How to purify borehole water at home
Test it first, then fit only the stages the report asks for, in this order: a sediment vessel, then whatever the report shows (iron, a low pH, hardness), carbon if it tastes or smells, UV for bacteria, and reverse osmosis at the kitchen tap for the water you drink. Most Johannesburg boreholes need two or three of the six, not all of them.
A laboratory test, not a filter.
Clear water is not clean water. A SANS 241 analysis, chemistry and microbiology, R4 200 inside Johannesburg with the sample taken by us, tells you what is in the water in numbers, and the numbers choose the stages.
Buying filtration first is buying blind: a sediment filter does nothing for iron, a softener nothing for bacteria, and a UV lamp nothing for the salts that make water taste brackish.
- TurbiditySand, silt and cloudiness. Over 1 NTU wants a sediment stage first.
- Iron and manganeseOrange and black stains. Over 0.3 and 0.1 mg/L want their own media vessel.
- pHUnder 6.5 eats copper pipes and geyser elements; calcite lifts it.
- HardnessScale from about 200 mg/L; a softener takes it out.
- E. coli and coliformsAny count at all means UV after the fine filters.
In the order the water meets them.
Each stage does one job. Skip the ones the report does not ask for, and never put a fine one before a coarse one.
- 01
Sediment
A 75 litre vessel of AFM glass media with a backwash valve, at the pump. Sand, silt and rust come out here, so nothing after it clogs. The media lasts ten years or more and backwashes to the drain once a week.
- 02
The problem the report shows
Iron and manganese take a vessel of iron media. A low pH takes a vessel of calcite, which dissolves into the water and lifts it toward neutral. Hard water takes a softener with its brine tank. Each is its own vessel, and a borehole rarely needs more than one of the three.
- 03
Carbon
A vessel of activated carbon for chlorine, taste, smell and organics. Needed when the water tastes or smells of something, or when a storage tank is dosed with HTH or Jik; otherwise skip it.
- 04
Fine filtration at the house
The three 20 inch Big Blue stages at the point of entry: 5 micron, carbon block, 1 micron. They polish the water for the whole house and, above all, make it clear enough for the UV lamp to work.
- 05
UV
A 55 watt steriliser after the 1 micron stage. Bacteria, viruses and cysts are stopped by light, nothing is added, and the lamp changes once a year whether or not it still glows.
- 06
Reverse osmosis at the kitchen tap
For the water you drink and cook with: salts, nitrates, fluoride and metals come out here and nowhere else. One tap, with a re-mineraliser so it tastes like water.
The report, line by line, with the kit for each.
Prices are the shop's, read live. Each kit ships with the vessel, the valve, the media and a fill guide.
| The report says | What to fit | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Turbidity over 1 NTU, or sand and silt in the bath and the cartridges | Borehole sediment filter kitA backwashed glass-media vessel; the media lasts ten years or more | From R4 655 |
| Iron over 0.3 mg/L or manganese over 0.1 mg/L: orange or black stains, a metallic taste | Vessel and valve kit with iron mediaThe media is chosen from the report | From R2 165 |
| pH under 6.5: blue-green stains, pinhole leaks in copper, geyser elements failing | Borehole pH correction kit | From R4 665 |
| Hardness over 200 mg/L as calcium carbonate: scale on the kettle and the geyser element | Borehole water softener kitBrine tank and the first bag of salt included | R9 445 |
| Chlorine, taste, smell or organics, including a tank dosed with HTH | Borehole carbon filter kit | From R5 865 |
| E. coli or coliforms present | AquaClear UV 55 watt steriliserAfter a 5 and a 1 micron stage, so the lamp can see through the water | R2 095 |
| Sediment and bacteria only, a clean borehole or a tank | AquaGuard and UV combo | R4 795 |
| TDS over 1 200 mg/L, nitrate over 11 mg/L as nitrogen, or fluoride over 1.5 mg/L: the water you drink | AquaShield Turbo at the kitchen tapReverse osmosis is the only stage that takes out what is dissolved | R3 680 |
| No report yet | The SANS 241 test, taken by usR4 200 inside the area Andy Plumbers serves |
The limits are SANS 241 where it sets one; hardness has no SANS limit, and scale shows from about 200 mg/L. Fitted by Andy Plumbers, borehole treatment runs R15 000 to R250 000 depending on what the report asks for. Every kit ships nationwide at the quoted courier rate.
Yourself, your plumber, or ours.
A stage is a vessel, a valve and three 1 inch connections: in, out and a drain for the backwash, with an isolation valve each side. A competent DIYer or any plumber fits one in a morning from the guide in the box, and the valve's settings are written down for whoever does it.
Across Johannesburg, Andy Plumbers fits the plant from the report, connects it to the house and services it once a year. Send the report, or a photo of the pump and the pipework, and we reply with what the water needs and what it costs.
Borehole owners ask.
Or a photo of the pump. We reply with the stages the water needs.
Johannesburg installs by Andy Plumbers; kits couriered nationwide.