your humidifier is the only place you have a problem, your cheapest, easiest solution is just to replace the pad more often. Humidifiers are really difficult because only pure vapor (mostly) exits the humidifier, so you are concentrating everything in the water. This will happen even with softened water. It may be a bit slower, but you will still get build up, just a different type of buildup (softer, less tenacious). The purer your water, the less build-up you will see. Even healthy water has plenty of stuff dissolved in it. Bottom line, RO is the only practical method for your situation. Nothing else you can install will remove dissolved solids from your water (softeners swap one solid for another). At a cost of around $400, it may not make financial sense when humidifier pads are fairly inexpensive. One other option may be to install a flush valve to periodically empty the humidifier of all water and then refill it. This would prevent solids from becoming so concentrated.

So - it is not in water - it is a hydroponics method - ebb and flow - the plant is grown in some open media - rock wool or ceramic pebbles - to stabilize it - and the feeding solution is pumped in and pumped out periodically keeping the roots fed - but letting them breath. It is quite an investment to get this system in place - and I frankly do not think it is worth it. We are not in a MMJ or tomato production, where we need to get the maximum crop in a minimum time - and that's what hydroponic store provides for. I guess if you already have a setting for growing lets say leaf veggies for the family - you can grow some AVs as well. It would not fly if you get to the hydroponic store and there is a big MMJ mama growing as a centerpiece... i.

General forum: Please keep subsequent posts on the same topic in the same thread rather than starting a new one. It will keep the information all together and save all of us time and effort. Water analysis: The numbers don't add up. Hardness alone is over 100 ppm, yet TDS is listed as 100 ppm. Are you certain you didn't drop a digit somewhere? If transcribed correctly, where did the analysis come from? Dissolved CO2 in well water would be odd. Given the amount relative to hardness, do you mean CO3, or perhaps M-alkalinity? Pressure switch/pump/tank: pressure relief valve location should be protecting the tank. In it's current location it cannot necessarily do that. As to the pressure settings and potential pump and tank replacements, you can get the best of both worlds with a pump that has a variable frequency drive to maintain more constant pressure and improve pump life. It also won't require a larger tank. Aerator: I am retracting the sparger suggestion I made earlier - your iron is WAY too high for that to work at all. You can install your bubbler pipe, but it won't accomplish much as it won't provide much surface area for air/water contact. Most of what the aerator accomplishes will happen in the air at the top. Katalox light filters, sizing: Your parts spreadsheet isn't working today (lots of rows are hidden) so I can't see the size of these filters. However, according to the manufacturer's specs, you need 4.78 cubic feet of media for the 8 gpm your pump puts out, with 40% freeboard, that would be two 14" diameter x 65" tall tanks. Katalox filters, chemistry: Additionally, inlet water pH needs to be at least 7.5 for good iron removal. 8 would be better. If you don't increase pH, you will have iron bleed from your iron filters. That will foul your softeners. Katalox filters, design considerations: Stacked tank/mid-Vortech. This would be an extraordinarily bad idea. The tanks would either have inadequate freeboard or be so tall you would need a ladder to reach the control valve. Backwash rates would either be inadequate to remove solids from the Katalox or too high for the softener resin. Regen/backwashes would be too frequent for the resin or not frequent enough for the Katalox. Put the thought out of your mind if you want both systems to function properly. Softeners, in-service operation: How much water do you expect to need at once? Unless it's truly copious amounts, I would switch to a twin tank softener - two tanks, one valve, operating one at a time with no hard water during regen and the added benefit of soft water backwashes and rinses. Softeners, regen: You do not want counter-current regeneration. While it is true that there can be some benefit to counter-current regeneration, those apply only to packed bed softeners in residential application or in commercial/industrial demineralization applications. In a more standard softener, counter-current regen leads to inadequately regenerated resin due to irregular flow patterns if the flow rate is too low, or fluidization with resin loss and poor regen if the flow is too high, or both if your water temperature change seasonally. With potential for iron in the water going to the softener (let's face it - at some point it is bound to happen), counter-current regen schemes will result in poor removal of solids. Softeners, resin: Am I correct in assuming your resin choice was driven by lower salt use? If so, be aware that if you want to operate your softeners at the low brine rates that will result in that lower salt use, you may need to increase the size of your softeners because the lower salt dose will decrease softener capacity. Further, depending upon how effective your iron removal is, you may need to regen at a higher salt dose to adequately remove any iron that bleeds through. With the current water pH, you will need to regen with a salt dose of 8-9 lb/cubic ft of resin and more frequently than capacity would otherwise indicate. Carbon filters: What are you trying to remove with these? Typically, for whole-house applications, a GAC backwashing filter is more appropriate. If cartridges are really what you want - change filters every six months lest they become bacteria havens. Micron filter: It's not hurting anything (other than possibly becoming a flow bottleneck), but what do you expect this to remove? Regardless, change filters every six months whether they appear to need it or not. Drainage: Entirely depends upon how it is all connected, line diameter, and length. Backwash for the Katalox runs at a pretty high flow rate. Additionally, if you are relying on the pressure from the backwashes/regens to drive the water to the pasture, then you will need check valves (possibly I am misreading your intent here - the drain/pasture/outdoor lines discussion is a bit convoluted). If any of those lines are above ground, you will want freeze protection. Water heater: The plus actually works out if you do the math. You will still have to adjust at point of use, but not nearly as much. The 36 is capable of heating 3.75 gpm from 55 to 120 degrees. You have two fixtures running, each using 1.88 gpm hot water, plus 0.56 gpm cold water, for a final temperature at each fixture of 105. Now, somebody comes along and opens another fixture using 1.88 gpm of hot water. With standard control, your water heater is now putting out 5.6 gpm of water at 98 degrees, and your fixtures each now get 1.88 gpm at 98 degrees and 0.56 gpm at 55 - temps drop to 88 at each fixture with the same total flow rate. With the plus, the water heater still only allows 3.75 gpm, but now that water is distributed to three fixtures instead of two each receiving 1.25 gpm of 120 degree water, still mixed with 0.56 gpm of cold water - final temperature = 100 (but your fixture total flow drops from 2.4 gpm to 1.8 gpm).