Hi Darren,

In order to correctly size a softener we'd need to know how many people in the home and # of bathrooms.

Any high water use appliances like a Jacuzzi or the like?

Howdy:

Family of four...kids are roughly 10 and 8.
2 bathrooms
and no unusually high water demand appliances..regular dishwasher, high efficiency clothes washer....
over the life of the softener, the kids will become teenagers and probably become water hogs for some of those years...

Based on the info you provided a 2.0 cu ft softener setup with an efficient salt dose will be efficient and regenerate about once a week.

An industry standard softener based on a Fleck brand control valve will be cost effective, reliable, and easy to get parts for.

I'm not sure what distribution is like in CA but I can point you to a system on the web for reference and you can look around up there... click here

Check locally for an independent water treatment professional. They will cost a little more than buying on the net but include the install and setup and actually service what they sell.

Thanks:

I will look around and see if i can find someone that sells Fleck up here. I found one guy but all he carries is Kinetico.

If I can't find a dealer that supplies Fleck, do you have a second choice that you would feel comfortable purchasing?

And, if I find someone that gives me a choice of resins, is there a name/type I should try to get that will give me better salt usage (less salt usage) or longer resin life?

Thanks

More Fleck control valves are on softeners than all other brands added together worldwide. Fleck is the defacto industry standard with many decades of reliable service in the field. There is always someone almost everywhere who sells Fleck based softeners and services them.

For resin, either Purolite C100 or Sybron C249. Both are premium quality standard resin and will give reliable service. No need for anything exotic... just cost you more and gain you nothing. Avoid no name bulk resin from unknown distributors... it is the cheapest resin they could find.

If you have a local Kinetico dealer with a good reputation it's worth getting them to come out for a free quote. Kinetico softeners are twin resin tank units and are top tier but pricey. If you're looking for the best Kinetico is among them and will offset the higher cost with long and reliable service. Kinetico dealers often offer a more cost effective industry standard single resin tank softener as an alternative... ask them about that.

Howdy:

Thanks for that. I have found one company locally (within 100 miles) that carry Fleck. When you live where I live, thats considered close for some things. Everyone else I have contacted thus far had never heard of Fleck. I have attached their URL.

http://www.aquatell.com/canada/water-softeners/fleck-water-softeners/fleck-5600-sxt-water-softener-canada-60000-grain

I wondered if I could be a royal pain and ask you to look at what they include with their system and see if that is reasonable (everything I would need?, sizes of brine tank and resin tank seem right? for 2 cubic feet of resin?)
Also, I wondered about salt usage. Is there a way to tell the Fleck head how much salt you wish to use I have red some of your other posts to people about capacity. You talk about pounds of salt per cubic foot of resin. I see that you talk about 6 pounds vs 15 pounds. Does the Fleck head allow you to set up the capacity and salt usage yourself?

Thanks in advance for your time. I truly appreciate it.

Darren

100 miles... that's just down the road a piece.

For a 2 cu ft softener I prefer the Fleck 7000SXT control (I linked to exactly that softener in my previous post) over the 5600SXT. The tank diameter limit of the 5600 is 12" and a 2 cu ft softener uses a 12x48 tank. I don't like pushing anything to the limit of it's specs.

Aquatell doesn't seem to list the Fleck 7000SXT but they can get it with no problem. They offer the Clack, which appears to be a good valve, but is the new kid on the block without the long enviable service history of Fleck valves.

Any of the Fleck SXT class controls allow custom settings for salt dose. In your circumstances you would set the control valve for 17 grains of (compensated) hardness, 4 lbs of salt / cu ft (4 lbs x 2 cu ft = 8 lbs salt total), and capacity at 30400 and that should regenerate every 7th or 8th day. You should set the calendar override at 8 days.

Those settings will get you 3800 grains removed / pound of salt which is pretty darned efficient.

Some softener sellers will disagree with me but you'll be smilin' at them for a long time.

Hi:

Ordered the Fleck based system on the weekend. Should arrive on dodorstep later this week. Thanks for the advice....greatly appreciated.

Now to the job of installing the new softener!

THanks again

Darren

Ordered which system? Which control valve? With bypass?

Did you ever find out what system the OP ordered? and if it performed well?