Ever see two water filters from the same company that had part numbers so similar that you simply couldn’t tell the two products apart? If so, then you, “Gary” and a whole host of other people — including ourselves — have something in common!

Today we will attempt to help Gary differentiate between the Pentek P5-20 and the Pentek PD-5-20 water filter elements.

Can you please tell me the difference between using Pentek PD-5-20 and P5-20 filters? I have a big blue cannister for sediment removal but also have a whole house prefilter that h as a P5-20 filter in it. Can these be used interchangeably so I don’t have to buy 2 different filters? Gary

We first must say this: The info we will give next comes from web sites whose content we cannot verify… but if you visit the Filters Fast web site, since we know Filters Fast sells both of the products in question, and ask them a question using their live chat ‘thingie’, or send them an email, we believe you could verify the info relatively quickly.

And so…

Based upon what we read, Gary, you ought to have no problem interchanging the two filters BUT pay close attention to the flow rate, as they vary greatly.

• P5-20 has a flow rate of 10 GPM @ 0.6 psi.
• PD-5-20 has a flow rate of 5 GPM @ < 2 psi.

We also noticed that the diameters differed by about an eighth of an inch (.125″) and that the Pentek PD-5-20 has a higher max temperature rating of 175 degrees Fahrenheit (80 degrees Celsius).

The diameter ought not matter if you have a standard sized 20″ pre-filter housing.

Important Note: Do not attempt to use “Big Blue” filters, as they feature a much wider, non-compatible diameter of around 4 1/2 inches!

It seems that no matter how many times we say this, we will always have to repeat ourselves in the future. WaterTestingBlog.Com does not carry or sell products of any kind.

We can, however, point people like S. J. Ashton from the UK in directions that will help them locate the water testing and/or water filtration products they need. In this case, S. J. inquired about chlorine testing product currently available in the United Kingdom…

Dear Sirs, I wish to know if your “chlorine” testing products are available in the UK, yours faithfully, S. J. Ashton

As a general rule, pretty much any of the chlorine testing products discussed on any post on the Water Testing Blog can get purchased in the U.S., the U.K., Canada, and Australia. We have seen web sites for companies offering water testing products in other countries, but we have never attempted to check their offerings.

Getting back to S.J’s inquiry, Although we do not know if the makers of SenSafe Water Test Kits still have a branch office in the United Kingdom, we do know that they did at one point and that their US-based office used to provide International customers with the names of distributors of their products in other countries.

Additionally, a simple search on Google “Shopping” for chlorine testing products in the UK ought to turn up useful results. Most of the larger online water testing product distributors would probably have no problem shipping your order overseas… but you will more than likely have to pay a bit extra for the shipping charges.

Chlorine test kit web sites that you may find useful…

• Chlorine Tests
• Chlorine test Kit

We recently received an email from Mark in Brooklyn who recently made some discoveries when he tested the water in a building he just purchased. Good news about Mark, though, is that unlike a lot of building owners, Mark wants to take proper steps to make sure his future tenants have safe, clean water flowing into their apartments/offices/etc.

Hi,

I recently purchased a house in Brooklyn 11xxx and did a quick water test at home. I found lead which makes sense as there is an old lead water main. I also found pesticides in the water too. I want to have a professional test the water and recommend solutions to ensure the safety of my family and tenants. Can you recommend someone to do this. I already sent off for the NYC lead test.

Thank you!

Mark

As usual, it pleases us greatly when we hear of people taking action on their own to guarantee the safety of their drinking water. We applaud Mark, and all others like him, for their proven interest in drinking water quality not only for themselves, but for others, too.

Who ya’ gonna call?

No, Bill Murray and the Ghostbusters cannot help with problems like lead and/or pesticides in drinking water. Since you reside in NY, Mark, you may want to check out this page on the EPA’s web site about water in NY. On that page you will find a link to the EPA’s List of State Certified Drinking Water Labs, but to save you some time we will list the certified water labs in Kings County below:

LABID: 11972: GREEN PLANET LABS, LLC

63 FLUSHING AVE BLDG. 292 SUITE 404, UNIT 206
BROOKLYN NY 11205
MS. ALYSSA MCDONALD (718) 858 -7020

* Approved for Testing Potable Water

LABID: 11671: WYCKOFF HEIGHTS MEDICAL CENTER

374 STOCKHOLM STREET
BROOKLYN NY 11237
DR. WILLIAM L. THELMO (718) 963 -7519

* Approved for Testing Potable Water

We hope that one of the above labs can help, Mark!

Water treatment companies and water testing

ALWAYS remember that a water treatment company’s primary objective involves you opening your purse/wallet and handing over payment for a water treatment system… and in many cases a water treatment company may employ a ‘scare tactic’ to get you to do so.

