Would a water treatment system help?

Hi everyone,

I've been in my home for 20 years now, I have a well, and have had lots of plumbing problems. Water heaters last about 5 years. Around year 15 I started getting pinhole leaks, close 6-8 of them over the next 5 years. Finally last year I replaced all my copper with PEX.

My system goes like this:
1" water line to house - 1" PEX - check valve - brass tank tee - (pressure tank, gauge, etc) - 3/4" PEX - sediment filter - then to the house.

This week I discovered a pin hole leak in the brass tank tee. I'm guessing the tee is 10 years old.

I've never had my water tested, so I can have that done. People have suggested a water treatment system. But it seems like these are always placed after the pressure tank. So even if I had one, it wouldn't have helped the tank tee.

Thoughts? I usually have to replace the pressure tank every 8-9 years. I suppose I could be proactive and replace the tee and all the accessories at the same time and this might be enough to prevent trouble. I have a Manabloc and PEX home runs to all the fixtures. (There are shutoff valves at all the fixtures which are metal).

I was hoping after the PEX project that I'd have some peace for a while (years), but I only made it 8 months.

I'm quite surprised you didn't have the water tested a long time ago. That's the first thing to do.
You could find a stainless steel TEE, or fabricate one with SS components. Regular off the shelf, SS fittings are 304 SS, and those are probably OK. 316SS is harder to find but much more robust.

I used to own a car wash, and I had a number of brass fittings fail due to SOAP; yep, detergent is high pH (alkali) and over time it will eat brass. Brass and copper are also damaged by acids (lo pH). Plastic fittings are unaffected; but they have their own set of issues. I had a lot of them crack over time. After a few months of owning the car wash I basically converted everything to stainless steel. That solved a LOT of nagging problems that would come and go daily.

Your TEE is a casting, and these can have issues in the casting process.

You absolutely HAVE to have the water tested, and personally I'd have it done at a number of places. Most free places are testing to sell you something (like a softener for hard water), so you might consider an independent testing lab who has no vested interest in anything other than a complete accurate analysis.

You cannot consider a water treatment system until you know what you are treating the water for. There are a number of things you need to remove from water and each has its own system. Some require chemicals and routine maintenance.

Find out what you have, then do your research to find out how you solve it.

Mitchell-DIY-Guy said:

I'm quite surprised you didn't have the water tested a long time ago. That's the first thing to do.

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Thanks for the reply. I would like to have the water tested. I did one of those free tests from Home Depot some years ago but I don't recall anything unusual. This time I would like to do an independent test. There are lots of options online, and of course this gets expensive quickly. Can you recommend anyone in particular? Please PM me if that's better.

I'd go with an independent such as these:

https://watercheck.com/collections/symptom-checker

https://www.pacelabs.com/contact-us.html

https://www.e-watertest.com

Or, if there is a local independent lab, try calling them. Speak with all of them first ON THE PHONE WITH A VOICE CALL to get a feel. If they make you comfortable, great. If they sound like they don't know what they are talking about or are trying some hard sell, go elsewhere. Your water, your money you got to feel good about who you are dealing with.

Yes it will be costly--up to $250 or so for a complete test, but don't you want to know what's coming out of your well? That's a small price to pay...like one doctor visit? There are so many situations these days with (and I do not mean to scare you) of contaminated drinking water--even city systems--that you really should know this information. If you go with an independent, my guess is one comprehensive test is enough. Most city systems go through a comprehensive annual check and provide residents with the data.

Once you get the test, I'm sure the good folks at these labs will avail you of the options for correction. They won't do it, and they can't sell you the services, but they'll tell you how you remove [insert bad name here] from your water supply.

The free tests are from, mostly, the people that will sell you water systems such as softeners and filters. It would be curious to get these free tests and compare them to the one you pay for. They are testing for iron content and hardness, not many things like pesticide contaminants...

Thanks so much for this info. I'd already looked at WaterCheck and did call them, and I am going to continue with them.