HOW OFTEN DO YOU HAVE YOUR ALJIBE CLEANED & CHANGE FILTERS?

How often do you have your aljibe cleaned? Do you find much sand in it or just the greasy black stuff?

How often do you change filters and replace your UV tube?

I can tell you how long not to wait. I had not cleaned my aljibe in over 4 years. When it was cleaned recently they had to scoop out the mud with a shovel. My plumber initially asked for 800 pesos to do the job but after all the mud shoveling he asked for 200 pesos additional and I gladly paid it. After cleaning it of the mud they scrubbed the interior with detergent, rinsed and pumped clean several times then set it to fill. Will probably do it every two or three years now.

Can't answer the other question and I think it depends on what kind of filter you are using.

Every couple of years on the aljibe though I checked it the other day and it has little in it. The water quality in my area has improved markedly since we moved here. I change filters every 6 months, UV tubes every year.

Mainecoons wrote:Every couple of years on the aljibe though I checked it the other day and it has little in it. The water quality in my area has improved markedly since we moved here. I change filters every 6 months, UV tubes every year.

Bingo!!!! on the filters but don't know on the Aljibe. Any differences on cleaning between the masonry tanks or Aljibe under ground versus the new style plastic tanks?

Z

Zed - Can't answer your question on differences in cleaning between masonry and plastic, but plastic tanks are crap. They crack. With a properly built masonry tank you shouldn't have problems.

If you are referring to the black plastic tanks that are on the roofs, those are tinacos. Never seen anyone clean one but I would think you'd have to.

This thread brings up an interesting question. Any sand and silt settles out in the aljibe. What makes it necessary to change the filters is that black, greasey stuff which I don't think is sediment.

What is that stuff and where does it come from? If I could prevent it, the filters would last a whole lot longer.

MC - That's contained in the water we all get delivered to our houses. There's no getting around it.

Yes but what is it? Anyone know?

Mainecoons wrote:If you are referring to the black plastic tanks that are on the roofs, those are tinacos. Never seen anyone clean one but I would think you'd have to.

This thread brings up an interesting question. Any sand and silt settles out in the aljibe. What makes it necessary to change the filters is that black, greasey stuff which I don't think is sediment.

What is that stuff and where does it come from? If I could prevent it, the filters would last a whole lot longer.

Here is another question. All the filters I have seen are just paper filters. Shouldn't we be running our water through some charcoal. Up north GE has two types of
undersink filters of which I used the most expensive which cost $60 to 70 per year for the filters. It filters pesticides and petrochemical type things. Maybe with
the agriculture here we should be using charcoal at the sink to final filter the drinking/cooking water. ???????

Just cause it won't make us sick doesn't mean it isnt dosing us with some low level chemical over time. Up north I lived in the old part of town and who knows what was
stored around or what type of pipe was used. Charcoal filtering was indicated NOB. Is is here??

Z

Mainecoons wrote:If you are referring to the black plastic tanks that are on the roofs, those are tinacos. Never seen anyone clean one but I would think you'd have to.

This thread brings up an interesting question. Any sand and silt settles out in the aljibe. What makes it necessary to change the filters is that black, greasey stuff which I don't think is sediment.

What is that stuff and where does it come from? If I could prevent it, the filters would last a whole lot longer.

What is the black greasey stuff??? If I rinse off my filters every 1.5months they flow better at the end of there 3 to 4 month life.
I see the sand.
Z

I have two water filter systems. One is a sediment filter, which is quite large. From the sediment filter the water goes through a UA light. Then on the back of the kitchen sink I have a 3 phase filter - paper filter first, charcoal filter second and US light with some kind of filter third and it's on my cold tap only.

I had the plumber change the cartridges on the sink filter after 8 months and they were still clean.

The blue plastic cisternas that you put in the ground are much larger than the black tinacos for the roof. I'm sure they have different colors but RotoPlas are blue and black/beige.

The city is working on the pipes enough here (or they are just breaking) ... sand was my problem. I installed double filters with the first one being what you get with a Tinaco ... the filters are cheaper. I had enough sand in the cisterna that the pichancha (oneway intake valve) was plugging up.

All new construction here uses plastic tanks. You need to build a chamber out of block to put it in ... not just bury it.

