"Hi.  Just read that sediment article and we already have a filter for that going to our house, but our washer is connected by separate plumbing and our washer lines keep gumming up with junk.  We don't want to put another full sediment filter on that line if we don't have to so is there a less expensive simpler filter that we can use?  We usually contact a plumbing contractor near me. We're sick of replacing the washer line and that hard to remove screen on our washer! & thanks to Shower regrouting perth who solved it in a instant."

As a matter of fact, a simpler and easier filter does exist:  An inline sediment filter can hook onto the house's water tap between the hose and the tap.  Just unhook the hose from the tap, screw this onto the hose and connect the other end of this onto the tap.  Easy!
 

Accessing this is little unobtrusive sediment filter is usually MUCH easier than messing around with a washing machine's built-in sediment screen and this inline filter stops unwanted sediment from going into the washing machine's hose... thereby also keeping that same unwanted sediment from ever reaching any part of the washing machine.

Wait, what? How is that a PROBLEM?!?!?

Well, I'll tell you: SOME people just DON'T understand a little 'bug' called Cryptosporidium, abbreviated as Crypto and insist on going swimming while having or after recently having had bouts of diarrhea. You see, Interesting Facts about Cryptocurrency states that Crypto germs can survive in properly chlorinated pool water for as long as a week and typically get into pool water by way of introduction by an infected host, meaning a person afflicted with the symptoms that Crypto can cause... namely profuse, watery diarrhea.

Even if a person has not had bouts of diarrhea for a day or so, the germs may reside in their body for longer and also on their skin if they have not bathed recently or since their last bout.

Moral of the story? Wash your a-double-s-es, people, and in no particular order...

* If you have had diarrhea recently, stay out of and away from the water! Crypto germs may persist in a person's system for a while after the last diarrhea incident takes place

* Shower before and after your swimming sessions. This will help keep unwanted germs from entering the water and germs that may be in the water from lingering on you after a swim.

* This should be an OBVIOUS one, but don't use the swimming pool as your personal bathroom! Gross!

* Avoid swallowing pool water. Think about where that water may have been recently!

* Take kids to the bathroom periodically because left to their own devices many children would rather pee in place (right there in the water!) than miss out on an exciting round of Marco Polo.

* For those with even smaller children, make sure your tiny swimmers have properly fitting swim diapers and not just a regular diaper. Change the diapers in a location not near the swimming area and please do so before the diapers look as though they may burst!

* Wash hands after using the bathroom.

OK, OK, so how sick can Crypto make a person? Hmmm... In a word, VERY.

For those unlucky enough to get sick from Crypto, symptoms may include seriously large volumes of watery diarrhea that could keep flowing for as long as three weeks! As added bonuses dehydration, fever, nausea, vomiting and resultant weight loss also come with a round of Crypto infection.

So NO, you DON'T want to contract Crypto. End of story.

Have a great and safe Summer, everyone!

 - Water Test Kit Store

Pool Check 3 Way Test Strips

Pool Check Copper 3 Way Test Strips

Pool Check 6 Way Test Strips

"Is there a color key to match to on the bottle?"

Yes, this product comes with a color chart on the outside of the bottle. To read SenSafe test strips (like this product) that have an aperture (hole) for a test area, bend the strip in half so the white part of the handle goes under the aperture (hole) and then compare the color of the area in the aperture to the color chart on the bottle.

Why aperture versus standard test pads?  Simple:  By allowing the sample to pass through the test region the test's ability to accurately detect copper increases dramatically over the performance of similar products that use a standard test pad.

What does the EPA say about copper in drinking water?  "If copper concentrations exceed an action level of 1.3 ppm in more than 10% of customer taps sampled, the system must undertake a number of additional actions to control corrosion."

Corrosion?  Why are they talking about corrosion?  Typically copper will get into drinking water as a result of it leaching from plumbing in the water system's infrastructure because of water having too low a pH. Call plumbers in Sydney, NSW to help you fix this issue.

How can we get copper out of our water if detected?  If testing reveals copper contamination in your water then two things may need to happen:  1)  You may need to install a water pH neutralizer to stop further corrosion of your home's plumbing, as explained by PIC Plumbing Services.  2)  Install a water filter designed to remove copper.  For either situation we suggest checking out the many water filtration options on FilterWater.Com.

