Peter Topp

Just to add to my post. There are many methods to oxidise iron in the water, however once the iron has been oxidised the oxidised iron still has to be removed by filtration. To test if there is any iron in water a small amount of chlorine or bleach can be added to the water. This will oxidise the iron and will now be visible as brown or reddish particles. I found inexpensive 1" venturi on ebay to add inline to oxidise the iron.

Hi Plonkster I want to install a venturi to oxidise the iron however I was not able to find a supplier. I would be grateful if you can let me know where you got it from. For myself I know to to use ozone is the best oxidiser without changing the water in any way, however I do not think it removes manganese so I would have to have a duel system. Thanks Peter

Just for a laugh After I installed my borehole and before I had my water tested I did not know what to do to clear the water. The iron in the water had stained my window stills, walls and burglar bars. I thought I was very clever and thought I had a quick, cheap solution. I was in a hurry to use the system. I bought a 3 bag swimming pool filter and 3 bags of clinobrite and proceeded to fit it inliline with my borehole pump. This was the result. I had left the system overnight for the glue to dry on the pvc pipes. I tested the system before I went to work at 6am. I had only 1 tap open to test the water quality. I switched the borehole pump on and after about 10seconds I heard a hissing sound and my swimming pool filter's lid blew off with a almighty huge bang as loud as large caliber gunshot. My wife and neighbours came running out to find out what was happening and asked if someone was shot. It was a lesson I will not forget as I could have injured myself or others and I found some pieces of the lid 20m from the filter in my neighbours garden. I still chuckle at myself how foolish I was. After that I bought a new lid and fitted a pressure gauge and left enough spinklers open to maintain a pressure of < 2.5 bar. This did not solve my iron problem but the water was clearer. After the results of the water test I did some research and fitted high pressure filters with the correct media. I had waisted about R3000.00 on a hasty, dangerous solution that did not work. Swimming pool filters make use of a high flow rate with less pressure hence the large pipes 50mm. High pressure filters use high pressure, less flow hence the smaller pipes 1". I hope this discourages anyone who thinks a swimming pool filter is a good idea. (high pressure filters are only marginally more expensive). Btw my grandson is not "Rocket Boy".

Hi John, BIRM can be obtained and delivered from Aquamat at a cost of about R1015 .00 per bag + delivery. I did find other suppliers but they were more expensive. I use 2 bags in my high pressure filter. BIRM does work well for me to remove the iron and manganese. I use "CLINOBRITE" media as a pre-filter which helps to remove mud and other deposits. After these two filters the water is fit to drink. The mesh and plate filter is only for solids not to block my irrigation system. I will add a photo's of water before and after just those two filters. Birm has to be backwashed regularly to maintain lifetime of about 5yrs. It also helps if there is air in water to oxidise the iron. You can look up other methods of iron removal on the web but for me " BIRM" was my best option. I originaly used "MADDOX" (green sand) however due to my lack of research I found out it has to be regenerated with potassium permanganate which would be a pain. I waisted about R2000.00. There is a beter filter media on the market "FILOX" however I cannot find a South African supplier. It is too expensive to import because of its weight. I would be grateful if someone knows a SA supplier and posts it. Regards, Peter.

After Installing 8kw gtrid tied inverter system with 6kw of solar panels I deceided to sink a bore hole because of all the water problems and I have a garden. This is what I have done. Sank a 50m bore hole in the middle of my driveway as this was the only place the truck could get in. No water diviner needed. Casing was fitted to 45m as the ground was soft. Found a good source of water. Fitted a .75kw borehole motor and pump. I had the water tested and found a large amount of iron and manganese in the water. No other problems. The irrigation system filters, tank system and electrical system was designed and fitted by myself. Fitted two large high pressure filters to remove iron and manganese. (clinobrite and birm) The water is now fed to my irrigation system and timer controls my bore hole. The filtered water can also feed to my 2200L jojo tank after being filtered by a 4 stage filter including a UV light. The jojo tank feeds a booster pump which feeds the main water supply to the house. To save on the uv light time as it only lasts 10000hrs (about 1yr continuous use) and expensive I connected it to the irrigation valve control so that it only switches on when the tank is filling. The borehole water at present is only used for irrigation as I do have to show some water use as other services are tied to the quantity of municipal water used. The booster pump also helps when the municipal water pressure is low. It is connected in parallel with municipal water at present but can be seperated if water quality is bad and needs to be totaly filtered. The only thing that is missing is booster pump protection when the jojo tank runs empty for any reason and it has done this twice and have lost one booster pump. I have ordered a cheap (less than R100.00) electronic liquid level control on ebay from China and will fit this to protect the booster pump.This will be fitted in the new year. This sytem will cost in the region of > R100000.00 complete depending on the depth of the borehole and other filters needed. Atteched are photos and diagrams of the system.

