I have always had rust in my well water, but this year it has gotten bad. I can no longer ignore it and have made an appointment to have a rust treatment solution installed.
However, until then, is there anyway of preventing the water from staining my clothing when I use the washing machine? Anything I can add at the start of the cycle?
Rust will settle at the bottom so it seems like you could decanter the water using several buckets.
You can use a sodium hydrosulfate product like Rust Out, Iron out etc. I use it to remove existing iron stains from clothing but it could be used in a preventative manner. It can have ill effects on dyes though. I have a few shirts that gotten bleached from it.
Adding borax to each load will help.
Borax is a chelator, so any iron in your water will bind to it, instead of to your clothes.
I use iron out, which helps a lot. However, it’s gone once you hit the rinse cycle so a little bit of rusty water will hit the clothes untreated.
If you can find a rust water treatment that doesn’t involve a shitload of money or the exhorbitant use of water in order to clean it thoroughly, please post it. I have not found a solution that is both economical and ECOnomical, but I’m always on the lookout for something that will solve my obnoxious rust problem.
Thanks for all the answers. I ordered some Rust Out which should be here today.
The Culligan man just left: all told I’m going to end up paying nearly $2100 to take care of all my water problems. (A new water softener too.)
I am looking into something like this (not this company)Rusty Water. I think i get it locally for a little less money and I can install it myself. I got quoted around $3,000 by the local well guy for the same setup; but most of that was his labour costs.
Unfortunately a broken tooth and a root canal depleted my cushion, so I am going to have to wait on it.
I think I found some “filters” for around $250, but the amount of Iron I have makes a permanent setup the better option.
Any suggestions, welcomed.
holmes, without the Water Softener, it was about half the cost. Also though, Culligan offered to finance this and for the 2100 it would have been about 63 dollars a month. The interest is outrageous (between 10 and 14 percent) but if you need to pay monthly, then I guess it is one way to go. I have to replace the filter 4 times a year he said. BTW, that 2100 included installation costs.