My house has well water - the shower turns orange and we have placed several filters throughtout the house?

Question

I give my dogs water from the kitchen sink which also has a filter. We can not invest in a LARGE filter system at this time. Is it safe to give my dogs this water? What about cooking in it?
Seems as though it has high levels of iron or calcium.

Answer 1

It's very high in minerals, hence the reason the shower turned orange (iron and copper). It's fine to give your pets, but I would stick with the filter for you.

Answer 2

This is a do it yourself remedy that will help if done correctly. If you can open the top of your well by removing the well cap or if you can remove the well seal , A well seal will have the black plastic pipe coming through it , and has 4 bolts in it that you will need to loosen. Pour about a gallon of clorox in the well , if it is 100 to 200 foot deep . If it is more than 200 add a quart for every 100 feet . Hook a hose up to your hose bib on the pressure tank or the closest faucet to it. Turn the hose on and run down the well until the clorox is making a full circle. Leave it sit for a few hours and then pull hose from well and run the water off till it clears again. This is called shocking the well. You can also turn it on to the house and let the clorox water sit in the pipes overnight and run all faucets till it clears up. It may take a few hours but it does work, for wells with high iron I do this every 6 months. This does cycle your pump quite a bit and that isn't good for it but it is a small risk to take. If you have any questions feel free to e-mail me. One last thought...DO NOT drink or use water for anything until it clears out and doesn't smell of Clorox.

Answer 3

What you have is high iron content in your well water, a problem that I once suffered from as well. I played the game of reconfiguring my piping system, adding a couple of layers of filters, but it didn't do any good. Not only was my shower still orange, but it also discolored my toilets and ruined a good number of clothes and linens.

After three years, I just gave up and purchased a professionally installed system to extract the iron from the water. It works off of salt and requires that I purchase the bags of water system salt every so often. Since the installation, the water is much cleaner and I don't have any sort of discoloration on any of my water fixtures or clothing.

The total system cost me about $1,000, but I also got a discount by hiring an independent professional instead of going with a big-named company like Culligan. Anyway, if you decide to spend the money for a professional system, make sure that the tanks they use are fiberglass, as iron and steel tanks will deteriorate due to the salt used in the filtration system.

Answer 4

my sister also has well water and to tell you the truth the only thing you use it for is cleaning and that is all. for drinking water regardless if it is for human usage or dog, used a heavy filter or my sister gets water brought in.
i have several dogs and my rule of thumb is if i wont drink the water then either will my dogs.
i also wouldnt cook with it unless you are bringing the water to a full boiling point and keeping it there for 10 minutes before the water.
you dont want to get your family or dogs sick because then it will cost more to deal with this issue than what it might cost you now to resolve the problem.
also, you might need to clean your pipe throughtout your house. the pipes might be getting rusted and that is one reason why the water might be coming out orange. so even though you might have filters put throughout the house, the traveling art of the water getting to whereever you have turned it on, might be carrying the rust with it.

Answer 5

Any water "softening" system should remove iron from the water. If the content is high, you may need to flush the softening system often.

What comes to my mind is the question of your plumbing. If your house is old enough to have galvanized steel pipes, these alwasy rust inside, and when old can be nearly half closed with corrosion. But rust is released it into the water only under some shock, like turning the water off and on. If this is the case, changing your plumbing to PVC or copper is complex and expensive.

If you opt for that, I would first dig up and replace the line from to the well to the house. Then begin from there and work toward faucets. I assume you have tried flushing. It would seem to me that if the color fades when you flush, it's the pipes.

Answer 6

the city or county ( call water dept or public health )should test it.
See if it's safe.
there are also home test kits at some hardware stores and health food etc..
if chemicals are coming through filters enough to color it
- forget the filters! they don't work.
unfortunately only the heavy duty system will work if its iron..
use a laundry mat until you can save up. and bottled water or the Brita type filters for the doggies and you.
too much iron is bad as not enough and will cause constipation at least. and can cause other deficiencies as the b vitamins have to all be in balance in the body.

Answer 7

I spend alot of time up by the poconos skiing and the sulfa up there is horrible and I have done the filter and everything else you can think, I am my dog and the rest of the house still drink and shower and so does the dog.

Answer 8

if you have an old house there is a slight possibility that your pipes are rusted out...filters can prevent the rust pieces from coming out but the color will still be orange...i suggest you use a cleaning solution to run through your pipes, try a home depot or Lowe's they should know what to give you.

Answer 9

If the water looks, smells, or tastes funny, I wouldn't cook with it. If there is a filter, the dogs should be fine.

Answer 10

that's gonna make you and you're dogs teeth go bad if i was you i wouldn't drink it even with the filter its OK if you boil it.we have great well water where I'm from . but in the very rural places you would notice lots of people with bad teeth cause of the well water.