Just need to vent...

The well water at my house is slightly acidic. This has been locally attributed to being downwind from Ohio's giant coal-burning plants for a century or so.

Either way, the previous owner decided to improve things by installing a neutralizer, which hardens the water with calcium carbonate. And then it goes into a softener to swap sodium in to get the calcium out.

Now I've added a UV treatment stage, mostly because I was able to get a very good one for free. I wonder what the next guy will put in?

 

I thought pure water wasn't the best to drink long term healthwise. It isn't absorbed as readily without some salts/electrolytes.

How acidic? Pure water is slightly acidic from dissolved CO2.
You could probably ditch the softener by using sodium carbonate(washing soda) as the neutralizer.

 

I'll have to check my notes when I get home, or maybe just dip some strips fresh to see what I get.

Are you suggesting loading the existing neutralizer with sodium carbonate? I'll have to read up on this...

 

Found this, When to use Soda Ash for Acid Well Water
From a skim, sounds like it wouldn't work with your existing equipment. I'm guessing yours is just a talk filled with the calcium carbonate that incoming water flows through. Sodium carbonate systems pump a solution into the domestic line with a dosage pump.

Chemically, it would be more efficient, but the water could be hard to begin with, or you just like soft water.

 

Might help prevent kidney stones.....

 

A relative of kidney stones is gout. I had two bad cases in the past two months. Uric acid crystals in the foot joints, very painful and immobilizing. Don’t drink and not a meat eater, two of the usual suspects. One interesting thing is white blood cells go in there and get rid of the crystals , causing swelling, pain, and heat. So you want those things, because the pain is quite strong.

 

So neither too alkaline nor too acidic be?

 

Kidney stones can be calcium with oxalic acid or calcium with uric acid. Both those acids are synthesized by the body. Too much in some bodies. Several foods lead to more uric acid production. Look 'em up and decide if you want to limit intake.

Dun no what one can to about oxalic acid. There may be ideas with evidence in support.

On the calcium side, small people on the way to becoming larger people grow a lot of bones. All people dismantle and replace bones (maybe about decadal turnover time?) so calcium intake must cover that. Lest you crumble. And yet there is such a thing as too much calcium intake

I don't see how water consumption at high or low trendy pH can alter whole body pH because it all goes through pH 2 stomach which is under tight biocontrol. Again I am a fan of high hydration. If one's pee is typically yellow to orange, one is not doing that.

Nutritionists suggest adults need about 1200 milligrams of calcium per day. Hydrationists suggest daily water intake of 2 liters. Average US tap water has 50 mg/L calcium. So, that is not where your mineral requirements come from. Nor is going to low-ion water going to mess one up. Typically. Ions from food. people. But high calcium tap water above 150 mg/L can be excessive combined with food. "Oh I'll just drink less of it" is not a solution. Solution tee hee. If your faucets form stalactites, maybe that is not your ideal input.

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Rant-wise. people are pretty much in the dark about managing all the various inputs. Intentionally so? But it gets goofy when products are touted that can fix you right up with pseudoscience.

 

From further reading, 1200 milligrams Ca per day is a high-end number. Other countries suggest 500.

 

we have the same acid neutralizer tank and softener. without it, all the plumbing was falling apart.
i don't really like showering in soft water though, too slippery.

 

Hear, hear. Feels like the soap hasn't ever rinsed off.

 

Now we're back on track.

 

exactly

 

My showers are better when I ah, forget to reload my softener.

And yes, I've been replacing about 3' of copper plumbing per year since buying the house. (averaged)

One section had no less than four "patches" of curved rectangular copper soldered over the piping.

I'm getting pretty good at replacing it with the pex & sharkbite stuff.

 

i had to put in over a thousand dollars into a ten year old boiler. all the accessories were clogged and corroded.
that's when the heating guy told me we had a water quality problem.
i just hope we headed off any leaks in the walls.

 

I actually like soft water.

 

we won't hold it against you

 

I put a lot of cpvc in replacing old steel pipe. The water stays much hotter in the pipes and is quiet. I guess pex is newer. I don’t know what the lifespan is, forever? When my parents bought their house it had a well and all the pipes were lead going to the house. They disconnected that and connected to city water, but the lead pipes remained for yard watering. It was a big lot with lots of fruit trees, berry bushes, and we grew a big vegetable garden. Tasty.

 

does lead leach into Fruit that's being watered from lead pipes?
I went through chelation due to heavy metal ancillary exposure. not fun ....