water testing

Well water requires full evaluation to check for unknown contaminants prior to specifying equipment.  Deal directly with accredited labs to ensure accurate, impartial, professional verifiable tests are carried out without conflict of interest with equipment suppliers.

• Ideally water testing laboratories should be HSE labs and/or INAB approved laboratories.

• Sample bottles are provided by laboratories (1 litre chem. test / 0.5 litre bacterial test).

• Run mains taps for two minutes and fill sample water to top of the bottle to expel air.

• Ensure bacterial samples arrive at laboratory by noon, on same day of taking sample.

• When making payment at lab, confirm description / location of tap and water source.

• Bacterial testing is carried out quickly, chemical testing may take two to three weeks.

on site testing

Pour two egg cups full of soft water into a glass.  Add a hardness tablet. A light blue colour indicates soft water. If a plum red colour is seen, check softener salt bin. If there is salt and power, call for a check on mains water pressure or other problems.

To test carbon filters, fill half a glass of water, add a chlorine tablet to glass. Clear water - filters OK. If a faint pink colour is seen, chlorine is present and indicates filter cartridges are not working efficiently and require replacement.

Use a handheld TDS meter to check RO efficiency. The test range for quality water is 0 to 40 ppm. Without a meter, run RO on hard water for a day and test RO for soft water. On hard water, filters are replaced more frequently.