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canuck123

Water Treatment Advice

canuck123
10 years ago

I've just purchased a home. We lived in the area prior to the move but apparently the water on this side of town is from a different source. I find it nearly undrinkable; run through a Brita filter it still has a strong bitter aftertaste. It's strong enough that it made my homemade bread taste pretty "off".

I called a local Kinetico guy in to see what the top-end solution would cost and to pick his brain.

His analysis is:
1.2ppm Chlorine (which is great for a pool - except the city adds ammonia and that just wrecks everything - my father in law works in the pool industry and told me all about how bad chloramines are)
357 TDS
21gpg hardness

His recommendation was:
Chlorine removal (with chloramine treatment) $1000 (10 year lifespan on the fill)
Sediment filter
Softener (unsure of size; he said with 4 people it'd regenerate daily) $4000
RO system $1700

The cost is way beyond my budget now (water was supposed to be tap-drinkable!) so I'm considering the Fleck options that are popular here, and I'm also looking on craigslist.
I mentioned this to the salesman and also told him about one I saw for $1000, 10 yrs old and he told me it's probably a good deal; nothing to break etc as long as the resin is fine but that could be replaced, etc

I found another system that claims to be 2 yrs old and is basically what he quoted me, but it's $1800 instead of $6700.

My questions to the "big brains" here are:
1) Is it feasible to move a Kinetico unit - can I replace the disk (if needed for hardness) and carry on assuming it's in good health or are there other things to consider (pipe size or something)? Is this something I should seriously consider? (I bought all my appliances used; I'm currently house-poor due to it being the first few months in our first house, etc so I'm OK buying used stuff if it's going to work!)
I don't really know if the salesguy was talking out his a** or not about it being a good deal.

2) If I go the other route (Fleck/etc) what can be done to reduce/eliminate the chlorine levels to protect the softener long-term? I really like the idea of the 10yr lifespan of a chloramine filter, and I've had experience replacing carbon filters for the whole house and their lifespan is going to be simply frustrating, especially given the rather tight access to the area.
2a) Does anyone have recommendations for sourcing a Fleck system in Ontario online? Long shot, I know...

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