Servicing Your "Competitor's" Products - Orphan Water Systems

Orphan Water Systems.  These are filtration products that a customer owns and either there never was a servicing contractor or the customer no longer has contact with the original servicing company due to them going out of business or worse (the customer can't stand dealing with them anymore).  There are two methods of dealing with these orphan systems and their owners.

The first and unfortunately most pervasive method is for a water treatment company have its sales team  say something along these lines,  "I have never seen this kind of junk before, nobody services this stuff, nobody knows where to find parts for these, and so on.  Here is a proposal for $7500.00 for new Super Duper Brand water filter equipment."

The second is the approach less common but the more fair for the customer.  A qualified water treatment company should be able to exact repairs on any system that actually is repairable.  Even if it is a big box store purchase, even if it was sold by a competitor, and most importantly, even if the water treatment company really needs the money from a sale.

Here is my suggestion for those seeking service on an orphan water system.  When you call around to water treatment companies tell them you need a service technician to check out the system.  If the guy shows up with fancy gold chains and absolutely no dirt on his clothes or shoes and smells of cologne, he is not a water technician, he is a salesman who will make a pretend show of servicing your water treatment system.  It won't be long before he says the above phrases or something similar and then tell you that he can provide you a new system at some high price.

Another suggestion, and this is for those who own one of the GE, Whirlpool, or Water Boss or other systems bought at the home center or Walmart and are having trouble with it; call the manufacturer and find who the local service company is.  This is not a company who works for the manufacturer, but will work for you, for a fee, to get your system up and running.  Usually it is a company with staff experienced working on just about every of the dozens of different brands of equipment.

Enjoying Your Job Too Much! We need to enjoy results instead.

The worst plumber you can have install a water system is one who thoroughly enjoys doing plumbing work.  I just installed a new system in a home where the previous installation consisted of a crisscrossed jumble of copper tubing and  fittings, especially elbows.  Above are some pictures of some of the old system after it had been removed.  The main problem here was the heavy iron load that clogged the 3/4" copper tubing and jammed the controls of the old filter system.  It was made worse due to the fact that every elbow and fitting acted as a restriction to the flow of water.  The copper tubing and fittings clogged with solid iron.  The new system is twice the size with less than a third the number of elbows.

But this goes beyond plumbing and water filtration.  It is about philosophy in your work and career.  The plumber who installed this old system loved doing plumbing work and would rather just get right into the plumbing instead of planning everything out.  It turned into a disaster.  What we should be doing in our jobs is loving results and not the actual process.  A love of results ensures the best outcome for clients and customers.  A love of the process, in this case the process of installing plumbing fittings, created a non functioning mess.

There are fields where this is worse.  A few years ago, my wife had a small cyst on her wrist and she went to the doctor.  This man enjoyed surgery and immediately wanted to operate on the wrist.  My wife decided to wait and see, but the doctor actually called our home several times to pressure her into going under the knife.  I am not sure if this is ethical in medicine.  She decided to stop taking his calls and eventually, the cyst went away on its own.  This doctor was in love with the process of surgery and most likely the money he earned from surgery and had no regard for the long term ramifications of surgery on such a delicate and fine tuned part of the body.

And there are others.  How about our 24 hour news channels?  They will be at the scene of one or another disaster or tragedy and they just love reporting and getting a scoop so much that they fling countless handfuls of poop in all directions, not caring about accuracy or the damage their wild reporting causes.  And our legislators who love writing laws so much they ignore perfectly good laws that are already on the books and are not being enforced.  There are countless others, but I am just a lowly plumbing contractor who works in the water treatment field.  I would love to read your examples if you write them as a response to this blog.

www.cleanwaterman.com

Simple Smelly Water Fix

I visited a customer today with a rotten egg smell in their water.  There was a cartridge pre-filter and a water softener.  After a little investigation I found that the water coming out of the well tank, which precedes any water treatment, had no odor.  I then opened the pre-filter and found that the cartridge was covered with an almost clear slimy substance.  That was the source of the odor.

The filter is collecting some sort of organic material from the well and it is decomposing and giving off a rotten egg odor.  In this instance, the customer needs to change the cartridge more frequently or have an automatic backwashing filter installed to prevent the organic material from sitting long enough to decompose.

www.cleanwaterman.com

Water Softener And Filter Warranties: Online Sales.

