home hemo and hard water

[carson]

I've been on home hemo for 3 yrs now and I've had a real hard time with our water. I've got 3 1-micron filters to try and get most of the calcium and other minerals, as well as some iron, out of the water. I have to use an old RO that doesn't recycle the water (but increases my water bill!) and it needs to be replaced every 3 or so months, otherwise I get "No Water" Alarms.  Does anyone else have hard water problems? Any advice will be well received!! Thanks

[carson]

wow, I can't believe that I'm the only member of 4633 members who has this problem...weird!

[greg10]

I am a newbie so I don't know what I am talking about, but are you the only one doing home-hemo and from Florida?  I am seeing the plane and the water in your avatar so I am just guessing    I know we also had a difficult time in Florida with hard water, but that was before we needed to do dialysis.

I was surprised to read that most dialysis center spend about $13-16k per dialysis machine, but $50k on the water treatment setup.  Some of them go as far as drilling their own well if their municipal supply was not sufficient.

[*kana*]

Can't help you, but could you  talk to your water company to see if your rate can be reduced due to life saving medical equipment in use?  You can get a discount from your energy company so why not the water company?

[cloud393]

I have hard water but also have a softener.  What does your center say about it?  I was told that if your water is that bad you would use bags instead.

[carson]

@cloud393:  my machine uses approx. 540 litres/night x 7 days/wk = lots of bags!!! My techs said a softner would be out of the question because the silica used will clog the machine. ? .

@*kana*:  my electrical company doesn't give me a discount, nor will my water company.

@greg10:  I live in Stayner, Ontario, Canada and only 5 miles from the world's longest FRESH WATER beach yet my town uses municipal wells for their water which is VERY hard. I wish I could figure out a way to tap into the fresh water. I'd like to move to Collingwood (just up the road) where I'd be able to use their municipal water that comes from Georgian Bay, off Lake Huron (part of the Great Lakes) and then I'd never have an issue! My dialysis machine is worth $32K and the RO is worth $8K.

 

[cloud393]

Wow! 540  liters?  I only use 20 on my NxStage and only 5 days a week so it would be 4 bags each treatment.

[Ojam]

I have hard water, I have 3 .1 micron tanks that are replaced monthly plus a carbon tank that is replaced every 3 months. I don't have any no water alarms. Not sure how much water I use, I'm on a well.

[carson]

@cloud393 - I dialyze 7 days x 8 hours and after set up and tear down it's about 9 hours so about 60 litres per hour. I have 3  1 micron filters and a carbon tank as well but it's the iron that clogs up my machine and causes all the problems.

[greg10]

Hi Carson,
  Newbie reporting back after using the NxStage Pureflow.  I know that NxStage is not available in Canada, but just FYI, the purification and dialysate batch processing unit called "Pureflow" is quite efficient.  It uses about 25 to 30 liters of water per treatment, plus ~1 liter SAK flushing and ~20 liters for PAK priming.  The SAK, which holds the dialysate, needs flushing, which is done about once every 2 treatments.  The PAK or filter PAK, a self containied water filter purification unit, needs to be primed every time it is changed, which is about every 12 weeks.

  The only drawback I could see is that the supplies are not cheap, the PAK costing about $700, from what I have read.  Although the overall cost of dialysis is much less than in center, perhaps due to labor costs and reduced needs for drug injections.

[Bruno]

I have soft water where I am but my daughter in Darwin has hard water (from a bore) and it does cause the problems you describe...I've experienced them when I visit. All her pipes clog up. All I can think of is a tank to collect your rainwater although you probably would not get enough for your needs.