Can I use a whole house prefilter before the tank kit?

[bob432]

I have a large tank now and will go for the kit option, but then I got to thinking that I really should have a whole house filter on the pump as the water has lots of black minerals in it. They now settle to the bottom of the existing 40gallon tank. If I do a complete shut-off of the water system and empty the tank and then restart the pump again, I get lots of black minerals flowing throughout the house until the water clears in 5-10 minutes.  Since I have a reverse osmosis system for drinking water, I don't worry about this much, but I really should have a filter on this so the new system doesn't have the same issue. My concern, though, is that the filter will slow down the flow rate too much, and I won't get the full benefit of the cycle stop valve.

Any recommendations for what type of filter I might use before the water goes into the tank?  Thanks.

[Cary Austin]

The filter needs to be made to filter whatever that black stuff is.  You probably should have the water tested to find out what filter would be best.  But you maybe able to shock treat and flush the well, and not need a filter.  Again, depending on what the black stuff is.  But a little chlorine circulated in the well, then flushing the well with a large hose or multiple hoses for a few hour may solve that problem without a filter.

But if you do use a filter, it won't cause much restriction until it gets dirty.  And either way it won't have much effect on the CSV.  And the filter certainly won't restrict the flow enough to not need a CSV.  The CSV only restricts the pump when it is needed.  A dirty filter restricts the pump until you clean it out.

If that black stuff is a bacteria like iron bacteria, a filter just gives it another place to grow.  Shocking the well is the best treatment.

[bob432]

Thanks for the info. I had the black stuff checked by the city and they said it is common in the wells around here and are minerals.

[Cary Austin]

Then you should be able to pump the well hard and clean out a bunch of it.  And it probably won't hurt anything to put in a cartridge filter, as long as you clean it occasionally.