Clean Water Man:

I bought a water softener online at a huge discount, but I found out the discount was not so much after I had to pay a plumber to install it and now it appears there is a problem and while the internet company said in its advertising that there was a three year warranty, they have no idea what the problem is and have been unable to help me repair it over the phone and email contacts.

My plumber did a wonderful job installing the system, but he doesn't know how to diagnose or even repair problems with a water softener and I have already paid him for a service call where all he could do is tell me he doesn't know what the problem was.  What do I do?  Now that it is full of water and installed, how am I supposed to pack it up and send it back to Ohio?

Sincerely,

Internet Shopper

Internet Shopper:

Luckily I can repair every brand of water equipment and I came out and fixed your water softener.  It needed a small part that must have been broken during assembly or shipping.  It was unable to draw brine with that broken fitting and the softener will work fine until the next problem.  I charged you for the part since it cost less than a second service call that I would have had to make if you called the Ohio company and asked them to send another part.  Hopefully they will refund you for the expense on the part.  They will not refund you the cost for the plumber's service call.  They will not refund you the cost of my service call, so you are getting pretty close, as far as cost is concerned, to what you would have paid me or another local water treatment dealer to buy it locally.  And this was the first problem.

As far as a warranty is concerned, I wonder how any company that is not local can say they are offering a warranty.  How are they going to repair it from hundreds of miles away?  How are they going to test repairs?  The warranty is wishful thinking.  But if you are lucky and there are no problems, you can save a few dollars.  It is a machine.  What could go wrong?

www.cleanwaterman.com

Potassium Permanganate, Greensand Filter

I did an install this week for a customer who bought a greensand filter online.  This greensand filter will use potassium permanganate to recharge itself.

I do not sell greensand filters that regenerate with potassium permanganate because it is a dangerous chemical capable of strong reactions that can cause fire, especially when mixed with organic compounds such as antifreeze, oil, brake fluid, paint, and many other organic compounds.  This is a link to the material safety data on this product: http://www.hvchemical.com/msds/pope.htm

To have an idea how dangerous potassium permanganate is, please see this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IcSEsazb56Q

What concerns me is that the Ohio based internet company did not even mention to their customer how dangerous this substance is before selling a system and shipping it out to Connecticut.  This is unethical and puts people who are not professional water treatment technicians in the position of handling extremely dangerous chemicals.

The same results could be achieved by natural methods, but after speaking to the homeowner, I found that these methods were not even offered.  Systems that use potassium permanganate should be maintained by a competent professional, not Joe Homeowner.

If you are in Connecticut and are considering a greensand system, please call me at 203-417-9601, or visit my website @ www.cleanwaterman.com

Slimy Soft Water!

Clean Water Man:

We just had a water softener installed last week and I can't stand the slimy feeling.  Why is it so slimy? Our water treatment company can't give us an answer.

June, Darien, CT

June:

This is where I wish companies that sold water treatment were more aware of everything that changes when a water system is installed and were also able to show you all the benefits, including slimy water.  Yes, I said slimy water is a benefit.

First of all, it will take you at least two weeks to get used to bathing in soft water.  The water itself is not slimy.  The sensation comes from three factors:

1. When you bathed in hard water, the calcium and magnesium combined with soap to clog the pores in your skin.  The clogged pores prevented natural oils from coming to the surface of your skin, natural oils that are there to keep your skin from drying out.  A water softener removes those clogging minerals and allows the oil to come out.
2. Soap lathers much better when there are no hard minerals grabbing onto the soap molecules.  The sensation of slipperiness is intensified with natural oil or tallow based soaps.
3. The slightly elevated sodium in the soft water combines with the now free oil on your skin and creates  the slippery feeling.  Believe it or not, soap actually rinses off more quickly and easily with soft water, but this combination of sodium and natural skin oils mimics the soapy feel (soap is usually some combination of some sodium, like sodium hydroxide, and fat, either vegetable oil or tallow).

