Water Softeners What to buy and why

@justalurker,

I have a recent customer whose basement flooded. Everything, I mean everything was destroyed: furnace, TVs, pool table, tanning bed, bar, carpet, lamps, sofa, chairs, drywall, paneling, even the ceiling tiles became moldy and had to be torn out. Everything (well nearly) had to be removed and thrown away.

The Kinetico K-100 (22-years old) worked the whole time-----UNDERWATER!!!! Completely submerged, it provided softened water and even regenerated. No problems with 'potted parts' here I guess.

French??????????? Someone doesn't know how to properly bash other products. Gary, you really need to get that chip off your shoulder.

Centuries old?....more like millennia as the ancient Egyptians use hydraulics and water turbines as a means of reliable power. Please don't underestimate those historical renditions; it’s closer to 4,500 years old. And even more likely, 4,500 years from now, water will still be a mjor power source.

Bill Prior and Jim Kewely created an amazing technology, from scratch in a garage, and it has survived the test of time. I have personally met both of these gentleman a number of times and their intense devotion to their unique invention is only matched by their relaxed personal approach to interpersonal relationships with all levels of their industry, including the competition. True professionals and honorable men don't whine and bicker.

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Good stuff Andy Exclamation

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@Andy CWS,

Andy CWS wrote:

The Kinetico K-100 (22-years old) worked the whole time-----UNDERWATER!!!! Completely submerged, it provided softened water and even regenerated.

Kinda goofed up the salt dose though Wink

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Actually, the brine drum was in the garage above. We moved it up a few years ago when the guys back was hurt. That way he could back his pick to the drum and unload it.

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@Andy CWS,

Andy CWS wrote:

Actually, the brine drum was in the garage above. We moved it up a few years ago when the guys back was hurt. That way he could back his pick to the drum and unload it.

Oh, gravity... as reliable and cost effective as centuries old water power Idea

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@H2O MAN,

We finally got the hardness of our water checked. It is 13 grains hard. No Iron detected.

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@Hunter208,

Hunter208 wrote:

We finally got the hardness of our water checked. It is 13 grains hard. No Iron detected.

Unless your family uses a huge amount of water, a 1 cubic foot softener with a metered Fleck 2510SE control valve will easily handle 13 gpg.

Have a local company properly size a softener to meet/exceed your needs.

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@H2O MAN,

Hunter, without knowing your family size, the number of bathrooms and the type of fixtures in them, no one can tell you what size softener - just like vehicles, one or two sizes don't fit all households. A 1.0 cuft (32K) is good for a 1 or 2 bathroom house with no large tubs or showers, larger than that it will regenerate much more frequently and use more salt than a correctly sized softener would with a regeneration on average every 8 days. Check out the sizing page on my web site by clicking on my name.

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@H2O MAN,

Hunter, be sure and avoid online sellers by contact a local dealer that sells, installs and services what they sell.

~ H2O MAN

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@DWC,

What is best company for salt delivery in Houston? I hate Culligan.
[email protected]

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New to this site and have yet to read all the posts on water softeners but have found a common thread - most of them need a lot of service. That tells me that most of them are junk and can be sold easily to someone looking for a "deal", or a "low price". There are water softeners made right here in the good ol' USA by people who know how to engineer quality.

DIY's should remember, most of what you can buy in a retail store, or from a plumbing supply catalog, or from your best friend who knows a plumber who can get you a deal, has been assembled from parts available from many various parts manufacturers. Not a good idea if you have problems later. And getting service from a plumber is like asking a cigarette company for a heart transplant. Plumbers make their living replacing corroded pipes, faucets, water heaters, etc.

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@michael1111,

michael1111 wrote:

New to this site and have yet to read all the posts on water softeners but have found a common thread - most of them need a lot of service. That tells me that most of them are junk and can be sold easily to someone looking for a "deal", or a "low price". There are water softeners made right here in the good ol' USA by people who know how to engineer quality.

DIY's should remember, most of what you can buy in a retail store, or from a plumbing supply catalog, or from your best friend who knows a plumber who can get you a deal, has been assembled from parts available from many various parts manufacturers. Not a good idea if you have problems later. And getting service from a plumber is like asking a cigarette company for a heart transplant. Plumbers make their living replacing corroded pipes, faucets, water heaters, etc.

I don't agree. The vast majority of softeners sold are sold by water treatment dealers; such as myself. The big box stores sell only residential softeners and they are of low quality, made by one company (Ecowater) and last about 2-5 years before needing repair.

Most softeners sold by a dealer or plumber, well driller, pump guy last 10-20 years service free. And are manufactured with parts from a number of component manufacturers; all in America (with the exception of most resin). They sell their components worldwide and are the world leaders in those parts. Unless you buy a proprietary national brand softener, like Culligan, Kinetico, General Ionics, WaterCare etc. etc., any dealer will have parts.

