All too often low pH water gets overlooked on a lab test report, as being unimportant. This is because low pH is not a health concern to Humans. The truth is however that low pH water is a health concern for your building. H2O isn’t always H2O, sometimes the water will contain an over abundance of negative Hydrogen molecules that will attach themselves to Carbon Dioxide molecules creating Carbonic Acid. Carbonic Acid will slowly dissolve copper and other types of unprotected metals into the water stream. When these soluble metals spray out of a shower nozzle and come into contact with Oxygen in the air they will oxidize and cause the beautiful blue green stain that is seen in so many sinks and tubs. It is fitting that the stain is similar in color to money because that is what it is costing you,$$$$.

In addition to dissolving Copper pipes acidic water will also dissolve other metals. The agressive nature of the Acid is much more intense in Hot water. It is not unusual to only see staining in Hot water locations. Hot Water Tanks, Faucets, and fixtures will show signs of even wear, often becoming paper thin before leaking. For more information on corrosion and acidity please go to our website at www.secondwindwater.com .

Solutions for Acidity in Water are quite common and low tech. The most commonly used are Chemical Feed Pumps that inject either Sodium Hydroxide (Caustic Soda), Sodim Bi-Carbonate (Soda Ash), or Acid Neutralizing Filters using Calcium Carbonate chips called Calcite, and another filter media not used by Secondwind called Corosex. Air strippers will also raise the Ph because they will blow out the Carbon Dioxide gas however they will not add any buffers to the Water, so you will want a starting Alkalinity of around 35 to use just an Airstripper for pH control. Of the 4 most common options Secondwind will usually try to direct customers towards Calcite. Caustic Soda is very agressive and can cause serious reactions if applied dirrectly to the skin or eyes, and is not for sale to the general public in the State of New Hampshire. Corosex media has a tendancy to go hard if it sits too long in a filter tank and can cause an undesireably large jump in pH. That leaves Soda Ash and Calcite as the two safest approachs. The most commonly used approach from our last two solutions would be Calcite. This really comes down to service. Calcite tanks if sized appropriately will go at least a year between service calls, and Calcite will raise the pH up to a range of 7 to 7.5 and stop there. Where as a Chemical feed day tank should be refilled Monthly, and will need to be rebuilt and recalibrated annually.

Thank you for your continued support of Secondwind Water Systems. We truly appreciate your business and referrals. If you have any Water questions please visit our website at www.secondwindwater.com or call 1-800-287-5767. Until next time this is Chris Saltmarsh CWS-6, saying, “Thanks for reading!, and enjoy your great water”… : )

Just as I was starting to type I looked up and saw 99 existing Blog Posts on our dashboard. This has to be our 100th. This is exciting!!! If you are a regular reader of these Water Blogs please hear me when I say, ” Thank You”. This has been a very successful campaign for us.

The whole idea of writing a Blog twice a week is to help improve web placement of our company website www.secondwindwater.com . By writing these blogs our website is more likely to pop up on a Google search and that is important in this economy. We average about 250 hits to the website a month because of the blog. We were so happy with this that it just made sense to send the blog out to Facebook and start our own Fan page. It just seemed to make sense that if people were reading it, then why not try to get it in front of more people. In less than a year our Fan page is up 344 Fans and averages about 25 clicks a day to the blog. That’s about 1000 hits a Month, all people reading our Company name. It would be very unusual for some one to call us and say I want to buy a Water System from you because of the Blogs I read on line, but a 1000 hits month every month must be helping our bottom line somehow.

Over the next year I intend to blend in more information on Commercial Water Treatment applications for those of you that work with Commercial/Industrial Water Treatment Systems, Public Water Systems, as well as more Residential survival stories. Many people are unaware of all of the different areas of Water Treatment that we work in, such as the removal of MTBE, Benzene and other Gasoline, Fuel Oil bi-products and that we work with about 130 Small Public Water Systems around New Hampshire keeping them in compliance with NHDES and the EPA. So hopefully that will be useful informative reading for everyone.

Thank you for your continued support of Secondwind Water Systems. We truly appreciate your business and referrals. If you have any Water questions please visit our website at www.secondwindwater.com or call 1-800-287-5767. Until next time this is Chris Saltmarsh CWS-6, saying, “Thanks for reading!, and enjoy your great water”… : )

With Spring on our door steps many New Englanders are pumped up about getting outdoors and opening up their Camps.

Back in the early 1990’s when I was a Lab Tech it always amazed me how many Camps on Bedrock Wells would fail their Coliform Bacteria tests. As Water sits stagnant in a well and household plumbing Bacterial colonies reproduce and could potentially make someone sick. Shocking the well is a good step in the Spring start up of any Camp. For complete instructions on how to sanitize a well. Please visit our website at www.secondwindwater.com .

Sometimes one Chlorination of the plumbing is not enough to solve the problem this is usually caused by the presence of Bio Slime. Bio-Slime is very slippery and is usually clear in color, like a clear gelatin. If Iron and or Manganese are present in the Water the Bio Slime will usually take on the color of those metals. Bio-Slime grows around the Bacterial Colonies. This will protect the Bacteria and make it harder to disinfect. Bio Slime is much more likely to occur in Water that has been allowed to become stagnant and/or too warm. The use of a strong oxidizer like Chlorine will break down the Bio Slime and kill the Bacteria but it may take longer than expected. So don’t give up after the first or second try, be persistent and eventually you will win out.

There are many types of Bacteria in Water. Not all of them are bad for your health. In fact your body needs Bacteria in order to survive. It is possible to pass a standard Laboratory Bacteria test and still have complications from Bio-Slime. Many of the these additional types of Bacteria can be accounted for by running an SPC/HPC Bacteria test.

Thank you for your continued support of Secondwind Water Systems. We truly appreciate your business and referrals. If you have any Water questions please visit our website at www.secondwindwater.com or call 1-800-287-5767. Until next time this is Chris Saltmarsh CWS-6, saying, “Thanks for reading!, and enjoy your great water”… : )

Ahhh, it’s starting to feel like Spring out there 5 more days and it’s official. Last Sunday was the start of better things to come as we all adjusted our clocks to officially Spring forward. Yahoo!

If you own a Water Treatment System this is the official time to check your timers. Now, if you are one of our many many Kinetico customers out there timers are not a concern because of the unique Kinetico Non-Electric, Twin Tank, Hydraulic Demand Initiated Design. However because there are so many Electronics Water Systems out there in the field this is a subject that deserves further discussion. If you would like further information on Kinetico Water Treatment Systems go our website at www.secondwindwater.com.

Setting the timer on an Electronic Water Treatment System twice a year is simple, quick, and important. If the Timer is not set correctly it is very likely that you will allow dirty water to pass into your building. This happens because Single Tank Electronic Treatment Systems cannot clean themselves and provide treated water at the same time. When the system cleans itself at 2 am any water that is used in the building is untreated because the system will automatically go into bypass and stay that way, usually for two hours. If your timer is off by a few hours it could easily be cleaning itself when you are awake and running laundry or taking showers and that can cause serious problems with your Water Quality.

For instructions on how to set your timer see your operators manual or call us anytime. Remember to set those timers and Spring forward! Thank you for your continued support of Secondwind Water Systems. We truly appreciate your business and referrals. If you have any Water questions please visit our website at www.secondwindwater.com or call 1-800-287-5767. Until next time this is Chris Saltmarsh CWS-6, saying, “Thanks for reading!, and enjoy your great water”… : )