 I ask all of my customer to give it two weeks and get used to the feeling and consider how much easier soft water is on their skin.  Also consider the fact that the water that people and animals have been exposed to for most of our existence is either surface water or shallow well and cistern water.  Bathing in and drinking deep well water is not truly our natural water habitat since most deep well water, compared to surface water, is very high in hard mineral content.  If for most of the past millions of years our ancestors were using surface water, which even in lakes and rivers has a naturally elevated sodium content due to natural erosion, isn't that the natural water our breed is used to?  The exception to this rule are hot springs throughout the world where bathing health spas have sprung up, but they are high in both calcium and sodium.  I suggest that our skin has been designed to deal more easily with water that has a low hardness level.

www.cleanwaterman.com

Smelly Water. New treatment system doesn't help!

Dear Clean Water Man:

For several months we have had a horrible odor in our water which is very noticeable in the morning in our bathrooms.  "---" Water Treatment (name hidden) Company came and put in a five thousand dollar water treatment system and the smell is still there.

Becca, Stamford.

Becca:


I didn't want to be the bearer of bad tidings, but since I visited and I told you what the problem was, I will share it here.  The odor is not in your water.  One thing that should make it plain for others dealing with suspected water odors is whether the smell is consistent throughout the entire home.  It may be in ALL the cold water or ALL the hot water or ALL the water.  What I found in your home was the foul odor was coming from three bathroom sinks upstairs, one in the master bath and the two others in your children's bathroom.  There was no odor anywhere else.

This is where the story gets a little gross, but this problem is only happening where you and others in your family are brushing teeth.  Under every legally installed sink is a U shaped bit of plumbing called a trap.  The trap holds water that acts as a barrier to keep sewer or septic gasses out of your home.  This is great because sewer and septic odors smell horrible and can be potentially lethal, either through fumes or by actually catching on fire.  I inspected the traps and they are in good working order.  So, I determined that the problem was actually in the traps themselves.  When you brush your teeth, spit and food particles gather in the trap.  After a while, this stuff begins to decompose and give off a horrible smell.  Overnight, while no one is using the sink, the length of pipe that goes from the sink to the trap fills with the odor.  When the water is turned on and you lean over to brush your teeth in the morning, the accumulated odor is disturbed by the water you turned on and it wafts up, out of the drain hole and into your nose.  This is the source of odor in YOUR house.

To fix it you need to occasionally pour some laundry bleach into the sink drains.  A quarter cup is more than enough.  Be careful to not allow bleach to sit on the chrome or nickel or other finish drain piece as it will ruin the finish.  Let it set in the trap for ten minutes and then rinse away.  The smell should go away for several weeks.

DO NOT POUR BLEACH IN AFTER YOU HAVE POURED OTHER CHEMICALS DOWN THE DRAIN since it could cause a hazardous reaction.  Do not use on unsound plumbing.

For others attempting to determine the source of an odor, try this.  If the smell comes right back by the next day, the problem is in your water and a professional water treatment company can help you with this issue.

www.cleanwaterman.com

Eczema And Hard Water? Symptoms have moved!

Dear Clean Water Man:

We had a water softener installed because our children's dermatologist recommended it to help with our teenage son and daughter's eczema.  Initially we were very pleased with the results since the facial eczema and scaly scalp symptoms went away within five days.  Then, the eczema appeared on our childrens' bodies, especially their backs and stomach areas.  Our water treatment company has been kind and returned several times to test the water, but it always tests perfectly soft.  Is there any way the water is sometimes hard and just always soft whenever a test gets done?

Itchy in Fairfield, CT

Itchy:

Thank you for your letter.  I came and tested your treated water and it is perfectly soft and your current water treatment company is doing a fine job for you.  I asked you a bunch of questions and there was one issue that you needed to change, and after my follow up call to you, I discovered that my diagnosis was correct.

Many times, detergent mixed with hard water leaves a residue on clothing.  When the clothing is worn during the day, perspiration reactivates the detergent and the detergent irritates the skin and can cause eczema type symptoms or outright eczema.  This is what happens when hard water causes eczema in the clothing areas.

Unfortunately, without proper knowledge, soft water can cause the same problem, although through a different mechanism.  When hardness is removed from the wash water, there is nothing to keep the detergent from developing massive amounts of suds.  Think of the Brady Bunch episode when someone put too much detergent in the wash.  Tons and tons of suds.  The suds build up, and, especially with top loaders, they can even sit up just below the lid and not get rinsed away.  To some extent, even the no or low suds hE detergents can suds up quite well in soft water.  The remedy is simple: the amount of detergent used in the washing machine needs to be reduced.