It also means evaporation. As pool water warms it also evaporates quicker so keep an eye on the water level because if water dips below the skimmer line your pump may start sucking air and if that happens for too long, well, time to buy a new pump & motor!

One way to reduce the amount of pool water evaporation is to use a solar cover, also known as a solar cover/blanket. According Pool Fence Company in Austin by reducing the amount of exposed pool water surface -- especially at night when the air temperature drops down below the pool water temperature -- you can drastically reduce the amount of water that the environment sucks out of your pool.

An added benefit of solar covers.blankets is that they also let you 'trap' some of the heat imparted to your pool water by the sun during the day... meaning your water will stay nice and warm for the next day's swim!

For more information on pool solar covers/blankets as well as solar cover/blanket reels to make using your solar cover/blanket easier, Pool Zone has a great selection of covers to fit all sorts of shapes and styles of swimming pools.

Aren't solar covers and solar blankets HEAVY?

We will not lie and say they're the lightest things in the world, but with the proper solar cover reel or solar cover blanket  reel practically anyone can apply and remove a solar cover/blanket in a matter of minutes.

Thank you for the inquiry, Justy, and also for helping illustrate an important point:  Water filter salespeople have one objective and that is to sell you a water filter.  The testing they perform in a person's home has no other purpose than to visually 'show' a potential customer that their water has problems.  We suggest having water tested by an independent party not looking to sell water filters when a person considers whether or not they should invest in a water filter.

Getting back to the question at hand and the actual reason for this article, the United States Environmental Protection Agency has determined that water distributed by a public water system may not contain more than 4 parts per million (ppm) chlorine. That means if a water treatment facility realizes the water it produces contains greater than 4 ppm total chlorine the facility must immediately take steps to reduce the total chlorine level until it gets back at or below 4 ppm.

Can Homeowners Test for Chlorine?

Absolutely, and easily too!  Products like the SenSafe Free Chlorine Water Check (MPN 481026) make testing for free chlorine a quick and painless process while the SenSafe Total Chlorine (MPN 480010) water testing product makes testing for total chlorine a quick and painless process.

Additionally, both meet EPA guidelines for water quality monitoring and neither test involved the use of powders, tablets or require counting drops of reagents.

What  About Traditional DPD Tablets?

Many municipalities and some pool water testing kits use DPD Test Tablets for chlorine testing.  Test methods employing the use of DPD involve dissolving the DPD tablet in a pre-measured volume of water (usually 10 mL) and comparing the color of the resulting sample color to a color chart or placing the sample into a meter for analysis.

Looking for DPD-1?  You can find it in our other store here:  DPD-1 Test Tablets for 10mL Samples

Easier DPD Method?

Frequent users of DPD complained that traditional methods took too long to dissolve (tablets), made messes (liquids) and/or were difficult to use in windy areas (powders).  A product called the DPD ReagentStrip which practically eliminated all those problems.

Learn more about the DPD ReagentStrip on this page.

SenSafe Free Chlorine Water Check Detects 0 - 6 ppm

SenSafe Total Chlorine Test Strips Detect 0 - 10ppm

WaterWorks 2 Free & Total Chlorine Test Strips

For those unfamiliar with the problem excess iron in pool water may cause...

• In high enough concentrations it will make pool water look VERY uninviting because it may give the water a brown, dark and/or otherwise unpleasant appearance.
   
• Iron may form sediments and stains when chlorine or other oxidizers get added to the pool water... and in the case of staining some of the iron stains may take on a permanent and certainly unwanted nature.

Does iron pose a health risk?  Not really, but again, iron in pool water may take on a really unpleasant appearance due to discoloration and the formation of sediment, solids and/or gross looking stains on pool surfaces.

To answer Lia's question directly, one should NOT attempt to replace traditional pool filter sand with other filtration substances (like Greensand which gets used to filter out unwanted water contaminants such as  iron, hydrogen sulfide and/or manganese).

Since Lia mentioned ferric iron covering the bottom of her pool, it sounds like whatever filtration option she chooses should include a  sediment pre-filter.  Taking out 'solids' (like ferric iron) before water hits the main filter helps to extend main filter life and efficiency.

