Rockingham
Iron Stain Removal & Prevention
About this Project
This home in Shoalwater, Rockingham was recently built and was showing early signs of iron staining. Their white fence and paving were at risk of deeper and long term staining.
Fortunately the iron in their bore water is in relatively low concentrations. This meant that we could install a low cost system that integrated easily with the pre-existing infrastructure and layout.
The owner’s only used bore water in the garden and were comfortable to go with a low cost desigbn including a water conditioner and sprinkler improvements.
For suburbs that have a slow stain, the risk comes from the calcium which binds to tiny amounts of iron and calcify into ingrained stains.
Below outlines the key elements of this bore water treatment installation.
Sprinklers
Sprinklers that are placed in the wrong places and overspray are the biggest contributors to iron stain. Old sprinkler nozzle are less efficient, harder to aim accurately and over spray more often.
The first thing we did was install four additional Hunter MP rotator sprinklers on the verge and internal lawn. With increased accuracy on sprinkler coverage, it is easy to reduce iron stain without installing a sophisticated iron treatment system.
The optimal design is inserting subsurface drip line on the edge of lawns that are next to walls and paving.
Stain Removal
Bore water composition varies from home to home but as a general rule of thumb, if your neighbours have iron staining then you will too. Perth’s underground, unconfined aquifers span across the Swan Coastal Plain but have mineral deposits that cause some suburbs to have similar bore water mineral profiles.
Across Rockingham there is high levels of iron and calcium, however in Shoalwater there is less iron and more calcium. This results in a light stain that accumulates quickly. There are other parts of Rockingham – more inland that have more iron than calcium and this results in a darker stain that accumulats slower.
We were able remove the stain easily by applying an iron stain removal solution and rising it off with fresh water.
This process does not harm plants or people as the acid is diluted as more fresh water is added with each rinse and watering.
Water Treatment
Most iron treatment system are composed of three water treatment technologies:
- Catalytic Sand Trap
- Water Conditioner
- Chlorine Dosing System
Because Shoalwater’s bore water has only marginal levels of iron and higher levels of calcium we only had to use a water conditioner to stop the stain from coming back.
A water conditioner changes the ionic structure of the water such that there is less friction on a microscopic level. Minerals separate and do not clump together. Instead when water hits surfaces the minerals will run off. This water technology is used by car washers stop water residue from showing after a wash.
Minerals remain in the water and are still pushed through the irrigation, they simply don’t accumulate on surfaces.
This is an excellent example of when less is more.
We installed a similar bore water treatment system in Dalkeith to efficiently reduce stain from salt and calcium. Read about it here.
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