For top load washers, use about a quarter of the recommended scoop.  For hE front loaders, cut it down to half the recommended amount.  Giant amounts of suds are just evidence of using too much detergent.  Lessen the amount of detergent and the skin irritations will decrease significantly.

www.cleanwaterman.com

Dull Hair. Is it really my water?

Dear Clean Water Man:

I spend a fortune on coloring my hair and within a few days after each trip to the salon, my hair color is already faded.  I have tried six different salons in the last two years and nobody seems to color my hair with a product that stays bright and fresh for more than a week.  My most recent stylist says I must have hard water.  How can that cause my hair to be dull and lifeless?  Is it really my water?

Jennifer in Easton, CT

Jennifer:

Thank you for letting me visit your home and test your water.  Yes, you do have hard water and it also has an elevated pH, which makes any hardness in the water even more sticky and able to coat surfaces.  Each of your hairs is a surface, a somewhat permeable surface, that grabs on to hard water minerals (calcium and magnesium).  The hardness builds up to become a coating that prevents the coloring from being seen in all of its glory.  I pointed out the glasses you have been washing in your dishwasher are coated with a white film which is made out of the same crud that is on each and every hair on your head.

After I install the water softener in your home, the hardness will be removed and there will no longer be a coating on your hair.  The color you choose will shine out for all the world to see instead of being covered and hidden by a layer of crud.

www.cleanwaterman.com

Orange Hair. Help!

Clean Water Man:

I just moved into a new to me house and after three weeks, I noticed my hair is turning orange.  I color my hair blonde and I am really upset about this and my stylist says there is iron in my water at home.  What can I do?

I don't want to look like Ronald McDonald!

J. in Greenwich



J:

Luckily you live in Connecticut where I have my business and was able to come and test your water and yes, you have a significant amount of iron in your water (over five parts per million) and your water is also hard and acidic.  I installed a water treatment system which included a backwashing sediment filter to remove the heavy precipitated iron, a neutralizer to raise the pH, and a softener to polish off the remaining iron which is in the dissolved form.

Iron is an incredibly good stainer and it can stain your hair and the fixtures in your home at levels even below the EPA standard of 0.5 parts per million.  When the stylist has made your hair light colored it has been treated to accept color (blonde) and the unfortunate thing about the treatment is that it also makes any discoloration in your water stick much easier.  There are special shampoos and treatments to remove the iron and other discolorations, but the best solution is to just get the staining culprits out of the water.  Within two weeks of adding your new water filtering system almost all the iron should be gone, even the iron that built up on the inside of the plumbing and in the water heater and you should notice that your hair remains whatever color you choose.

MY WEBSITE

Acid Neutralizer For Well Water - What Is It?

Pictured is a backwashing acid neutralizer.  It uses calcite and (in extreme cases) magnesium oxide to increase the pH of acidic water.  Acid water is technically any water that registers lower than 7.0 on the pH scale, although, due to many factors, how far below 7.0 YOUR well water will need to be before it causes problems will vary.  One way to know that your well water is acidic is blue/green stains in your toilets and sinks.

This image courtesy of Imerys, the best manufacturer of calcite products.

The filter is filled to about 18 inches from the top with calcite (shown above), a granulated product made from crushed marble.  It is a natural method for neutralizing acidic water. When the water is acidic, it will dissolve a small amount of calcite, actually in a reaction similar to but nowhere near as violent as mixing vinegar and baking soda.  When enough calcite is dissolved to bring the pH to 7.0, the reaction naturally stops.  This is a safe and effective treatment for acid water.

See Clean Water Man, Inc's website at www.cleanwaterman.com

Frizzy Hair Caused By My Water?

Dear Clean Water Man:

My hair is terrible.  It is stiff and frizzy and I have no way to control it.  My hair stylist said that my water must be "hard".  What does this mean and why is it a problem with my hair?

Sincerely,

Straw Head, New Milford, CT


Dear Straw Head:

Hard water is water that has an excess of the two minerals, calcium and magnesium.  The reason these minerals make hair unmanageable is because each of your hairs gets coated with hardness.  What amounts to dissolved stone dries onto your hair and makes your hair hard and frizzy.

