[Greenbuilding] Acidic Water

[YankeePerm at aol.com]

OK, I can see how adding ozone (which is unrelated to filtration) can cause 
chemical reactions that affect pH.   After all, you add the ozone so it will 
react with organisms & kill them.   It is exceedingly reactive.   Just hope that 
none is left in the water before you drink it!

Your description of a "neutralizing filter" is NEWSPEAK from the book 1984.   
You are adding chemicals to neutralize the water.   So you increase 
contaminants.   Then you try to filter the larger amount of gunk out of the water.   
The filter is absolutely independent of neutralizing.   And you only neutralize 
if you guess right about the rate of basic chemicals to add to react with the 
acids.   

I sympathize with your copper story.   In acid rain country, rain can 
sometimes, though not often, be more acidic than battery acid.   Obviously acids eat 
metals.   In my poor uninformed opinion, copper ions are suspect in nervous 
disorders and muscular control disorders.   When I lived in Orange, Mass (USA), 
the tap water in the tub was blue, strongly blue, from the copper dissolved 
between the main and the tub, not a long run.   (Of course maybe if we took 
baths oftener, it would be lighter, having less time to eat away the pipes.)   

By the way, males can indeed get too much iron.   An excess of iron can 
support plaque formation in the arteries.   Women, due to menstruation, do not 
accumulate iron, but males, unless we get wounded a lot, do.   Apparently the body 
does not have a good mechanism for disposing of excess iron.   (I could 
speculate on the evolutionary reasons for this, but I don't have time for a 
discussion with the rabid politically correct set.)

Thanks for the info.   We've got some contraption that must be what you are 
talking about in one of our houses and I bypassed it.   Now I'm especially glad 
that I did.

Dan Hemenway


In a message dated 7/21/06 12:41:29 PM, jefro at jefro.net writes:


> I live in the redwoods and have some experience with this.
> 
> An ozonating filter can cure some minor pH issues (how?  beats me, but
> the pump guy says so).  However, to really resolve them you need what
> others have called a "neutralizing filter".  This is essentially a tank
> that you fill with mineral salts.  The acidic water passes through the
> salts, which neutralize the pH.  Then you have lots of precipitated
> matter in your water, so you have to filter that out unless you like
> cloudy (but balanced pH) water.  You have to refill it with salts every
> so often.
> 
> That said, beware also that getting the acidic water from the well to
> the neutralizer involves pipes as well.  If you use copper, it will
> eventually go away.  Ours was made with thick-wall copper pipe about 30
> years ago.  I replaced a run last year between the well and the
> neutralizer.  It was as thin as foil, which I discovered when it formed
> a pinhole leak that I tried to fix with a gasket and clamp.  (clamp -
> crunch - big squirting noises - profanity from wet amateur plumber)
> 
> I replaced that section with PVC, not knowing what else to do with it. 
> If we were staying here I'd probably replace it with black iron or even
> galvanized pipe, on the assumption that zinc oxide is non-toxic and iron
> is actually healthy, although those pipes would go away in 30 years as
> well.  Such is the way of nature.
> 





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