Water softener?

[Dogwater]

I need to get a water softener for our house. The house doesn’t have a loop plumbed in. What I want to do is plumb one into the water heater but I’m not sure of the size I would need. There only 2 of use in our house so I don’t think a large water softener is needed. Any suggestions Would be helpful.

 

[NUTTSGT]

I said the heck with it years ago and bought a GE unit at HD. I figured the ROI would be 7 years versus a more expensive unit at the time. Still have it and it's been working fine for 10-12 years ?

 

[ItsNemo]

Fleck, I got mine from aquatell.

You size to not just usage but also hardness of your water. Find out how hard your water is and there are calculators based on usage that will tell you how big of a softener you need.

 

[Dogwater]

I have some test strips or had some test strips, don’t know where they are now but If I member right they read in the middle of the hardness scale. I’ve already had to vacuum out our hot water tank twice in the last 10 years. Cold water I can’t do anything about but a least the hot water can be softened.

 

[1949 caddyman]

I have a Water Boss that we got at HD, works good.

 

[58Yeoman]

.......

 

[readhead]

Why would you not want to treat the cold water?

 

[JRC3]

Don't buy that box store garbage. For a few twenties more buy the Fleck or Autotrol here.

https://www.qualitywaterforless.com/Fleck_5600SXT_Meter_32000_p/f-r32-56sxt.htm

Fleck 5600SXT Meter Water Softener - 32,000 Grain Capacity $552.00/ Free shipping

 

[Firebrick43]

My mom went through two water bosses in 10 years and it was fairly good water and just her. They are garbage.

I will third or fourth a fleck. Kenetico are excellent as well except 3-4 times the price and high pressure sells pitch. But I have seen several 20 year old ones (and fleck) still going with minimal maintenance.

 

[biggziff]

Buy one on Amazon. Get a unit that has a separate brine tank (don't buy one where the resin tank is in the brine tank) Buy a unit with a Fleck or Clack valve. They are bulletproof and easy to rebuild when necessary. There are calculators online that will tell you how many grains of hardness capacity you need for your water use and hardness. I'd recommend bumping up slightly on the grains when buying a unit.

 

[glentre]

Some softeners, at least mine, have controls that can be set to regenerate after a certain amount of time or for gallons used. Our installer said he always sets them for time (weeks) but we had him change it because we are only two people also. To save salt, you might want to set yours for gallons instead of time.

Glen

 

[biggziff]

Some softeners, at least mine, have controls that can be set to regenerate after a certain amount of time or for gallons used. Our installer said he always sets them for time (weeks) but we had him change it because we are only two people also. To save salt, you might want to set yours for gallons instead of time.

Glen

Most softeners today use a demand system to regenerate. The programming is based on how hard your water is, or more specifically, how hard you told the softener your water is. Old, outdated systems used time to regen which costs water and salt.

 

[Showkey]

Some softeners, at least mine, have controls that can be set to regenerate after a certain amount of time or for gallons used. Our installer said he always sets them for time (weeks) but we had him change it because we are only two people also. To save salt, you might want to set yours for gallons instead of time.

Glen

Water usage should be the only measure.

The installer must have a interest in salt sales

 

[JRC3]

Here's the best part of buying anything Pentair like the Fleck or Autotrol, as mentioned. You fix it when something ever goes wrong instead of throwing them away.

Pentair has full concise videos on repair, maintenance and setup of everything they make. The vids dive in for specific task and walk you through with excellent instruction.

Try getting that from that box store junk.

I have the Fleck 7000s for my softener and iron filter but sadly they discontinued them. These are way beefier than the 5600s. I had to clean my injector on my softener earlier this year and while I was at it I decided to tear the head down and lube everything. The Pentair University vids made it easy.

 

[Max]

We had a Kinetico system in our last house that worked great for 20 years. It had two great features and one Ok one. The great features were that it was demand based (not time, never buy time based as it wastes salt and your money) and that it was dual tank. So if it switched over when you were running your laundry or a shower you didn’t get hard water while the single tank regenerated.

The OK feature was that it was run 100% from water pressure - i.e., without any electricity. In theory this is great, in practice we had to clean the gears twice in that 20 years when they got stuck with a piece of grit in the gears.

Despite the above, I don’t recommend Kinetico, as they are rather expensive. Also, in general you need to be very careful with water softeners, as there are a lot of scammers out there with BS claims or **** quality.