This is a simple problem to fix.  Just have a water softener installed in your home to have the hard minerals removed from your water.  Your hair will be soft and manageable.

See Clean Water Man, Inc's website at comwww.cleanwaterman.com

Unmanageable Hair - What Is The Matter With My Water?

Dear Clean Water Man:

My hair is terrible.  It is stiff and frizzy and I have no way to control it.  My hair stylist said that my water must be "hard".  What does this mean and why is it a problem with my hair?

Sincerely,

Straw Head, New Milford, CT


Dear Straw Head:

Hard water is water that has an excess of the two minerals, calcium and magnesium.  The reason these minerals make hair unmanageable is because each of your hairs gets coated with hardness.  What amounts to dissolved stone dries onto your hair and makes your hair hard.

This is a simple problem to fix.  Just have a water softener installed in your home to have the hard minerals removed from your water.  Your hair will be soft and manageable.

See Clean Water Man, Inc's website at comwww.cleanwaterman.com

Plumber says I need a non-bladder well tank? Why? I want a bladder tank.

Dear Clean Water Man:

My old galvanized well tank has finally worn out and has leaks.  I want a new bladder type tank, but my plumber says that it needs to be replaced with a non bladder tank with something called an Air Volume Control.  I have researched and everyone says the bladder type tanks are better.  Could you stop by and give me a price on a new bladder tank?

Lee, Redding, CT


Dear Lee:

You have an exceptional plumber.  I came out and inspected the old well tank and did some checking, and your plumber is correct, you do need a NON-bladder type well tank.

When your home was built, it was built on ledge or bedrock.  When the well line (the horizontal pipe that connects your well to your house) was installed, the surrounding bedrock made it difficult to bury it below the frost line.  In lovely New England, this could cause the well line to freeze in winter, so a bleed back system was installed.  The bleed back system consists of a specially designed check valve that has a threaded hole on the well side and a threaded hole on the tank side.  The check is in between the holes.  The check allows the water to flow from the well but not back to the well.  Here are the Flowmatic check valves I use, now made of lead free brass.

On the well side (the back end of the arrow) we install a snifter valve. 

 These pictures are not to scale.  On the tank side, we install a plug.  Back at the well, there is a small flapper valve on the pump pipe (the vertical pipe that goes from the pump to the pitless adapter) near the top of your well.  After the pump has cycled and filled the well tank and the pressure switch on your system turns the pump off, the snifter and the small flapper valve work with each other to allow air into the well line and allow the water out.  This helps prevent a freezing well line.

So now we get to the point of why you need the non-bladder tank.  When the pump cycles again, the little flapper valve near the top of the well closes and the air that has entered the line is forced into the home and into the well tank, the current well tank, and the new one your plumber will be installing and this air is why an air volume control is needed.

 

This is the USG Air Volume Control I use.  Notice the white plastic float.  When the float falls due excess air built up in the tank, it opens yet another tiny valve that allows that air to escape.  When the water level rises and lifts the float, this little valve closes, keeping water from spilling on the floor.   If this set up is attempted with a bladder tank, there is no way to vent the air out and it builds up to a point where it comes out in spurts and makes the plumbing act in violent strange ways, like air exploding into the toilet tanks or out of faucet spouts.

Not every old fashioned non-bladder tank was installed for this reason.  There are many old galvanized tanks, some older than fifty years, still functioning.  There was a time when things were built to last.  Woe to the plumber that has to change out a tank that has lasted fifty or more years because it was made with heavy gauge steel and has a half century of crud built up in the bottom and has an enormous mass.  Someone will be going home with a sore back that day.





See my website at www.cleanwaterman.com

Post Sandy, Post Storm Well Safety

Due to the catastrophic hurricane, there is some advice for people who live in homes with wells.

If flood water levels were above the top of your well casing at any time, do not drink your well water until your well has been sanitized and tested.  This includes if your well was covered by ocean water, fresh water, street runoff, or even sewage.

In general, the well casing is a 6" to 8" steel pipe that sticks above the ground and is covered with a metal cap.  Modern caps are a better seal than ones from years ago, BUT THEY HAVE SCREENED VENTS that allow air in and out of the well as it is emptied or filling.  The screened vents can allow water in, and if it is surface flood water, it is very likely contaminated.