The wonders of water chemistry (and the general public’s general lack of understanding of water chemistry) make it possible for clever water treatment system sales personnel to put on a good show when testing a prospective customer’s water; a show that adds a visual punch to the sales person’s explanation of why a prospective customer should buy a water treatment system. NOW.

Get water testing results beforehand

While not all water treatment companies will use deceptive tactics like the one mentioned above, we believe it makes complete and total sense to have a third party, certified water testing lab test your water before talking to a water treatment company.

Doing so may keep you from talking to one at all if the test results come back not indicating any problems with the water!

Doing your own testing

Yes, of COURSE we feel people should test their own water periodically. One ‘clean bill of health’ water test when first starting to use a water sources does not mean something may not happen a month or year down the road to cause that source to become contaminated in some way.

At-home drinking water test kits do not test for as many contaminants or as low a level of many contaminants, but they do work as excellent screening tools that don’t cost an arm and a leg.

Below you will find a brief list of popular water test kit manufacturers:

• SenSafe Water Test Kits
• WaterSafe Test Kits

Below you will find a brief list of commonly inquired about water test kits:

• Free & Total Chlorine Test Kit
• Eco Check 5-Way Test Strips
• Lead in Water Test Kit
• Pool & Spa Bacteria Test Kit
• Science Fair/Project Water Test Kit
• Well Water Test Kit

Neglecting to disinfect your well after a flood can have dire consequences on your health. In some cases it could even KILL you.

Rising and swirling flood waters pick up a tremendous amount of waste, debris and other unwanted drinking water contaminants. As those waters recede and dry ground reappears, all of the junk and crud swept up by the flooding gets deposited on all surfaces — including the equipment used to draw fresh drinking water from drinking water wells.

Taking the time to properly clean and disinfect well equipment after a flood will help to prevent the accidental introduction of flood water contaminants into wells if you have to open the well cap in the future.

Also, it takes only the slightest breach in the seal of your well head to allow potentially harmful bacteria, dissolved metals, nitrates, nitrites, etc. access to your drinking water supply.

So, after flooding, or twice a year (as recommended by drinking and well water experts) it makes sense to clean off the well head area thoroughly and disinfect the well itself using some form of chlorine.

Looking for a quick and dirty disinfection method? Not necessarily the best way to go, but any amount of disinfecting beats performing no disinfecting, right? Right.

The South Dakota Department of Health suggests allowing a well to spend a minimum of 8 hours in direct contact with water containing at least 50 ppm of free chlorine. From what we read, it would seem as though they would actually prefer people allow a well to sit, undisturbed, with at least 50 ppm of free chlorine for a longer period of time, such as from sundown to sun up. ( source )

One could use unscented household bleach which contains an average of a little over 5% of hypochlorite solution (remember that free chlorine concentration domes from hypochlorous acid and hypochlorite ions). We cannot stress enough that one should use UNSCENTED bleach for disinfecting a well or other drinking water source!

As a general rule, health officials suggest adding the following amounts of unscented bleach solution to a well for each 10 feet of water it contains if it has an inner diameter of…

• 2 inches — add 1/4 ounce of bleach
• 4 inches — add 3/4 ounce of bleach
• 6 inches — add 2 ounces of bleach
• 8 inches — add 3 1/2 ounces of bleach
• 10 inches — add 5 ounces of bleach
• 12 inches — add 1 cup of bleach
• 18 inches — add 2 1/4 cup of bleach
• 24 inches — add 3 3/4 cup of bleach
• 36 inches — add 8 3/4 cup of bleach

Lift the well pump, add the bleach solution, lower the well pump back in place, and allow the treated well to sit for at least 8 hours. Do not turn on any faucets or do anything else that would draw water from the well.

Once the waiting period has ended, turn on all faucets and allow the water to run until the smell of chlorine has vanished.

Get the water tested for bacterial contamination within a day of disinfection by a certified water testing lab in your area. After flooding many health departments team up with local labs to provide discounted bacteria in well water testing for local residents.

We, of course, would suggest having the well’s water tested for other critical water parameters at the same time since regional flooding can certainly have other effects on the quality of water coming from aquifers.

What about well water disinfection kits?

For those who would like a bit more instruction and procedure when disinfecting a drinking water well after a flood, or twice a year as suggested by many well water professionals, kits such as the Well Safe Well Sanitizer Pack will work very well.

This particular well disinfecting kit contains chlorinating pellets, chlorinating granules, and step-by-step instructions to to guide users through the process of treating a well.

Products like Well Safe have uses down in the body of a well, inside a well’s storage tank, throughout the plumbing between a well and connected buildings, in a cistern sanitation system, etc.