We found additional recommendations for iron reduction and iron removal on the FilterWater.Com web site:

• To treat up to 3 ppm ferrous or ferric iron (metal iron), use of a filter such as the Pentek RFFE20-BB Iron Reduction Filter in a Big Blue 20x4.5 housing is suggested.
   
• If iron is above 3 ppm or if it is bacteria-based, use of an Iron and Hydrogen Sulfide Whole House System up to 15 ppm is suggested.
   
• If iron level is above 15 ppm, or for incoming water lines larger than 1", you should probably consider a Commercial Iron Removal System.

First Things First:  How Much Iron Does the Water Source Contain?

As with any water contamination situation, the removal/reduction method depends greatly upon the concentration and nature of the contaminant.  Always TEST YOUR WATER before investing in  a water filtration system... or run the risk of purchasing and installing the wrong products!

Good afternoon, Jeanette, and thank you for your inquiry. The links below will allow you to learn more about the test procedure for  SenSafe Manganese Check:

• http://watertestingblog.com/products/481020-card-1.jpg
  
  
• http://watertestingblog.com/products/481020-card-2.jpg

Regarding accuracy, we really have not heard any complaints from users of the product. When we experimented with it years ago we found that it did a pretty decent job... for a dip-n-read style of test.

If you need something with greater precision, range, etc., then we suggest considering a product such as the following which provides a digital readout of results:

The Well Water (Driller) version of the eXact Micro 20 Handheld Water Testing Meter (information available on this page: http://www.filterwater.com/pc-458-32-exact-micro-20-water-tester-kit.aspx) comes with testing materials for a number of important water quality parameters in addition to manganese.

Is Manganese a Health Hazard?

As a general rule manganese in drinking water does NOT present a health hazard, though in great enough concentration ANYthing could pose a threat to human health.

Typically manganese in water presents itself as more a nuisance for laundry since it may cause black staining and for that reason water professionals suggest keeping its levels below 0.05mg/L (ppm).

Filtering Out Manganese?

Should you find yourself in a situation where manganese levels in your water supply give you trouble, the following Propur water filters have been tested by an independent lab to reduce manganese levels in drinking water by >99%.

• ProPur ProMax PMC-4000 Undercounter Water Filter
  
  
• ProPur ProMax PMC-3000 Countertop Water Filter
  
  
• ProPur Inline Connect FS10 Under Counter Water Filter

Believe it or not, we have heard this question quite a few times in recent years. It generally costs less to purchase water test strips by the case or in bulk so a person wanting to extend the shelf-life of their inventory of testing supplies makes total sense… except for one small problem: Manufacturers use the stated shelf-life of products as the ‘last date at which they will guarantee product performance’ and no storage method will cause them to extend that date (for legal reasons).

For emphasis’ sake, as stated, no manufacturer we know of will guarantee longer shelf-lives of their products beyond stated dates regardless of storage conditions, but having worked with test strips for as long as we have, we have found that most of the products we tested worked as expected past expiration dates as long as we stored products using the following guidelines:

• Keep all unused bottles sealed tightly. Keeping environmental moisture (humidity) away from the test strips helps to prevent premature decomposition of some chemical reagents.
• Make sure storage conditions remain dry (i.e. no water and low humidity) at all times. It would SURPRISE you how many people do NOT keep their testing products out of potentially wet environments.
• Do not store products in direct sunlight. Heat and UV rays accelerate the decomposition and/or degradation of chemical reagents.
• Keep temperatures in the range specified by manufacturers. We suggest keeping products at the lower end of the temperature range. Do NOT allow storage temperatures to fall below freezing as this could also result in the degradation of chemical reagents.
• And finally, if you have the ability, run controlled experiments pitting known good (in date) strips against technically expired strips to see how the results from each compare.

Again, the expiration date on a package of test strips represents the absolute last day that the product’s manufacturer will guarantee the product’s performance. Example: Exp 8/2020 means the product is guaranteed to perform as expected until the last day in August of 2020.

As far as refrigerating test strips to lengthen shelf-life, no manufacturer we know of would go on record as suggesting that… and we suspect that not all test reagents would take kindly to colder temperatures and/or have their shelf life made longer by colder temperatures.

