Orange-brown stains on the toilet bowl, the sink and the white wash are the classic sign of iron in well water. It's the most common complaint we hear from homes on a private well. It won't usually harm you, but it ruins laundry, clogs pipework over time and gives the water a metallic taste.
How to tell it's iron
- Orange or brown staining on sinks, baths, toilets and laundry
- Water that runs clear from the tap, then turns orange after standing in a glass
- A metallic taste, especially in tea
- Rusty sludge in the toilet cistern
Black or dark brown staining points to manganese, which often turns up alongside iron and is treated the same way.
What the limits are
The drinking water standard for iron is 200 micrograms per litre, and for manganese it is 50 micrograms per litre. Staining starts at around those levels. The only way to know your own figures is a lab test: an independent, accredited laboratory analyses a sample from your well and gives you the numbers. We don't test water ourselves; we work from your lab report.
Why a jug or a cartridge filter won't fix it
Most iron in well water is dissolved. It comes out of the tap clear and only turns to rust once it meets air. A sediment cartridge catches particles, so dissolved iron goes straight through it and stains anyway.
What does remove it
An iron filter does the job in two steps. It first oxidises the dissolved iron, which turns it into solid particles, and then traps those particles in a bed of catalytic filter media. The filter backwashes itself clean automatically, usually at night, and sends the iron to drain.
Three things decide which system is right:
- How much iron and manganese there is. Higher levels need a bigger vessel or a stronger way of oxidising it.
- The pH of the water. Acidic water makes iron much harder to remove, so the pH is often corrected first.
- How much water the house uses. The filter has to cope with the busiest hour of the day.
A water softener will take out small amounts of dissolved iron, but it isn't the right tool once the level climbs, because iron clogs the softening resin. Where a house has both iron and hard water, the iron filter goes in first and the softener after it.
What to do next
Get the water tested, then send us the lab report through our well water treatment page. We'll tell you what your water needs and in what order, and give you an itemised quote. Our own plumbers fit and service the system.
Also on well water: rotten egg smell from well water and bacteria in well water.