If you have ever lived where iron is a problem with house water supply, then you know the consequences! The flavor, stains, and color problems are enough to make some people move to a different neighborhood.
Iron found in water is in two different forms. Ferrous iron, or iron(II) oxide (FeO) is the first. Water out of the faucet containing FeO is clear and colorless. Ferrous oxide, however, oxidizes when it is exposed to air and then it forms ferric oxide, or Fe(III) oxide (Fe2O3). This iron ion compound has a reddish brown color used in red paint pigment. This is the compound of iron that makes the red and brown stain in the toilet, sink, or tub.
This iron also stains the laundry. Whites lose their whiteness and the problem won’t go away. It only takes a little iron, .3 parts per million, to cause these problems. Formerly, when we lived in the country and had a well, my white shirts gradually lost their whiteness, especially on the sleeves. The water was not clear or bad tasting, but the presence of iron showed up in the laundry. It was finally solved when my wife added borax to the water when she washed whites.
Not only is the staining a bother, but the iron also gives a disagreeable metallic taste to drinking and cooking water. In addition, it combines with the tannin in tea, coffee, and alcoholic beverages to produce an unpleasant gray to black appearance.
Here is a simple test to see what kind of iron (if any) you might have in your water. Fill a clear glass with water and leave it alone for twenty minutes. If all the visible iron falls to the bottom, then you have ferric iron in the water. This means that the particles are large enough to filter out, about five microns or smaller.
In such a case, an activated charcoal cartridge filter will be able to remove the iron and clear up the water. The particles will lodge in the filter and can be backwashed or scrubbed out when the filter is cleaned.
On the other hand, if the particles did not fall to the bottom, then a cartridge filter will probably not be able to remove them. You will then need to turn to a water softener or an iron removal system. These are beyond the scope of this article.
When you filter drinking water with a cartridge charcoal filter, there is an added bonus. Besides iron, many other contaminants, some harmful, are also removed. These may include many hydrocarbons, pathogens and bacteria, chlorine and chlorine compounds, nitrates and nitrites, and heavy metals.
Iron is needed in our bodies but iron(III)oxide does not provide it. Ferric oxide ruins flavoring and stains clothing and plumbing fixtures. Filtering your drinking water with a cartridge filter is a relatively inexpensive fix.
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