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We have a well system that is currently set up in this order. We don't have many problems out of it other than the typical issues such as hard water, sediment (occasionally), and multiple demands (shower, washer, and dishwasher) causing low pressure. It is plumbed in a Tetris fashion with pipes going every which way, flowing to the left then back to the right. I want to streamline the plumbing and place all the water devices in the correct order of operation. While doing this I plan to move to the max diameter pipe 1 inch that I can use for each device to increase the flow throughput.

The well is 600 feet down, or that is what I am told, we have very hard water, and we have had the water tested which showed no issues or contaminates.

The current setup is: Well Pressure Tank > 100 Micron Spin Down Sediment Filter > Holding Tank > 5 Micron Big Blue Filter > Water Softener > Water Heater > House (As a side note we did use a 50 Micron Sediment Spin Down Filter but it kept getting clogged quickly and even more so after it had rained. Therefore I had to move up to the 100 Micron to keep the flow going. I also have another Big Blue filter as a spare that I could substitute somewhere in the system. It can be a 5, 20, 50, or other level filter that can be installed.)

My question is does this seem like the correct order of operations for treating well water? Do I need to move, add, or remove anything?

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  • Please edit to include pictures if you're looking for input on streamlining the plumbing. Ideally you'd have a pressure gauge after the 5 micron filter to assess when it needs to be changed, and likely your best use of an additional filter canister would to be put two of those in parallel, as they are likely the largest pressure drop. Do you have 1" or larger pipe from the well? Is your spin-down filter the type with a reservoir for collected gunk below the filter? If not, might want to add one of those with a coarser filter screen ahead of the one you have for bulk material removal.
    – Ecnerwal
    Commented Mar 3 at 13:50
  • What's the holding tank for? Are you injecting a chemical that needs hold time?
    – Ecnerwal
    Commented Mar 3 at 23:36
  • The holding tank is just for additional water to be held from a 600 ft well pump in the ground. I never considered putting filters in parallel. I will have to do some research on that cause that sounds like a good idea. The spin-down was added cause I was trying to catch minor debris from entering the holding tank but since it pulls the water off the top of the holding tank and the debris settles to the bottom I really don't see any debris.
    – Roberts2600
    Commented Mar 8 at 10:30
  • Put all information in your question, please. It doesn't belong down here. Also, please revise your title to ask a clear, specific question.
    – isherwood
    Commented Mar 8 at 14:47

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One solution to "multiple demands causing low pressure" is to add a second pressure tank downstream of the filters, assuming the pump is supplying adequate pressure/flow at the first pressure tank, but the filters are restricting flow. If the pump can't keep up, additional pressure tank capacity will help for short-duration multiple flows, but will revert to pump ability on longer term uses.

Splitting the most restrictive filtration (5 micron) into multiple parallel filters will reduce the pressure drop from that. Providing a guage to monitor when those need to be changed out (and valves permitting each to be changed individually) would be helpful.

Arranging the piping so the inflow pipe to the spin-down filter is straight for at least 10-20 pipe diameters may provide a marginal improvement in its performance.

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