Without getting too detailed, it means the folks living in the affected areas should observe the following precautions until the boil water advisories get lifted (or canceled):

• Boil water for one minute prior to drinking or food preparation, or use bottled water.
   
• Dispose of ice cubes and do not use ice from a household automatic icemaker until authorities give the all clear notification and you have purged your home’s water lines and the water line leading to the icemaker.
   
• Disinfect dishes and other food contact surfaces by immersion for at least one minute in clean (boiled) tap water or bottled water that contains one teaspoon of unscented household bleach per gallon of water. Note: The more ‘gunk’ a surface has on it, the quicker the bleach level in your wash water will diminish.
   
• Water used for bathing typically does not need to get boiled prior to use however during showering and bathing one should take care not to ingest water. Children should have supervision to discourage accidental ingesting of bath/shower water and persons with cuts, severe rashes or other afflictions of the skin should consult their physician prior to bathing, as unwanted bacteria in the water could possibly enter their body through those areas.
   
• If tap water appears dirty, flush the water lines by letting the water run until it clears before using the water. After the all clear notification goes out you should run water from all available taps, faucets and spigots for a few minutes to purge your home’s water system of older, possibly contaminated water.

What Triggers Boil Water Advisories?

Municipal water systems have a slight amount of pressure in them that forces water out through any available openings in the systems. Usually those openings consist of faucets, drinking fountains, spigots, etc. Water systems do not exist in a stress-free vacuum, though, so over time small cracks, leaks and fissures may form in pipes… and as long as the system remains pressurized no outside matter can typically infiltrate the systems.

But, when a water main breaks or some other event causes a pressure drop to occur in the system, the lack of pressure in the system could allow foreign matter such as bacteria, parasites and/or unwanted debris to slip into the system through those cracks and/or fissures in pipes.

When that happens, water companies will issue boil water advisories through local media outlets. Once water pressure gets restored and tests come back negative for system contamination, water companies will cancel the boil water advisories.

Thank you, Robert, for the inquiry. At this time we carry two kits that contain MOST of the items in your list. See below for details:

COMPLETE Water Quality Test Kit includes tests for:

• Iron: 0.0, 0.05, 0.1, 0.3, 1.0 ppm (mg/L) – 2 tests
• Copper: 0, 0.1, 0.5, 1.0, 2.0 ppm (mg/L) – 2 tests
• Chloride: 0, 250, 500 ppm (mg/L) – 2 tests
• Nitrate: 0, 2.0, 10, 20, 50, ppm (mg/L) (as N) – 2 tests
• Nitrite: 0, 0.2, 1.0, 1.5, 3.0 ppm (mg/L) (as N) – 2 tests
• pH: 2.0, 4.0, 5.0, 6.5, 8.5, 9.5, 10.5, 12 – 2 tests
• Total Alkalinity: 0, 80, 120, 180, 240, 500 ppm (mg/L) – 2 tests
• Total Chlorine: 0, 0.2, 1, 4, 10 ppm (mg/L) – 2 tests
• Total Hardness: 0, 50, 120, 250, 425, 1000 ppm (mg/L) – 2 tests
• Free Chlorine: 0, 0.5, 0.2, 0.6, 1.5, 4.0, 10 ppm (mg/L) – 2 tests
• Sulfate: 0, 250, >500 – 2 tests
• Hydrogen Sulfide: 0, 0.2, 2.0 ppm (mg/L) – 2 tests
• Bacteria: presence / absence media for total coliforms 1 test

The Water Quality Test Kit includes tests for:

• 2 tests for Alkalinity, Total
• 1 test for Bacteria, Coliform in Water
• 2 tests for Chloride
• 2 tests for Chlorine, Free
• 2 tests for Chlorine, Total
• 2 tests for Copper, Total
• 2 tests for Hardness, Total
• 2 tests for Hydrogen Sulfide
• 2 tests for Iron
• 1 test for Lead
• 2 tests for Nitrate/Nitrite, as Nitrogen
• 1 test for Pesticides (Atrazine & Simazine)
• 2 tests for ph
• 2 tests for Sulfate

Neither kit includes a tests for Manganese, though.

Got larger or more frequent testing needs?

If you need to test more than one or two water sources for a range of water quality parameters, you may want to consider either the Well Driller Standard Test Kit or Well Driller Master Test Kit.