Your well casing may be buried and under a concrete lid, and if your yard had flooding, have it dug up, chlorinated, and then have it tested.  Also consider having a buried casing raised by extending it with a welded or bolted on extension.

If at all possible, have an EPA chlorination done where the well is chlorinated, rinsed with chlorinated water, and then the chlorinated water is run to every water using fixture in the home.  Sometimes this is very difficult with buried wells.

After the chlorine in your well has dissipated, have the water tested by a state certified lab.  If there is still bacteria in the water, either re-chlorinate or consider adding an ultraviolet water sanitizer to your water system.  An ultraviolet water sanitizer kills bacteria in your water.

Check out my website at www.cleanwaterman.com

A Bad Installation, Not A Bad Water Softenr

I got a call from a customer who said there was a major malfunction with their old Big Box store brand water softener and that they needed a new one.  I arrived at the home and found a new homeowner who had moved in less than a month previous.  Everyone who has been in that position knows that having just moved in to a home makes it a bad time to have to buy a new water softener.  They showed me to the softener and also asked if I knew anything about the flooding basement and I mentioned I could size up a sump pump system if that was what they needed.

Upon examination, I found I could solve the bad water softener and flooding problem with a few pvc waste fittings and some drain tubing.  The major malfunction was that the person who originally installed the softener routed the drain line to a giant plastic sump pit THAT DIDN'T HAVE A SUMP PUMP IN IT!  Where the "installer" thought the water was going to disappear to is hard to imagine, but I can tell you that it wasn't disappearing, it was spilling into and flooding the basement.  I re-routed the drain and fixed both problems.  I put my sticker on the unit and will take over service from now on.

Big Box store brand systems are not that bad, but there are a few shortfalls in owning one.  The first is that you need to have it installed by a plumber.  When you compare this to purchasing a system from a company that specializes in water treatment who usually includes the installation, the difference in convenience is obvious.  The warranty is another issue.  Several manufacturers have my company do their warranty work because they don't have their own repairmen to take care of it.  When you buy a water softener from a company that specializes in water treatment, that company will do any warranty service that is needed.  The last major issue is the fact that 99% of the time, a salesperson selling dishwashers and refrigerators  will not have the same experience sizing and designing a water system for your home as a qualified water consultant.  Water varies greatly from home to home and the four water softener models they offer at the home center could not possibly cover every water problem.  In fact, there are some issues that, when not addressed, can cause more problems for the plumbing when a water softener is installed.  Do you trust your home's plumbing to a home center appliance salesman?

See my website at www.cleanwaterman.com

No Salt Water System Update - Re-installed The Softener

After my five year trial of the new no salt water treatment system using Filtersorb Scale Prevention media, I would like to update my blog with my opinion of the system.  First of all, I must state flatly that there is no such thing as a no salt water softener.  Even water softeners using potassium chloride as a regenerant are not salt free since potassium chloride IS A SALT.  The ion exchange process is what makes something a softener.   Filtersorb systems are scale prevention systems.  Some of those in the production end of these scale prevention media systems will tell you that they are about 60 percent as effective as a water softener, and my five year test bares that out.

I must say that the one place for whatever reason that the scale prevention media excels is in the dishwasher.  Absolutely spotless glassware.  There is no over-sudsing of the dish detergent and everything was sparkling.

On the down side, the same can not be said for the laundry, which is coming out much better now that I have installed a new water softener.  The scale prevention system did not make our clothes come out as clean and soft as they do with the water softener.  And the water softener greatly reduces lint.

The one place where the water softener excels is in skin and hair care.  The reason the Filtersorb unit was yanked out and replaced with a softener is because, after five years of my experiment, my wife begged for a return to being a soft water household.  Soft water is the most amazing substance for preventing dry, itchy skin and making hair more manageable. Nothing beats it.  What the water softener does for your skin is it prevents your pores from being blocked by hard minerals and this allows the NATURAL oils in your skin to flow out and keep your skin soft.  It also prevents a buildup of deposits on your hair, which keeps your hair more manageable.

I still sell the scale prevention systems to very specific customers.  They are told up front that they can not expect water softener results but will see a significant reduction of scale on fixtures.  There can be no iron, manganese, or copper in the water.  But most customers are convinced that the water softener is the correct route as it is for my home.

See my website at www.cleanwaterman.com