well
I've been adding windows to my outdoor shed housing my well and water filter. The filter looks like the image below.
After adding these windows, I'm now noticing the inside of the filter is green, which I'm attributing to the water now being in sunlight.
We haven't noticed any taste/color/smell issues, but I am concerned about the color.
It can backflow if you lose pressure. Perhaps from a power outage, or if you draw water faster than the pump can replenish it.
Backflow valves (check valves) are pretty cheap (about $5 - $10). If the consequences are as severe as you make them out to be, I'd put one in.
Also I would add a carbon filter after the RO system, that would remove ammonia and other things, just in case. If the water was clean the filter would not get worn, so it's cheap insurance that you can leave there for a long time without replacing the filter.
PS. It's good you are not trying to drink softened water - the extra salt is not good for you.
Since this is a DIY site, here are some things you can check:
Next to the pressure tank, you should see a gauge like this
This tells you your water pressure. With no water running, this should not be moving. If it is, you have a leak.
When you turn the water on, the pressure should drop to a certain point. Maybe 40 psi, at which point, you will hear the pump kick on and the pressure should start to increase. At that point, turn the water off. The needle should go up to a certain point, maybe 60 psi. I would venture to say that 40/60 is a pretty common setting for household use. The lower number is the cut-in pressure, the higher is the cut-out pressure. If all of that looks good, move on. Otherwise, you now have some questions you can ask your plumber (or a different plumber). For example, why am I set to a 20/40 or why is the pressure dropping when no water is being used?
The next thing I would recommend checking is that the tank is properly charged. To do this, you will have to turn off power to the pump, usually at the breaker box. Then open a faucet that is as close to the tank as possible. Ideally you would have a faucet right at the tank and a shutoff just after that faucet. Close the shutoff then open the faucet that is right next to the tank (make sure you have a bucket to catch the water). Let that run until it is entirely empty (no more water coming out).
On your tank, you should have an air-fill valve that is similar to an air-fill valve on a bike tire. Like this:
Most likely it has a cap on it that you can remove (just like a bike). Remove that cap and use a tire pressure gauge to measure the pressure. It should be about 2-4 psi less than the cut-in pressure. So, if you were seeing 40/60 in the measurement you took earlier, the tire pressure gauge should read between 36 and 38. If it doesn't, that is a problem and you should ask your plumber about this.
The next thing to do is to time how long it takes your empty tank to fill up. After making sure the faucet is off, turn the power back on. The pump should immediately turn on. Time how long it takes for the tank to fill and the pump to turn off. It should be fairly quick (60-90 seconds). If it is taking longer than that, you could have a leak between the pump and the house.
If that is all good, the next step I would take is to turn on the shower and the sink at the same time, then go watch the pressure gauge. It should drop to 40 then you should hear the pump kick on. With a properly operating system, even with both a shower and a sink running, you should be able to reach 60 psi again and it should cut off. At which point the pressure should drop back to 40 and the pump would turn back on.
If that is not happening. For example, say you see it drop to 40, you hear the pump turn on, but the pressure keeps going down, eventually to 0 or very low, there are a number of problems that could cause this. You have a brand new pump and tank, but it could be an underpowered pump. How many horsepower (HP) is the pump they installed? It could be that the well is not producing enough water. Do you have air in your pipes?
If it is happening, i.e., the shower and sink is running and the pressure tank correctly builds back to 60 and the pump turns off, but the shower and sink fall to a drip, there is likely a major plumbing issue in the house. Do you have galvanized pipes in the house?
This info will hopefully help you figure it out. If you aren't comfortable doing these things yourself, find a good well company in your area. These are all the things they should be doing first. Some other things they should do to diagnose the problem are:
They can also measure how fast water is moving into your well. If water is not moving in fast enough, you would run out of water. There are things they can do to fix this.
Best Answer
You don't need to experiment with this system. What you have there is algae growth because you have opened up your well house to sunlight. This is a very common problem. Algae is every where, it is in the wind, all around you. Algae needs two things to grow, sunlight and water. You just supplied the sunlight. Eliminate the sunlight and you will not have any growth. I usually recommend to my clients that they make a boot out of insulation for there filter. Or you can simply replace your cartridge housing with a new one that is not clear. The clear ones are nice because you can see your filter and it indicates when to change. But, you already know that because of experience with when to change your filter out. So, Boot over the filter housing or change housings, problem solved.