If I was getting a water softener again, I’d be looking for Pentair or Fleck. From my experience I would prefer dual tanks, it’d have to be demand based, and needing 120 to run the controls would be fine.

 

[RoninB4]

Bought the house 3 years ago that's on well water. Installed a filtration system and a Fleck softener because of calcium/magnesium deposits clogging the water lines. Start with having your water annualized by a lab to get an accurate understanding of your water. From there you can tailor your system to your needs. Everybody has different water requirements and there are on-line calculators to help. Do the research/reading so you know what you're getting into. Plenty of stories out there with bad/expensive endings from folks that just hired someone to fix the problem for them...and didn't.

 

[pima67]

First step is to get a good water test for more that just hardness. Such as Hach but there are a number of them available (search the net). Or maybe you water supplier does testing but if in a large area water characteristics can vary by location. Then head over to https://terrylove.com/wwwboard/index.html for a forum & help on water softeners. Good info on the brands mention above but correct sizing for the type of water you actually have is very important.

 

[spudley]

I need to get a water softener for our house. The house doesn’t have a loop plumbed in. What I want to do is plumb one into the water heater but I’m not sure of the size I would need. There only 2 of use in our house so I don’t think a large water softener is needed. Any suggestions Would be helpful.

I bought a softener from a manufacturer/supplier in Janesville, WI that uses Fleck controls exclusively about 30 years ago. Couple years ago I took it in for a new media bed and a "check up" on the controller. Back in service later that day.

OP, I'd plumb it into the cold water supply before any faucets and the WH and leave any outside water hard (unless you wash cars).

 

[midorix]

Another vote for Fleck. Trouble free for many years.

 

[Dogwater]

Thanks for the info!!!! I didn’t know what brand & features to look for. Thanks!!

 

[LS6 Tommy]

Our first unit was a time based Fleck. Now I have a demand based Clack. The Fleck gave very good service for 20 something years. Either brand will do well. Just stick with demand based.

Tommy

 

[raffaelli]

We are also looking to replace our softener. I was looking at Genesis. Any input on it?

https://www.discountwatersofteners....r-upflow-high-efficiency-1-25-water-softener/

 

[macdabs]

Purchased two softeners for two houses with wells . Both wells are within 1000ft of each other and required different treatments . The one house had a softener that was thirty years old .
Installed kinetico softeners . Should get another thirty years out of both them. No high pressure sales and great service . The price was a little more but the fact it uses no electricity and is proven. No electronic timers , two tanks and on demand regeneration saves time and money on salt . The salt hopper is a third the size of my old softener .

 

[kbs2244]

the current ones are set to clean based on gallons used
it is a great system when it is working

I have an older one that is clock based
it has a Fleck valve
you can set it for the amount of salt to use and how often to cycle
I prefer it since it is simpler ststem with less to go wrong

the amount of salt used is based on the water hardness
the number of people using water determines how often it cycles
the installer set it based on what we told him
but we adjusted it after we used it a while
it was a trail and error process that lasted about 2 months

but it has been trouble free for 26 years

the whole house except for the outside hose taps goes through it

 

[no704]

Put mine in on the hot water only, on city water, helps protect heater and dishwasher. I don’t like a really soft shower.

 

[larry4406]

Those of you on softeners, how are you addressing etching of glassware in dishwashers?

 

[roc_on_the_rocks]

Buy one on Amazon. Get a unit that has a separate brine tank (don't buy one where the resin tank is in the brine tank) Buy a unit with a Fleck or Clack valve. They are bulletproof and easy to rebuild when necessary. There are calculators online that will tell you how many grains of hardness capacity you need for your water use and hardness. I'd recommend bumping up slightly on the grains when buying a unit.

Could you or someone please educate me on the advantages of separate tanks?

I foresee a Fleck system in my near future. My current Kenmore/Sears 350 Series has been unreliable since bought ten years ago.

 

[thammel]

I have a separate tank system. You may want to occasionally clean the brine tank. This is easy to do with separate tanks. I find it easier to keep the 2 separate in order to clean, change media, and basically fix anything that goes wrong. I have a Fleck mechanical valve and it has been very reliable.

 

[DGersic]

I ended up buying everything but the brine tank here

Softenerparts.com - Repair Parts and How To Guides

a few years ago. I would have re-used my resin tank, but it had a weird top thread that no other valve head fits on.

Nice guy, helpful with parts, supplies, and advice. Highly recommended.

