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