Water Softeners - Whole House - Need Some Pointers

[TexasTractor]

We have the typical rural well water, hard water scenario - great tasting water but killer on plumbing and fixtures. There's a lot of information available, and I suspect a lot of mis & disinformation as well. Every company has the best system. It's hard to decide. I'm looking at the Fleck 5600 XST beause it seems to offer the most bang for the reasonable buck. We're empty nester now so we don't use nearly as much water as when we had our 5 kids all here. I ruled out Culligan because they don't seem to allow DIY installs nor even DIY filter replacements.

Any thoughts from those who've been down the road are much appreciated. Thanks, Kevin.

 

[JazzDad]

Welcome to the site! (I assume you are in Texas, so complete your profile.)

I did all my research and eventually bought from an online source. Look for someone who will help you after the sale. I used to dump the spent recharge brine into the septic system when I ran potassium chloride, but don't after switching to NaCl. The former got too costly; upfront cost and "bridging" in the brine tank. Read, read, read and you will learn! Don't be in too big of a hurry.

 

[Fossil Farm]

If you have not done so yet, get a water test to see how many grains of hardness you will be dealing with, your pH and if iron problems are common in your area, get that tested also. That will give you an idea of what type of system you need. Be sure your by-pass valves are metal, not the plastic ones. Wait until the brine tank is empty before filling it with salt to reduce bridging problems. Dura-Cube salt has no additives, so there will be no sludge on the bottom of the brine tank to clean out after a few years like many other brands require. Good luck.

 

[Fossil Farm]

And get a system with a meter that regens by gallons used instead of just by days. Especially with just 2 of you in the house. No sense refreshing the resin beads if you haven't used much water.

 

[TexasTractor]

Thanks Fossil. Today I sent a sample to a company I am leaning toward - CAI Technologies. They will test my water free and I am looking at this model, should my water test dictate a unit this size. The price sure seems low compared to many other brands but it's rated quite high by users, and the guy I spoke with at the company convinced me that I shouldn't shy away from it simply because it's actually affordable.

 

[Stimw]

I have had a "Clear Water System" for 15 years and have been very happy with it.
I took a 2 ltr sample of water to them when I bought it and they anilized it and adjusted the softener for my water.
I needed a valve kit for it a year ago and bought it online from a generic store. The website said that almost all softener units use generic parts and rebadge them.
Mine cost around $500. , a co-worker paid over $2000. for one that did a lot automaticly.
So if you want bells and whistles spend the money! If you just want soft water don't.
I also use a Whole House Filter with a carbon element for taste. Filter was about $30. at Lowes and filters are cheap at Walmart in a 2 pack.

Just looked at your link, I don't like copper ends on it, hard water can eat metals also mine came with 1" fittings standard.
The by-pass valve should be standard with most. It is just a either/or valve at the entrance.

You might look for a Clear Water Dealer in your area, they are national and my local dealer is not hard sell which would have turned me off!

 

[Stimw]

I took a sample of my media to the dealer last year and they said it was fine, (15 years old) no need to replace it.
He said that what hurts the media is clorine in municipal systems.

 

[DKCDKC]

I've got a 12 year old Northstar. It's been a pretty average unit - for someone with 31 grain hard water. I thought the media was used up six months ago, but a good cleaning of the entire system, cleaning out the valves and tank seems to have restored it for a time. Next time I'll have to decide between new media or a whole new unit. The fancy Kinetico units seem to have a loyal following around here, but I just can't see spending $2K for a softener. You can buy a Kinetico clone online for about $700, but I'm still shopping around. I did find this last go-round that softeners are really simple to understand and fix, so I am more comfortable working with them. My concern is really using less salt because those bags get heaver every year. In 10 years I'll be almost 80 and doubt I'll want to be slinging them around still. My ideal is to sink the softener several feet into my crawlspace (its a 5 foot crawlspace). I could then sort of lean the bags in in years to come without having to lift them.l

I guess I'll just keep monitoring and see what works best.

 

[buckeyefarmer]

Got mine at sears. They test the water. I installed.

 

[fordmantpw]

We bought a Whirlpool at Lowes several years ago, and we've had no issues with it. It is metered, so it only regens when it needs it. It was very reasonably priced at around $400. It came with a water hardness test, we installed it, and have had no issues.

Best of luck!