 

[DGersic]

Could you or someone please educate me on the advantages of separate tanks?

I foresee a Fleck system in my near future. My current Kenmore/Sears 350 Series has been unreliable since bought ten years ago.

The single tank design seems to put the resin tank inside the brine tank. That reduces the footprint, but also the brine tank salt capacity.

You may be able to just replace the valve head on your system if you’re not happy with what you have.

Softenerparts.com - Repair Parts and How To Guides

 

[Firebrick43]

Could you or someone please educate me on the advantages of separate tanks?

I foresee a Fleck system in my near future. My current Kenmore/Sears 350 Series has been unreliable since bought ten years ago.

So by seperate tanks do you mean a seperate salt brine tank and separate resin tank or two separate resin tanks? Two seperate resin tanks never have unconditioned water while the resin bed is being recharged/flushed. A separate brine tank compared to an all in one is just a convinence to the system being maintained. However many all in ones are significantly smaller and crappy built, but there are good flack all in ones.

 

[dougf]

Make sure you dont drink the softened water - we didnt know any better when ours was installed and we started getting bloated and having health problems. We learned through research that some people can be really affected by drinking softened water and had our plumber supply non-softened cold to our kitchen sink for us and the dog bowls.

 

[roc_on_the_rocks]

Make sure you dont drink the softened water - we didnt know any better when ours was installed and we started getting bloated and having health problems. We learned through research that some people can be really affected by drinking softened water and had our plumber supply non-softened cold to our kitchen sink for us and the dog bowls.

Oops, millions of people missed that memo...

 

[LS6 Tommy]

Make sure you dont drink the softened water - we didnt know any better when ours was installed and we started getting bloated and having health problems. We learned through research that some people can be really affected by drinking softened water and had our plumber supply non-softened cold to our kitchen sink for us and the dog bowls.

Oops, millions of people missed that memo...

Not to mention all the medical studies and doctors that tell their patients that there's no risk to drinking soft water....

 

[JRC3]

Those of you on softeners, how are you addressing etching of glassware in dishwashers?

6.5 years and my glasses look brand new. If someone has etching it's probably because the DW is hooked to the cold supply under the kitchen sink...Typically the cold supply at the kitchen sink is not softened.

 

[larry4406]

6.5 years and my glasses look brand new. If someone has etching it's probably because the DW is hooked to the cold supply under the kitchen sink...Typically the cold supply at the kitchen sink is not softened.

No.

Dishwashers are connected to the hot supply.

I'm currently dealing with a customer with a Bosch dishwasher, hot water that is softened, municipal water supply. His glassware is etching and he thinks his dishwasher is defective. He won't be happy when I show him what his dishwasher manual says.

The various Bosch FAQs and manuals say:

"Glass corrosion is a form of damage to the glass that cannot be reversed. It is caused by the washing-away of the surface of the glass. Poor glass quality, extremely soft water in the dishwasher, as well as high temperatures and long program cycles are critical factors in the occurrence of glass corrosion."

"Do not use too much detergent if your water is soft. Using too much detergent with soft water may
cause etching in glassware and fine china. If you do not know the hardness of your water supply, use
15 ml of detergent. Increase the amount if necessary to the least amount required to get your kitchenware clean."

----
Edited to make Jar944 happy

 

[jar944]

Oops, millions of people missed that memo...

I must already be dead then. I've been drinking softened water for 40+ years.

No dishwashers are connected to the hot supply.

Larry, I keep reading this as

No, dishwashers are connected to the hot supply.

And not

No dishwashers [Are] connected to the hot supply.

 

[gungatim]

Sorry for bumping, but I've got a problem with rainsoft water system. My rainsoft water softener, model AMB744 is not using the salt in the brine tank and the motor seems to be running non-stop. I removed most of the salt from the brine tank and I can see the brine solution in the tank, but it's not moving. Read tons of rainsoft reviews but nothing helps Any suggestions on how to trouble shoot the system? I've attached a couple of pics on the system. Thanks for your response.

when my softener runs and doesn't soften the water because it's not using the salt, I unscrew the cap and clean the screen and injector rubber pieces. Usually have to do it once every 4 or 5 years. The water flow siphons the brine through that valve, and they can get clogged up. You'll have to look in your manual to see the exact cleaning process for your model, but my 25 year old Sears has a generic head and it;s the black cone shaped thing on the rear left. unscrew and clean with Wink rust out or CLR.