UV is for drinking water I assume and I never drink tap water. Filtering the minerals out of "hard water" would be nice but probably not worth the price.

...and the reason you need the chamber to put it in is because the hydrostatic water pressure of the soil during the rainy season will SQUASH an empty plastic tank absolutely flat.

Zed...you can get different filters if you want them. In this house we are renting, there were two crummy paper filters before the UV light that only filtered out anything larger than 20 microns. We now have a one micron polypropylene cartridge and a charcoal cartridge before the UV light. There is also a reverse osmosis system under the kitchen sink, which very kindly beeps at me when it needs servicing. Both units are serviced by Techno Agua in west Ajijic and I order the filters for the NEXT service when we have the filters changed...so we always have filters on hand.
Generally, we are changing the filters every two months and the UV light once a year. The water here in Riviera Alta is crap.

...and just what is that black greasy stuff anyway?????

...and we also had GMX units (one time purchase) on our water lines, and pool lines and had no hard water spots. When we changed hot water heaters (from flow through to small tank) we had to put additional magnets on the water leaving the tank. In those three months, I got water spotting. The magnets work...on water, on propane and on gasoline by changing the molecular structure of piggy backing molecules. Don't know why they work but they do.

Zed - You have two filters. The water goes into the first filter. It is pleated white paper and is the sediment filter.

The second filter is the carbon filter. It can be pleated white or be gray colored with metal around it. It filters out chemicals and such.

You can buy filters here like this: 5 micron, 10 micron or 20 micron. 5 micron filters out more but can clog easily. I use either 10 micron or 20 micron.

My filters have been in a year. Time to change this month.

johninajijic wrote:Zed - You have two filters. The water goes into the first filter. It is pleated white paper and is the sediment filter.

The second filter is the carbon filter. It can be pleated white or be gray colored with metal around it. It filters out chemicals and such.

You can buy filters here like this: 5 micron, 10 micron or 20 micron. 5 micron filters out more but can clog easily. I use either 10 micron or 20 micron.

My filters have been in a year. Time to change this month.

No I have two parallel paper filters than feeding the UV light than going to the pressure tank and than house and casita piping. All the other systems
I have seen have been same design. Obviously I would have to redesign to use charcoal as filters are parallel not series and I doubt if you can run a
charcoal filter without a preclean chamber for the sand or paper filters before charcoal filters.

Z

That is what is different on mine. Two filters running parallel means less
restrictions. Looks like I need to change it back or add a local charcoal
filter at the kitchen sink. Thanks for the help guys. Now I know my
options.

Z

Zedinmexico wrote:
No I have two parallel paper filters than feeding the UV light than going to the pressure tank and than house and casita piping. All the other systems I have seen have been same design. Obviously I would have to redesign to use charcoal as filters are parallel not series and I doubt if you can run a charcoal filter without a preclean chamber for the sand or paper filters before charcoal filters. Z

I'm curious as to why you are purifying your water then storing it in a pressure tank before it goes into the house. In our system (on the coast), the water was pumped from the aljibe into the pressure tank, then the filters, then the UV, then the GMX magnets and directly into the house.
Would simply like to understand the "why".

ferret wrote:

Zedinmexico wrote:
No I have two parallel paper filters than feeding the UV light than going to the pressure tank and than house and casita piping. All the other systems I have seen have been same design. Obviously I would have to redesign to use charcoal as filters are parallel not series and I doubt if you can run a charcoal filter without a preclean chamber for the sand or paper filters before charcoal filters. Z

I'm curious as to why you are purifying your water then storing it in a pressure tank before it goes into the house. In our system (on the coast), the water was pumped from the aljibe into the pressure tank, then the filters, then the UV, then the GMX magnets and directly into the house.
Would simply like to understand the "why".

I have no idea. Already modified the system to allow charcoal filter. House came this way. I also have an underground brick tunnel and storage area with a ladder
that goes down into the ground 10 ft with a shallow concrete pond on top. Not sure I want to know what all this is. Throw some chlorine in the tank a few times
a year and don't ask questions.

Z

johninajijic wrote:How often do you have your drawers cleaned? Do you find much sand in it or just the greasy black stuff?

How often do you change filters and replace your UV tube?

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