Iron in water

Peter Diaz de Leon

When my radiant system was filled with water back in mid January the HVAC contractor filled the system directly from the pressure tank. I have noticed that the water in the flow control valves is orange. I had a gentleman from a local water softener company come and do an analysis and found that the iron in my water was at least 5ppm. So my question is what kind of damage does the high iron content of the water do to my system, pumps, tubing, Monitor MZ? If I get an iron filter installed and flush and refill the system will that help?

Thanks
Peter

Jamie Hall

Iron in water

5 ppm iron (mg/L) is really quite reasonable. By which I mean that technically the water is drinkable. I doubt very much that that much iron will hurt your system at all; it is possible that, if your system has access to air at all (I presume this is a hydronic?) that eventually some sludge will build up in the boiler -- but this can be flushed out quite easily. Just my opinion, but I really don't think you need to worry about it at all in your heating system; maybe some of the other guys with more experience in hydronic systems will have other thoughts (I'm kind of a steam guy, myself).

An iron filter might be useful on your domestic water, particularly for your clothes washer -- if, that is, you get orange staining when you use bleach.

Ken D.

Iron content

I would not worry about the iron. The only worry is if the concentrations get too high due to constant make up water. In a sealed system once you fill and purge there will be no more minerals or dissolved gasses added unless there is a leak where gasses can enter or where the feed valve will operate excessively.