Got a problem w/ iron in your water? If so, you have joined the millions of other folks who have the same problem.

Iron occurs naturally in the environment and as water passes across it in rock formations small amounts of iron dissolve into the water. Over time the amount of iron dissolved into the water can grow to a large amount and in too great a quantity iron in water can result in stains on fixtures, metallic taste, the formation of precipitates which can clog plumbing and filters, etc.

You can find additional information on iron in drinking water on an earlier blog posting… here

For those reasons, and more, most people prefer to filter iron out of their water before using it in their homes, schools and places of business. The Pentek RFFE20-BB Iron Reduction Filter helps people accomplish that goal.

Configured as a 20″x5″ radial flow ‘Big Blue” cartridge, the Pentek RFFE20-BB reduces iron in drinking water and has a genuine Pentek part number of 155263-03. This product effectively removes up to 3 ppm of dissolved iron from water and in doing so reduces the metallic taste caused by iron and reduces orange/brown staining found on sinks, tubs, toilets and other plumbing fixtures.

Size of Filter: 20″ x 5″, w/ actual measurements of 19 3/4″ x 4 7/8″

Optimal pre-filter water conditions:

• pH: greater than 7.0 (test for pH)
• Silica: less than 100 ppm
• Manganese: less than 1 ppm (test for manganese)
• Iron: less than 3 ppm (test for total iron)
• Iron Bacteria: None
• Hydrogen Sulfide: None (test for hydrogen sulfide)

Using the Pentek RFFE20-BB Iron Reduction Filter to treat water outside of specified limits may result in shortened filter life.

The presence of tannins in drinking water can give water a “tangy or tart aftertaste. Some people have also attributed a musty or earthy odor in their water to tannins.” Also, “They normally have a faint yellow to tea-like color, and can cause yellow staining on fabrics, fixtures, china and laundry.” ( source )

For the reasons mentioned above, and possibly a wide range of others, most people would prefer their drinking water not contain tannins. If you find yourself in that category of people, then the whole house water filter for tannin removal ought to pique your interest.

In the first stage water travels through a 20″ sediment cartridge designed to remove sediment, silt, sand and dirt… an action which helps to extend the life of water softeners/filters and helps to prevent damage to control valves and pumps.

In the second stage, water travels through a 1.5 (or 2.0) cubic foot Tannin reducing mineral tank controlled by an Automatic Microprocessor Control valve which regulates the amount of time water spends in the tannin reducing tank. The longer time the water spends in contact with the special ion exchange media, the more effectively the media works to remove naturally occurring organics and organo-metallic complexes

In the third and final stage of filtration water travels through a 20″ solid carbon cartridge designed to remove volatile organic carbon compounds (VOC’s), insecticides, pesticides and industrial solvents.

• Maximum Removal Capacities: 5ppm Tannins and 40 grains hardness
• Maximum Iron and Manganese Levels: Combined Manganese and Iron levels must be below 0.2ppm (test for total iron, test for manganese)
• Filter Life: 1.5 cu.ft – 5-7 years, 2 cu.ft – 7-8 years
• Conforms to paragraph 21CFR173.25 of the Food Additives Regulations of the F.D.A.
• Solid 316-Stainless Steel Tank
• Stainless Steel Bypass Valve
• 10 Year Warranty on Resin Tank and Brine Tank Assembly
• 5 Year Warranty on All Computer Monitored Control Valves

For more information on this tannin removal system, click here.

If you find yourself in possession of a whole house manganese and iron water filter and have a need to replenish the filter’s media, CQ-BR Filter Media offers an effective filtration solution.

In most cases raw water entering the home will contain iron in the +2 ionic state (ferrous) which makes it practically impossible to filter out. CQ-BR Filter Media enhances the oxidation reaction of ferrous iron to ferric iron and produces ferric hydroxide, an easily filtered precipitate.

CQ-BR Filter Media’s physical characteristics make it an excellent filter for removing the precipitate once formed. Simple backwashing of the filter system will then remove the precipitate from the CQ-BR Filter Media bed.

Testing for iron and manganese in water

Iron — To test for total iron in water, meaning both ferrous iron and ferric iron at the same time, most testing systems will require conversion of all ferric iron to the ferrous state first. The Visual Iron Test Kit offered by the makers of SenSafe Test Kits does an excellent job of converting all ferric iron to ferrous iron and then detecting the amount of iron in a water sample. Detection Range: 0.01 ppm to 5.00 ppm

Manganese — One testing option, SenSafe Manganese Check allows users to test for dissolved manganese in water in concentrations between 0.02 ppm and 2.0 ppm in under 3 minutes and eliminates interferences from several common ions such as copper, iron, cobalt, lead, nickel, and others.

