Iron Removal Experiment

[GaryParr]

I'm trying to find a decently cheap way to remove soluble iron from my pool and from my well water that I use to top off with. After some great advice from @JoyfulNoise in this thread I decided to try a variation of the poly-fill bucket contraption.

I'm going on a theory. A very simple "I may not actually understand this" theory, that's based on the following principles:

1. Chlorine reacts with soluble iron and does something indistinguishable from magic that makes the iron get stuck in poly-fill.
2. It takes a hot minute for this reaction to occur.

Assuming any of that is true, my task was to modify the bucket method to have chlorination -> time -> filter. To accomplish this, I added bulkhead fittings to a screw-top water-tight container that's big enough to hold a 70% cal-hypo tab. I use a cover-pump to push water through that container where the water picks up the chlorine. And, since we need to give the chlorine time to find the iron and ask it out to the dance floor, a 50' garden hose separates that chlorination station from the filter. For the filter itself, I had a section of 4" PCV pipe that, at 2' long, seemed "filter shape" and should put more water in contact with more poly-fill than a 5 galon bucket would.

Time will tell if this does anything. I'll report back after that first cal-hypo tablet is used up.

 

[JoyfulNoise]

Interesting setup.

My only comment/concern would be not leaving the “chemical reactor” on the deck like that. Should it leak concentrated cal hypo liquor, you’ll damage the deck. Maybe put it in a secondary container of some kind to avoid spills.

 

[dereksanders]

Ingenious!

 

[Mdragger88]

Looking forward to the results of this experiment !

 

[GaryParr]

... “chemical reactor” ... leak ... damage ... secondary container...

Good call. I could just keep that reaction chamber in the pool itself, but I'm curious to see how well this cheap screw lid thing holds up to being a pressure vessel, so it's now taking up residence in a plastic tub.

 

[Newdude]

 

[GaryParr]

Curious about the actual chlorine concentration, I ran a drop test on the output. It's 6.5 PPM. May not sound like much, but I just finished an AA stain treatment the other day so my input water has 0 PPM. I'm sitting at about 60 for CYA since I haven't brought that up yet to my normal 75. Honestly not sure if that FC level will be enough to force the iron out. Time will tell. The opaque nature of the PVC is seriously testing my patience.

 

[JoyfulNoise]

Curious about the actual chlorine concentration, I ran a drop test on the output. It's 6.5 PPM. May not sound like much, but I just finished an AA stain treatment the other day so my input water has 0 PPM. I'm sitting at about 60 for CYA since I haven't brought that up yet to my normal 75. Honestly not sure if that FC level will be enough to force the iron out. Time will tell. The opaque nature of the PVC is seriously testing my patience.

Test the pH of the output as well. It’s a combination of high pH and FC that drives precipitation. The poly fill simply gives the effluent a lot of surface area to deposit on to.

 

[GaryParr]

6.8 going in, 8ish coming out.