Free Tool
Well Water Treatment System Selector
Enter a well water test and get the treatment stages it actually calls for — in correct plumbing order, with what each one costs. Order is what decides whether a correctly sized system works or fails.
Built by SubcontractorHub — the software plumbing contractors use to quote, finance, and run every job.
Book a DemoTurn a Water Test Into a Treatment Train
Fill in what the lab report says. Leave anything you have not tested at its default and come back when you have the number.
Divide ppm by 17.1 to get gpg.
Staining starts at 0.3 ppm.
Limit is 0.05 ppm.
Below 6.8 is acidic.
Health limit is 10 ppm.
📋 Important: All results are ballpark estimates
The equipment recommendations and prices shown are approximate estimates based on standard water treatment practice and should be used for general planning purposes only. They are not a substitute for a certified laboratory water analysis or a professional site assessment. Results involving bacteria, nitrate or arsenic are health matters — always confirm with a certified water treatment professional and your local health department before relying on any treatment decision.
Reading a Well Water Test
The thresholds that change the recommendation
A lab report is a page of numbers with no advice attached. These are the lines that move a parameter from noted to treated:
| Parameter | Action threshold | What it costs you if ignored |
|---|---|---|
| Coliform bacteria | Any positive | Health risk. Not optional. |
| Nitrate | 10 ppm | Health limit, serious for infants. Needs RO. |
| Arsenic | 0.010 ppm | Health limit. Needs RO or adsorptive media. |
| pH | Below 6.8 | Pinhole leaks in copper, and iron filters that will not work. |
| Iron | 0.3 ppm | Orange staining, and a fouled softener. |
| Manganese | 0.05 ppm | Black staining in fixtures and laundry. |
| Hardness | 7 gpg | Scale. Water heater life drops sharply above 10 gpg. |
| Hydrogen sulphide | Any detectable | Rotten egg odour, and corrosion of metal fittings. |
Full detail on the hardness number is in how to test water hardness.
Why the order is the whole job
Well water treatment fails far more often from sequencing than from sizing. Three dependencies do most of the damage:
- pH neutraliser before the iron filter. Oxidising media need roughly pH 7 or above to precipitate iron out of solution. Install an iron filter on pH 6.2 water and it passes iron straight through — a correctly sized tank that appears to do nothing.
- Iron filter before the softener. Softener resin will strip iron, and then foul on it. Above about 3 ppm the coating is permanent within a season, which turns a $2,000 softener into a resin replacement.
- UV last, always. Light cannot penetrate what the earlier stages exist to remove. Sediment shadows organisms, and iron and hardness bake onto the quartz sleeve. The lamp keeps glowing the whole time.
Size the UV itself with the UV sizing calculator, which also derates for the transmittance these upstream stages control.
Four common wells, and what each one needs
| Water profile | Train | Typical installed |
|---|---|---|
| Hard only, 18 gpg, no iron | Sediment → softener | $1,350 – $3,200 |
| Hard 15 gpg + iron 2 ppm | Sediment → iron filter → softener | $2,750 – $6,400 |
| Acidic pH 6.2, iron 1 ppm, hard 12 gpg | Sediment → neutraliser → iron filter → softener | $3,650 – $8,200 |
| Above, plus positive coliform | Add UV as the final stage | $4,250 – $9,600 |
Systems at the top of this range are the reason financing decides deals in this trade — the homeowner is making a five-figure decision on the day the test comes back.
For dealers: the test is the proposal
A water test is the only moment in this trade where the customer, the problem and the evidence are all in the same room. The dealers who convert best walk out with a signed staged proposal rather than a promise to email a quote, because the urgency of a coliform result or an orange bathtub does not survive three days.
That means pricing the full train on site, showing the stages the test justifies and the ones it does not, and putting a monthly financed figure beside the cash price on a $6,000 system. It also means the service plan — cartridge changes, salt delivery, annual sanitisation, UV lamps — goes on the same paperwork, because that recurring revenue is what most dealers leak. See water treatment business software and contractor financing.
Frequently Asked Questions
What order should well water treatment equipment be installed in?