“What causes a rotten egg smell in my drinking water?” asked Susie from Upstate NY. “Is my water safe?”

Most likely the cause of the rotten egg smell has something to do with the presence of hydrogen sulfide gas in your water source or the same gas getting generated somewhere in your plumbing.

How do you verify the presence of hydrogen sulfide gas? Use a hydrogen sulfide test kit, of course!

Now some people will tell you that smelling the rotten egg smell serves as proof enough of a problem and that you ought to just go and get a filter for your water… but did those people know that different types of filters work well for different concentrations of hydrogen sulfide?

Also, before you run out and pick up a water filter system to remove hydrogen sulfide, make sure the source of the gas lies outside of your home and not within your plumbing!

Now back to the matter of water filters used to remove hydrogen sulfide gas…

As a general rule, many water professionals believe:

• Activated carbon filters work well for hydrogen sulfide concentrations less than 1 mg/L.

• Manganese ‘greensand’ filters work well for hydrogen sulfide concentrations as high as 6 mg/L.

• Oxidation filtration systems work well for hydrogen sulfide concentrations up to and exceeding 6 mg/L.

How do you know what type of filter get? Get yourself a drinking water test kit for hydrogen sulfide and let the results dictate your next move.

As for whether or not you have ‘safe drinking water’, the presence of hydrogen sulfide gas does not necessarily mean that you have UNsafe drinking water, but it should definitely make you want to get your water tested by a certified water testing lab

Kyle from Florida asked,

My company does a lot of plumbing work for residential and commercial customers. Not all the time, but many times we get asked to test the water once we finish a job. I see a lot of test kits that use drops and those test strips on the market, but I want to use something a bit more professional like a meter of some sort. All the meters I’ve seen out there that test for a bunch of parameters have a ton of buttons, vials, powders and an instruction manual you could use to knock out a cow. Do they make a multipurpose water testing meter for the simple guy? Thanks for your help and I love the site. Lot of good info here!

Stop it, Kyle, before you make us blush!

To answer your question directly, yes you can find a reliable water testing meter made for the ‘simple guy’ and no you will not have to attend night school just to figure out how it works.

The eXact Micro 7+ Water Testing Meter offers extreme versatility, has only one button to worry about, does not use vials, and comes with a handy, compact manual barely capable of killing a fly.

Below you will see a quick demonstration of how easily you can test water:

Now Kyle, if that looked like too much work, or like it involved way too much ‘technical stuff’, then you may as well hang up your water testing hat(?) and send all your samples out to a place like National Testing Labs ‘cuz testing water in the field does not get any easier than it does with the eXact Micro 7+ Water Testing Meter.

• Direct read parameters — Total Alkalinity, Bromine, Calcium Hardness, Free Chlorine, Total Chlorine, Copper, Ozone, Permanganate, and pH

• Additional parameters — Ammonia, Chloride (as NaCl), Chlorine Dioxide (DPD-1), Chromium Hexavalent, Cyanuric Acid, Fluoride, Hydrazine, Hydrogen Peroxide (Low, Mid and High Range), Iodine (DPD-1), Iron (Fe+2), Total Iron (Fe+2/Fe+3), LR Total Hardness (as CaCO3), Magnesium, Manganese, Nitrate (as NO3), Nitrite (as NO2), pH (Acid and Alkali), Potassium, Protein (as BSA), Sulfate, Sulfide, and Turbidity. Kit includes conversion chart for these parameters.

• USEPA Compliant meter for Free & Total Chlorine — 0.01 ppm (mg/L) precision

• Built-in, permanent cell — no loose glass or plastic cells to lose

• Easy fill testing — Simply fill or dip meter into water

• Automatic countdown timer for accurate timing of testing

• 140 test memory — saves 20 tests per menu item

• No-slip grip housing — ideal for wet testing conditions

• Lightweight — weighs only 6 ounces w/ batteries installed

• Waterproof — IP-67 Rated and meter will float if dropped into water

• Easy-to-read LCD display — no color matching required

• Environmentally friendly — recyclable parts & uses 60% less reagents than 10mL sample tests

• CE certification

Many of the emails we receive ask questions about topics involving testing for metals in drinking water and/or ways to effectively remove metals from drinking water.

Whether listed by the United States Environmental Protection Agency as a serious health concern or just a general nuisance, most people care about only one thing: Testing for metals in drinking water and removing them ASAP!

