Okay, I'll bite:

1) City or well water?
2) Why does the hardness change?
3) Where did you get your analysis?
4) How did you arrive at a 1.5 cubic ft softener (often advertised as 48K capacity)?

Do you, by chance, have a neighbor who is an amateur plumber?

This post was edited by aliceinwonderland_id on Mon, Apr 1, 13 at 23:27

Hi, thank you.

1)City
2)Apparently the municipality we are in softens the water, but when people use a lot of water (i.e., summer), it costs too much to soften, so they dont.
3)Got the analysis by checking out annual water report and also by calling the water company.
4)I arrived at the 1.5 cu ft figure because I emailed a bunch of websites and they all told me to get a 1.5 cu ft softener.

No amateur plumbers near me, but I did talk to our neighbor who has a kinetico and he told me he never changes the hardness on his, doesnt know the capacity, but knows that it doesnt use electricity and he fills it up only a few times a year.

Our house is pretty new and the plumbing is in place for a softener.

Déjàvu.

I sincerely hope you are a new poster and this is a weird coincidence, but the notion stretches the bounds of plausibility.

Here is a link that might be useful: 3 people, 3 full bath, 12 gpg hardness, 30 gpg part of year, 48K grains