New house with terrible water, looking for advice please.

[Robert Berg]

My wife and I recently purchased a house in NE Wisconsin. The water pressure is terrible, and it is likely due to the 20 year old Culligan system that is currently installed. The water pressure seems quite good when using the faucet (pre-water conditioners.) It runs through a Super S for iron and sulfur, and then a Mark 100 softener. They are both owned, but the previous owner had Culligan service them, including buying Culligan brand Hydrogen Peroxide.
At our old house, I pulled out the Culligan system and put in a Fleck 5600SXT and dropped my salt usage more than in half and the water pressure was better. I would love to do the same, but money is a bit tight right now. I was wondering if there is anything I can do to increase the performance of the Super S and Mark 100?
For the future (near or far) if the system were to be replaced, what kind of pressure increase, if any, would I see going from the current 3/4", to 1" inlet/outlets?
Additionally, what system would work best for us, given the following water analysis... (I copied another thread's layout, and replaced the numbers with my own, if other numbers are needed, please let me know and I'll add them.)
Thank you in advance for your input....

Magnesium, total 47.3 mg/L
Potassium, total 1.8 mg/L
Iron, total 0.5 mg/L
Sodium, total 23.3 mg/L
Strontium, total 3.2 mg/L
Sulfur, total, by ICP 93.2 mg/L
Fluoride 0.61 mg/L
Hardness (gpg) 29.4 grains/gallon
PH 7.8 S.U.
Silica 23.5 mg/L
Tot. diss. solids, estimated 645 mg/L

3 full bathroom house with 3 adults

 

[Reach4]

Iron, total <0.5 mg/L

Odd iron number. Usually when you see a "<" in a number, it means the amount measured is less than the sensitivity of the test. In iron testing, that would be a fairly insensitive test.

I think the Super S is there to deal with iron and H2S, and I think it uses Centaur Carbon media. That media is not expected to last 20 years, and I would consider replacing the media. A 10x54 tank would take 1.5 cuft of media. I am not a pro.

For softening, measure that tank too. Some body may have suggestions for that. Maybe a good cleaning for both controllers would be helpful. The resin may still be good, since you don't have chlorinated water. Super Iron Out is good for helping clean out iron deposits, but you will need to clean screens and orifices mechanically.

http://www.qualitywaterassociates.com/sizing.php will be helpful in sizing a softener if you get a new one.

 

[Sponsor]

 

[Bannerman]

Do the Super S and water softener each have their own bypass valves? If so, bypass each device separately to determine which device is causing the pressure loss. It will most likely be the softener in which case, the resin would need to be replaced.

 

[Robert Berg]

Reach4- the < sign was a remnant from the post I copied from. The actual number is .5gm/L. I corrected the original post. I'll need to look into options for resin for both tanks. Any idea what to do with the old resin, and easier ways to handle the change-out?

Bannerman- they do both have bypass valves. Turning them both on/off seemed to have a noticeable effect, but not as much as I'd like, which was the basis for the 3/4" to 1" question. The pressure does better with the Super S bypassed, more so than the softener. I'm guessing its probably due to sediment build up, as there is not sediment filter. I would guess a back-washing iron filter for the future upgrade.

 

[Reach4]

Any idea what to do with the old resin, and easier ways to handle the change-out?

Garbage, although some say you could put it in the garden. Those media are safe.

People either tip the tanks over, or they suck the media out from the top with a wet-dry vacuum.

I have not done it my self. There are some Youtube videos that include tips like duct tape over the dip tubes while fitting.

I am not a pro.

8% crosslinked resin should be good.

It is too bad that 1.5 cuft of media often costs more per cubic ft than 1 cuft of media.

Search out manuals.

 

[Robert Berg]

For the price of the resin, I wonder if the Culligan is worth it... that stuff is not cheap...

 

[Reach4]

For the price of the resin, I wonder if the Culligan is worth it... that stuff is not cheap...

Try cleaning first... or shop for replacement. It sounded as if you were looking to get the Culligan stuff working. What are you looking for?

Had you found this? http://www.hallswater.com/files/support/supS-op-inst-manl-from1997.PDF

 

[Robert Berg]

Try cleaning first... or shop for replacement. It sounded as if you were looking to get the Culligan stuff working. What are you looking for?

Had you found this? http://www.hallswater.com/files/support/supS-op-inst-manl-from1997.PDF

I guess I was looking for a cheap short term solution, that doesn't seem to exist. I'll give cleaning it a shot, and thanks for the manual. I hadn't found that yet. Although, I'm pretty sure the resin is shot, given its age and that the water still seems fairly hard, even after upping the numbers on it.
If the price wasn't too bad, then for the interim, I wouldn't mind getting the culligan stuff working better. But if it's going to cost 180-$200 for new resin for the softener, and then whatever for the Super S, I'd rather put the money into a new system. The softener and Super S are both at or near end of life, and aren't very efficient to begin with. If it were up to me, they would both just get replaced, but the wife doesn't want to drop the money right now....

 

[Reach4]

I have hope for the cleaning action, especially on the Super S.

Can you tell if the softener is consuming salt? Clogging could keep that from happening or reduce the salt use.

Can you tell if the brine is being drawn out during the brine draw cycle? Can you tell if an appropriate amount of water is being put into the tank at the end of the regeneration cycle? If water stays high or low, that would indicate a controller problem. Of course a new softener fixes that.

Maybe new softener and fix the Super S?

 

[Robert Berg]

It's been a busy few weeks, and had put the water on the back burner. So sorry for taking so long to respond. Thank you, for all the help, by the way. To answer your questions, the softener is definitely using salt. I up the numbers to get it to regenerate sooner, as the resin is likely shot. I also did a resin cleaner to see if that would help, but it doesn't seem to have done much. I still need to clean the super s, however.

I still believe the water treatment system needs to be replaced, but with regard to the pressure, having rechecked it, bypassing both culligan super s and softener had little impact on increasing the pressure. Water at the spigot right off the pressure tank (which seems empty) blasts out like crazy. I drained the tank today, and got 5 gallons total after closing the shutoff valve to the rest of the house and cutting power to the pump. Specs say it should have over 8 gallons (wx-203) in it, but almost exactly 5 gallons comes out. The tank, with water on, is light enough that I can pick it up with one hand, so I'm guessing some of the 5 gallons is coming from the pressurized line coming into the house. I have decided to go with a CSV1A, and a new tank, but I don't like the 3/4" line on the smaller tanks.
I also plan on replacing all the shutoff valves with ball valves, in the very near future. I've even considered re-piping the house with a pex manifold system to reduce the plethora of elbows that this system seems to have. So essentially, I'm contemplating redoing all of the plumbing...