E-Tank well water vs. rain water

We've had an ongoing struggle getting our e tank to function very well. It just never would give us good results. We checked EVERYTHING over and over but to no avail.

We used well water from our home. We do not have any water softener or conditioner but we do know there is magnesium in our well water. Have absolutely no idea if that could make any difference or not.

Out of frustration, we dumped out the original well water and filled our tank with rain water and put everything back together.

My goodness what a big difference! Suddenly we had a working e-tank!

Can not explain it or understand it but we just wanted to share in case it could help somebody else.

Donna

Donna, are you talking about an electrolysis tank? If so what are you adding to your water to create an electrolite before you start?

---------- Post added at 04:29 PM ---------- Previous post was at 04:25 PM ----------

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Arm and Hammer Super Washing Soda. We followed the instructions on the CIC website even increasing the amount of soda. When we did not get much "action" we double and triple checked ourselves, our connections and compared everything to the instructions. Just on a wild whim we wondered if our well water could be causing an issue. So, since we collect rainwater for our flowers, we thought we would empty our tank and reassemble everything using rainwater just to see if it made any difference.

And wonders of wonders... Success!

I'm quite sure the experienced folks reading this will naturally assume that somewhere along the way us newbies overlooked something. But honestly everybody it really does seem to be the change to rainwater that has given us success.

I wrote the forum about this thinking somebody else had encountered this same situation and could shed some of their wisdom or at the very least our experience could help somebody else.

Would still love to hear from anyone with similar experience. Thanks so much!

Donna

It could've been that something in your well water reacted with the washing soda (sodium carbonate) to effectively neutralize it. Rain water for all intents and purposes is distilled water, i.e., pretty much nothing but hydrogen and oxygen so there would be nothing to neutralize the washing soda. Have you ever had your well water analyzed for it's chemical makeup?

Yes Kevin, we have had the water tested which is how we knew it has magnesium in it. The water tester said that we have excellent water quality, just that on occasion we can see little black flecks that resemble coarse ground pepper. The water tester said if that concerned us we could put in a sediment filter which we did. But the filter does not catch all the magnesium, only the larger flecks.

We wondered if somehow the magnesium was the culprit responsible for our etank difficulties???

Donna

When I Googled 'electrolysis and magnesium' I understood just enough to think that a combination of magnesium, which is white, and something else could screw up the flow of electricity in the water. Based on your results I think you are in the ballpark but a long way from technically nailing it down. 'Tis good you solved the issue. Enjoy the results.

Hilditch