Sediment filter first, then pH neutraliser, then iron or manganese filtration, then the water softener, then tannin or carbon filtration, then UV disinfection last on the whole-house line, with any reverse osmosis unit at the point of use. The order is not a preference, it is a chain of dependencies. A pH neutraliser has to precede an iron filter because oxidising media will not drop iron out of solution below about pH 7. An iron filter has to precede a softener because iron fouls softener resin permanently. UV has to be last because light cannot penetrate the sediment, iron and hardness earlier stages exist to remove. Installed out of order, equipment that is correctly sized will still fail.
How do I read a well water test result?
Work through it in the order the treatment train uses. Coliform bacteria is pass or fail and any positive result means disinfection is required. pH below 6.8 is acidic and must be corrected before anything else is specified. Iron above 0.3 ppm and manganese above 0.05 ppm stain fixtures and need dedicated filtration. Hardness above 7 grains per gallon justifies a softener, and above 10 gpg it pays for itself in water heater life. Hydrogen sulphide is the rotten egg smell and needs oxidation. Nitrate above 10 ppm and arsenic above 0.010 ppm are health limits that whole-house treatment does not address and require reverse osmosis at the tap.
Can a water softener remove iron from well water?
A softener will remove small amounts of clear-water ferrous iron, generally up to about 0.3 ppm and at a stretch 1 ppm on a well-maintained unit, but it is not iron treatment and it pays a price for doing it. Iron occupies resin exchange sites that should be removing hardness, cutting effective capacity, and oxidised iron coats the beads in a layer that ordinary brine regeneration does not strip. Above roughly 3 ppm the fouling becomes permanent within a season. If the iron has already oxidised into visible orange or red staining, the softener will not remove it at any capacity. Anything above 0.3 ppm belongs on a dedicated iron filter installed ahead of the softener.
How much does a whole house well water treatment system cost?
A single-stage install such as a softener alone typically runs $1,200 to $2,800 fitted. A common two-stage well system with an iron filter ahead of a softener is roughly $2,800 to $6,000. A full train handling acidic water, iron, hardness and bacteria, with a neutraliser, iron filter, softener and UV, generally lands between $5,000 and $9,000 installed. Adding a point-of-use reverse osmosis unit adds $400 to $1,200. The wide ranges reflect flow rate, tank sizing, plumbing access and regional labour more than brand. Systems in this range are also the reason financing matters in this trade, because the decision is made in the home on the day of the test.
Do I need a water test before buying a treatment system?
Yes, and there is no way around it. Every sizing decision in a treatment train comes from a number on a test: hardness sets softener capacity, iron decides whether a softener survives, pH decides whether an iron filter works at all, and a coliform result decides whether disinfection is needed. Specifying equipment without a test means guessing on all four. Private wells are not regulated the way municipal supply is, so testing is the owner's responsibility. Annual testing for coliform bacteria and nitrate is standard practice, with a fuller panel covering metals and minerals every two to three years or whenever the water visibly or noticeably changes.
What does a well water treatment system not fix?
Whole-house treatment is poorly suited to several health contaminants that need reverse osmosis at the point of use instead. Nitrate, common where there is agricultural runoff, passes straight through a softener and a standard carbon filter. Arsenic needs either RO or a specific adsorptive media. UV inactivates bacteria but removes nothing and gives no residual protection downstream, so any contamination entering the plumbing after the chamber is untreated. No treatment stage fixes a compromised well itself, and a failed casing seal, a shallow contaminated aquifer or surface water infiltration are well construction problems that filtration only masks.
Quote the Whole Train Before You Leave the Driveway
Build the staged proposal on site while the test result is still on the table, show financing beside the cash price, and put the service plan on the same paperwork.
Get a Free DemoRelated Resources
- Water Treatment Contractor Software
- UV Water Purifier Sizing Calculator
- Water Softener Sizing Calculator
- Whole House Water Filter Cost Calculator
- Reverse Osmosis System Cost Calculator
- Iron Filter for Well Water
- How to Shock a Well
- How to Test Water Hardness
- Contractor Financing
- SubcontractorHub for Plumbing
- More Free Contractor Tools
All recommendations and costs are ballpark estimates based on standard water treatment practice and should be verified against a certified laboratory water analysis and a licensed installer before equipment is purchased. All calculations are estimates based on historical information and should be verified by the user. This tool is provided as a free service for planning purposes only and is not a substitute for a professional assessment or applicable local code and health department requirements.