New to wells, some general questions

Hi folks,

I am new to living on acreage with well water.  I am trying to get my head around the neglected system here and get things up to speed.  The system I am dealing with is as such:

Well Pump --> 2500 Gallon Holding Tank --> Booster Pump in pump house --> Check valve with pressure gauge --> Pressure tank in pump house --> Filter --> Softener --> House Water

Let's start with the holding tank questions.  This thing has been here a while. My neighbor said likely 20+ years. I do not think this tank has been properly cleaned in a long time. There is a lot of crust on the inner sides of the tank. I actually drained it and scrubbed it by hand and hosed all the dirty water out of it last weekend. That was a chore.  I now have a pressure washer on the way from Home Depot and I would like to do another, more thorough cleaning.  My questions are:

1) Is it safe to pressure wash a plastic holding tank like this?  I know pressure washers are powerful and I want to be sure I only take off the layer of mineral deposits and dirt crust.
2) There is a small j-box on top (you can see in the photo below) of the tank that had wires going into the pump house that were disconnected sometime in the past.  What do you think this was connected to?  My guess is some sort of internal pump. Right now, the water gravity feeds to the pump house and into the booster pump. The water level is maintained by a 3/4" float valve.  
3) I have read about chlorine injectors for these tanks to reduce algae growth.  Is this is a good idea?  There does not appear to be any such thing in place right now.

Now, on to the pump house.  I have no issues with the pressure tank and the check valve.  All that seems good to go. The booster pump is pretty old and crusty, but it works.  The PVC elbow had a bad leak I recently repaired, and I plan to order a new Dayton booster pump to replace this one, and I will keep the old one as a backup.  This is the only thing that gives our house water pressure good enough to shower, etc.  Then there is a large black filter and the softener.  This is where my next set of questions comes in:

4) What do you think this filter is?  Is it a carbon filter?  Iron filter?  There are no labels but there is some sort of timer on top. My guess is this thing has not been serviced in a LONG time. I would like to service it myself, or replace it.  But I have no idea what it is. Anyone know?
5) If I was to replace this filter setup, what do you suggest?
6) I have read about UV filters for well water, who has one of these and what brand/make/model do you suggest?

Thanks all!

Bart

-----------------PHOTOS--------------------

With no light there is no algae. Chlorine is not needed for that. Only reason i can think of for chlorine or uv light is to kill icky stuff. If you test your water and there are no ickies.....you decide if you need it for peace of mind.

The filter is a salt system. Reverse osmosis system. Mine came with one also. I ended up removing it. It uses water to clean the water also. So if your supply is limited, it is using some of that resource.

I would add a spindown filter regardless. It's a sediment filter but never needs changing. Good item in the long run.

wayne fajkus wrote:I would add a spindown filter regardless. It's a sediment filter but never needs changing. Good item in the long run.

Thanks for the reply, Wayne.  I am not familiar with spindown filters, I will see what McGoogle says.

As for the salt filter, what do I need to do to service/clean it?  Replace media?

Thanks,
Bart

With mine i added salt and hit the "regen" button. It worked. I think regen is a clean/flush. I am not as familiar as i should be.

Check out this for the spin down:
https://permies.com/t/76631/Waynes-rainwater-harvest-start-finish

I have a pic on first page of thread. Beats replacing yarn filters for sediment removal. Since you have a storage tank, maybe plumb it in before it reaches the tank. Any sediment not removed will accumulate in bottom of tank.

wayne fajkus wrote:I have a pic on first page of thread. Beats replacing yarn filters for sediment removal. Since you have a storage tank, maybe plumb it in before it reaches the tank. Any sediment not removed will accumulate in bottom of tank.

Yeah, I found that out when I cleaned it the other day.  There was some sediment, not a ton, but enough that I had to shop vac it out...

Thanks.

black cyliner=water softner, white tank next to it salt tank for water softner.
where are you located? what part of country?
if your in municipality chances are the health dept will test your water for free
university of georgia has one of the best water testing labs/programs that exists, look online for it and you can choose what you want water tested for and send your samples off, no need to chlorinate or get a uv system if you dont have to.

bruce Fine wrote:black cyliner=water softner, white tank next to it salt tank for water softner.
where are you located? what part of country?
if your in municipality chances are the health dept will test your water for free
university of georgia has one of the best water testing labs/programs that exists, look online for it and you can choose what you want water tested for and send your samples off, no need to chlorinate or get a uv system if you dont have to.

OK yeah, those two are hooked together.  That makes more sense.  I don't think there is any filter at all then.  I am CA.  Thanks.

theres got to be a pump, probably down the well casing that pumps water into giant tank.
the pump inside pulls water from big tank to pressure tank. you said float switch outside, it turns pump on and off. pressure switch inside controls dayton pump to pressure tank.
those pumps can last many years. the one inside -that type pump the bearings in motor start to squeal, they can be replaced and will work for many more years. the pump seals can be replaced, dont touch them if you dont have to literally if you touch certain surfaces of seals with bare hands skin oils can cause problems.
if it works dont fix it. bad bladder in pressure tank can cause low water pressure and other problems like pump going on-off-on-off in quick succession. the only way to fix is to replace pressure tank.
there should be a bypass valve on top of softener. if you want to bypass it

bruce Fine wrote:theres got to be a pump, probably down the well casing that pumps water into giant tank.
the pump inside pulls water from big tank to pressure tank. you said float switch outside, it turns pump on and off. pressure switch inside controls dayton pump to pressure tank.
those pumps can last many years. the one inside -that type pump the bearings in motor start to squeal, they can be replaced and will work for many more years. the pump seals can be replaced, dont touch them if you dont have to literally if you touch certain surfaces of seals with bare hands skin oils can cause problems.
if it works dont fix it. bad bladder in pressure tank can cause low water pressure and other problems like pump going on-off-on-off in quick succession. the only way to fix is to replace pressure tank.
there should be a bypass valve on top of softener. if you want to bypass it

Yeah, the booster pump seems to be a work horse for sure. I only want to replace it because it is pretty old and crusty.  I figure a new one would be cleaner and this way I have a backup if this one should ever fail.  I do understand they are pretty hearty units though. It's a Dayton pump, but it is discontinued.

Thanks.

> replace pump...

I don't think you'll gain much there. Good chance of complications, and the old one will likely not survive shelf life. The new one, OTOH, should be "happy as a clam" on the shelf and having backup parts for essential services is a primo idea. In line with that, lay in all the fittings, tools and chemicals needed to completely replace your near-pump piping.

Plumbing has "stuff" inside it. Clean it and kill it all and it'll be back in a couple months. It's ok. Various bio-films and all that. If you think it's not ok, test it first as noted above before making major moves. Things may not be what you think. And part of clean water is leaving sleeping sediment lie.  There is _always_ sediment in tanks. That doesn't mean the water is bad, just that you need to not do things to disturb the sediment; it can take days or weeks for a large tank to settle clear once the bottom is stirred up.

Plumbing rule of thumb: If it ain't broke... Don't fix it. (Very useful concept. Applicable in myriad circumstances. <g>) Save your time, energy and buck$ for what _has_ to be done. There will come a time when your plumbing will let you know and then it'll cost an arm and a leg. Thing is, it can easily cost an arm and a leg anyway when you DON"t actually need to do anything...  And then take your other arm and leg when the time comes  and it _does_ have to be done. Add it up and decide what's best for you.

Regards,
Rufus
licensed plumber 25+ years, San Francisco

its probably discontinued because the windings are copper and it may have been made in usa and much of new stuff if not all is made in china with aluminum windings
i've taken many of them apart. if it works dont fix it.
if you get a new one keep it in box till you need it