Moral of the story

Clean and disinfect/sanitize your well before returning it to use after local flooding!

Well Safe Well Water Sanitizer Pack

Earlier we mentioned that a well ought to sit undisturbed with at least 50 ppm of free chlorine and since we get asked this all the time, we will go ahead and tell you how you can test easily for free chlorine levels that high — without fancy (expensive) test equipment or complicated testing procedures.

For the task of testing higher levels of free chlorine residuals we suggest products like the WaterWorks High Range Free Chlorine Test Kit which has the ability to detect free chlorine concentrations between 0 ppm and 120 ppm in a matter of a few minutes.

A safe rule to follow: Consider any area that came in contact with flood water unsafe until thoroughly dried, cleaned and disinfected properly. Water passing over submerged areas will pick up an unimaginable number of contaminants including, but not limited to, dangerous strains of bacteria and fecal matter from animals.

Sorry this posting has no length, but the point remains: Submerged wells SHOULD get tested before returning to service. Otherwise the risk of contamination by flood water WILL present itself.

Even if you think the cap on your well could withstand the force of 100 hurricanes, don’t ever forget that your neighbor’s well cap may not have received inspection in a number of years and… flood water creeping in through their faulty well cap will eventually reach the aquifer — from which your well draws its water.

Once flood waters go down, owners of private water wells should pump out their wells, allow them to refill/recharge naturally, and disinfect them before using any water they produce for drinking, cooking and in some cases even bathing.

Oh, and of COURSE we suggest getting the well water tested for, at the very LEAST, coliform bacteria before returning it to service.

Contact your local health department to see if they have discounted or free well water testing options available. Many localities will make such options available to residents after flood waters have ravaged an area.

Do-It-Yourself Test Kits for Bacteria

While we STRONGLY suggest testing for bacteria on a regular basis using at-home drinking water test kits such as the EPA Compliant WaterWorks EZ Coliform Cult Bacteria Test Kit which follows the APHA, Standard Methods, 20th Edition, 9221 D, screen test for total coliform in potable water, after a flood situation we ALWAYS suggest having a certified water testing lab analyze the water for bacteria.

Warmer weather in most of the Northern Hemisphere means a lot more water will start to flow from one place to another… and as it does it could pick up all sorts of unpleasant, and potentially harmful, drinking water contaminants.

As an example, the rise and fall of aquifer levels in certain parts of the United States can have a pronounced effect on dissolved arsenic levels in the water contained in those aquifers.

As a second example, water from melting snows or from Spring showers traveling across the land in agricultural regions has a tendency to pick up potentially harmful bacteria and nitrates/nitrites that could work their way into poorly capped wells.

Other unwanted drinking water contaminants such as atrazine and simazine also get picked up runoff water making its way through the countryside. As you may recall, farmers in the United States used both of those compounds, especially atrazine, as an herbicide/pesticide for many years — and therefore it ought not surprise you that pockets of washed away atrazine lurk in many unsuspecting parts of the country.

News outlets LOVE to blast the airwaves with news of E. Coli in water supplies and some make the mistake of positively linking the presence of E. Coli to fecal contamination.

While more often than not the presence of E. Coli in a water supply does mean human or animal waste has somehow made its way into the sample, it does not guarantee that has happened.

It does, however, still mean a qualified water testing lab such as National Testing Labs should take a look at the quality of the water to determine its potability.

February 24, 2011 – GRAFTON, Mass. – E.coli bacteria has been detected in an untreated water sample collected recently from the Worcester Street well, the Grafton Water District is reporting.

Grafton Water District Manager Matt Pearson stressed that the sample was taken from the well prior to treatment and the well was immediately taken offline. Boiling of water will not be required for Grafton residents.

The wells are routinely monitored for drinking water contaminants to ensure the safety of the water supply. On Feb. 24, the district was notified that a fecal indicator, E.coli bacteria, was detected in one untreated water sample collected on Feb. 22 from the Worcester Street well.

Samples collected on the same date from Grafton’s drinking water — samples taken after the routine treatment with chlorine disinfectant — did not detect any fecal contaminants.

Fecal indicators are microbes whose presence indicates that the water may be contaminated with human or animal wastes. Microbes in these wastes can cause diarrhea, cramps, nausea, headaches, or other symptoms. They may pose a special health risk for infants, young children, some of the elderly, and people with severely compromised immune systems. ( source )

While definitely something to keep an eye on, other things besides coliform bacteria in drinking water also serve as indicators that drinking water contamination may have occurred.

Simple tests for changes in pH, alkalinity and heavy metals — for literally pennies per test in some cases — can alert consumers to potentially dangerous changes in the quality of their water.

With testing supplies as inexpensive as they have become, it makes little to no sense for people not to take an interest in the quality of the water they drink.