My system consits of 20 vacuum tubes heating a small reservoir. The reservoir feeds a standard 150L geyser. The feed is done with a 12v pump which only feeds when the difference in temp is above 4 degrees. A geyser wise kit will do the job. My geyser feeds a 20L variable force feed gas geyser which does need electricity to work. I do it this way to save on gas as the gas geyser can regulate the temperature and use less gas when the geyser is hot and also have a constant temperature. I also have a 2kw heater installed in the geyser and have wired it so that if all fails I can still use the element to heat the water. I do have grid tied inverters and a generator so I do not have any problems during a power failure. I had to modify my geyser so that I do not have cold water circulation problems when the pump is circulating. This mod is done with a heatpump kit that adresses this problem. At the moment I am only using the gas geyser as lightning has damaged my solar controll X2. I will be changing the solar controll to a geyser wise on the 5th of January through my insurance. The system can also bypass the geyser and only use the cold water supply. Attached are photos and electrical circuit of the system.

In my previous post I metioned that would replace my system to a grid tie system. In May 2017 I purchased 2 x Infinisolar 4k Super units as well as an extra 12 x 255w solar panels. I also sold my old Axpert units. The system now consists of - - 1. 2 X Infinisolar 4K Super inverters in parallel. 2. 2 X (12 x 255w pv panels in series). One string for each inverter, 6120w in total. 3. 4 X 12v 180ahr batteries. On a good sunny day I can produce about 35kwhrs combined out of both units and feed back to the grid. Attached is a photo of the new installation. There has been many probems with the infinisolar units and this is what I have experianced. This has also been placed on " New Infini Super post". I purchased two infinisolar 4K super inverters in May 2017 to replace the two axpert units I had to be grid tied. They were installed in parallel and both units had 12 x 255w solar panels each in series as well as 4 x 12v 180ahr batteries. Here is my experiance with them. One lasted 10min. after installation. The dc circuit blew up. Took both units in to supplier. The manufacturer admitted to having problems with the dc circuit. Both units dc circuit boards were replaced after 3mth wait. Before and after repair the units did not work correctly in parallel. After a discussion with supplier after a week was given new firmware to install. Units worked correcty for about 1mth with new firmware and the same units dc circuit blew up. Took the faulty unit in and has been returned after 2mths. The supplier has told me that I will have to bring back the units in the new year as the manufacturer is redesigning the dc circuit board and the old ones will need to be replaced. The supplier has been very helpful however I do believe the manufacturer has marketed these units prematurely without testing them properly. During this ordeal I have had 5 power failures without being able to use the units. For me the investment for the units, solar panels and batteries have been a bust and I am just hoping the new dc circuit boards will solve all the problems I have experianced.

I purchased two infinisolar 4K super inverters in May 2017 to replace the two axpert units I had to be grid tied. They were installed in parallel and both units had 12 x 250w solar panels each in series as well as 4 x 12v 180ahr batteries. Here is my experiance with them. One lasted 10min. after installation. The dc circuit blew up. Took both units in to supplier. The manufacturer admitted to having problems with the dc circuit. Both units dc circuit boards were replaced after 3mth wait. Before and after repair the units did not work correctly in parallel. After a discussion with supplier after a week was given new firmware to install. Units worked correcty for about 1mth with new firmware and the same units dc circuit blew up. Took the faulty unit in and has been returned after 2mths. The supplier has told me that I will have to bring back the units in the new year as the manufacturer is redesigning the dc circuit board and the old ones will need to be replaced. The supplier has been very helpful however I do believe the manufacturer has marketed these units prematurely without testing them properly. During this ordeal I have had 5 power failures without being able to use the units. For me the investment for the units, solar panels and batteries have been a bust and I am just hoping the new dc circuit boards will solve all the problems I have experianced.

This is my attempt to be free from load shedding and power failures. My home db. has been divided into 3 zones. (main house, granny flat and garage with small room) The granny flat is also connected to Axpert KS 3k inverter without pv panels. I will post this later. The parallel inverters are connected to the main house. The main house has a solar geyser which feeds a variable gas geyser. The stove is also run from gas. The inverters and db's are installed under the carport attached to the main house. The installation and drawings except installation of the pv. panels were done by myself. Connected two Axpert inverters in parallel to overcome the 4kw limit (now 8kw just in case my wife irons and bakes at the same time). Connected 12 x 255w pv panels (3060w). 4 strings in parallel with each string of 3 panels in series. . I will add another 3060w pv panels and will also change to Axpert V inverters when I have saved enough. This will allow me to feed power to prepaid meter which I receive the monies for in the granny flat, also hopefully turn my power usage meter (old type) backwards. I have 4x180ahr batteries connected. The inverters are connected to a remote panel inside the house. Input is fed by two cables and input changeover is 60amp because it draws more current on input to charge the batteries when necessary. I have also set the charging current lower as there are two inverters charging the batteries. Output has a 40amp circuit breaker in main db. I use fuses to disconnect and isolate batteries and pv panels. It can also run from a generator which is connected to the changeover. It also can be switched to bypass which bypasses the inverters if there is any problems. Attached is the photo,hand drawn wiring diagram and labels. Total Cost for installation: Inverters, parallel kits and remote panel R25000.00, pv panels and installation R38000.00, db panels and wires R7000.00, batteries and cables R20000.00 R90000.00