The most important part of a softener is the control valve, I suggest a Clack WS-1, it is the easiest to repair and has the lowest priced parts. It is the easiest to program and has only 5 parts, not counting the valve body. It was designed to be that way and it has a number of features most control valves do not have.

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Gary,
I would expect you not to agree.
After that, every statement you make, each sentence, has a hole in it and could be challenged. Are you running for political office?

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@michael1111,

michael1111 wrote:

New to this site and have yet to read all the posts on water softeners but have found a common thread - most of them need a lot of service. That tells me that most of them are junk and can be sold easily to someone looking for a "deal", or a "low price". There are water softeners made right here in the good ol' USA by people who know how to engineer quality.

DIY's should remember, most of what you can buy in a retail store, or from a plumbing supply catalog, or from your best friend who knows a plumber who can get you a deal, has been assembled from parts available from many various parts manufacturers. Not a good idea if you have problems later. And getting service from a plumber is like asking a cigarette company for a heart transplant. Plumbers make their living replacing corroded pipes, faucets, water heaters, etc.

Welcome to A2K!

Excellent 1st post Very Happy

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@michael1111,

Well yeah, your statements are false. So I'm not going to agree with false statements.

But prove anything I said as inaccurate or incorrect if you can because I don't want to be wrong.

Let's see if you can fill some of the holes you allude to.

What softener do you sell, know of or propose, that has all the components made by one company?

The only ones that I'm aware of that come close but no cigar are Ecowater (they make all the big box brands Kenmore, GE, Whirlpool and their own dealers' Ecowater) and Hague. But neither of them make the resins they use. So they don't qualify either.

In your opinion, what company makes all the components, including the resin?

Forget it. I see in another post that you sell/service Ecowater; and as I said, they do not make the resin they use.

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Having sold, installed and worked on just about every brand
out there I can make the following statement about ECOwater.

Water treatment equipment bearing the ECOwater brand name
is the cream of the crop, #1, top of the line equipment available.

You get what you pay for.

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@Gary Slusser,

Actually, recommending a softener only regenerate every 8 days gives me little confidence in someone's knowledge of water treatment. Channeling will occur in as little as 3-4 days, delivering a lot of breakthrough water hardness as well as wasted capacity (since only the resin in the channel will be exposed to hard water). It's the entire reason for a resin-lifting backwash on just about every softener ever made in the last 30 years. That's covered in water treatment 101 and a very simple concept to understand.

Dan

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@H2O MAN,

you two are peaches. I found this site only a month ago. 14,000 thousand current customers, in business since 1959, first rainsoft dealer in 1963. service fleck, autotrol, sears, ecowater, erie, briner, culligan, kinectico, hague,cuno, even clack. how can you say 5600/6600/6700 is hard to change pistons/seals. you only need a couple of nut drivers to replace. takes 10 minutes. will agree with 1500/2500 pistons/seals. if they have been there for years you may have to completely remove and clean out the valve body. not a do it yourself job. Steve G

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@DWC,

Water softener maintenance can help keep your water softener running trouble free for many years. A water softener is vital in areas of the country where hard water is common. Mineral deposits can make washing difficult and ruin plumbing and appliances.
You can calculate the size of water softener your family needs by multiplying the number of people in your household by 75—the average number of gallons used per person per day—to figure out the total amount of water your household uses daily. Then multiply this number by the number of grains per gallon (GPG) of hardness minerals in your water to figure out the capacity of whole-house water softener you need.
So, for example, if you have a family of five, figure 375 gallons of water are used per day (5 X 75). If your water has 10 GPG, you have 3,750 GPG of hardness minerals (375 X 10) requiring removal each day.

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@DWC,

We provide affordable water improvement systems to you the customer. We stock for immediate shipment all of the equipment found on our site unless otherwise noted. Although we do not provide field service from this website, we operate a separate retail company as well, so we know what works and what doesn't work. The products that you will find on this web site are are not only for contractors, but also for the true do-it-yourself customer, competing directly against the big box stores that provide off-shore made water conditioning products. We are recognized in the industry for our expertise in water improvement. Our core values are honesty and integrity. We will provide you accurate and detailed information about how to make your water better. We are a long time member of the Water Quality Association. We value the opportunity to do business with you.
Many of our residential water softenerscome completely assembled (we say on each product link). Unassembled systems come with a media funnel to pour the media into the tank. Some units come with the media preloaded.
Reverse Osmosis systems come completely assembled with the filters and membrane shipped separately.

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Water Softeners What to buy and why

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