Commonly asked about metals include…

Questions about other metals such as manganese, copper, chromium and, of course, our dear friend arsenic, also make their way into emails sent through our Contact Us page.

Why the Concern Over Metals in Water?

Health officials unanimously agree that excessive exposure to dissolved metals in water can in many cases lead to serious side effects such as cancer, organ damage, impairment of the nervous system, the development of a life-threatening condition where the immune system attacks its own cells, a reduction in the growth and development of cells, joint problems/diseases, circulatory system problems, and last, but definitely not least… death.

Younger people stand to suffer the effects of exposure to metals more than adults do to their small body masses. In other words, an 8 oz glass of water containing X ppm (parts per million) of heavy metals will result in a much higher dose in a child than it will in an adult who drinks the same glass of water.

Some health officials theorize that very young children and unborn babies whose bodies develop at a rapid pace absorb the metals readily into their systems. Exposure of this nature often results in learning difficulties, damaged nervous systems, memory deficiencies, and even behavioral problems such as hyperactivity and aggressiveness.

More Information on Metals in Water:

• Lead Testing in Humans… Without Needles
• Study Links Manganese Exposure to Cancer
• Chromium in Drinking Water
• Mercury Found in Fish From All 291 US Streams & Rivers Tested
• Filters for Mercury in Drinking Water
• Copper in Drinking Water
• Information About Mercury
• Visual Test Kit for Lead in Paint
• Rust Color in Drinking Water

Though designed to protect the environment and everything in it, sometimes environmental laws fall short of that goal and actually allow very bad things to happen — such as the unlimited discharging of wastewater containing dissolved metals, and probably several other environmentally unsafe things, from a power plant in Tennessee into the Clinch River.

WASHINGTON (Dow Jones)–Environmental groups on Thursday took aim a Tennessee Valley Authority power plant that was responsible for a toxic spill last year, challenging a new permit allowing the plant to dump unlimited amounts of additional pollutants into Tennessee’s Clinch River.

Earthjustice, Environmental Integrity Project and the Sierra Club filed the appeal before the Tennessee Water Quality Control Board. It challenges a permit granted last month by the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation, or TDEC, that allows the TVA to discharge pollutants into the river.

Power plants dump dirty water into rivers in part because of technology to keep soot and ash out of the air. But if the waste is pumped into waterways without being treated, the mixture of water and metals can damage drinking-water supplies and the environment. State are largely responsible for regulating the discharges.

“What we’re seeing on the whole is cleaner air but dirtier water,” said Abigail Dillen, a lawyer with Earthjustice. She said the TVA’s Kingston plant was “not taking the additional steps they need to take to treat their wastewater,” since state environmental regulators hadn’t required it.

The TVA said in a statement that “although an analysis will show that metals are present in the discharged water, state and federal agencies have determined that there is no reasonable potential for these materials to cause an exceedance of any water-quality criteria.” A spokeswoman for the state environmental regulator referred a reporter to the permit, in which TDEC lays out its rationale for the conditions. ( source )

Pretty scary stuff when an organization guilty of polluting the environment can wave a legally issued permit around and say, “Yes, we are guilty of dumping undisclosed amounts of environmentally harmful chemicals into the river but this permit says we can… so there.”

Situations like this make all of us at Water Testing Blog glad the public has access to test kits for metals in drinking water that provide rapid test results for things like copper, iron, manganese, chromium, and lead. For a more general test of the metals content of water, people can also use a product such as SenSafe Water Metals Check to get a semi-quantitative reading of the total metals content of well water, tap water, groundwater, etc.

While performing our usual search for water quality, water quality testing, and water quality improvement devices we stumbled across an article about a chemical-free technology (OXI System) which supposedly can remove high levels of iron, manganese and sulfur from water previously deemed unusable for many applications.

IRONPro manufactures a unique chemical-free water filtration system that improves water quality in home, agriculture, business, and other applications that rely on well water.

LWC Ltd. began developing a unique Iron and sulfur filtration system in 1995 called the OXI System. The OXI System uses a chemical free process to remove Iron, Hydrogen Sulfide, and Manganese from problem water applications. In 2000, LWC Ltd. was issued patents covering the system as well as its unique air injection method. The system is now marketed under the IRONPro trademark.

IRONPro is the new alternative to traditional water filtration equipment which requires the use of catalysts such as salt or caustic chemicals. ( source )

You can find more information about the OXI System at IRONPro’s web site.

For those intereted in rapid testing methods for iron, manganese, and/or sulfur in drinking water… We suggest you take a look at the following test kits: