Newbie to water softeners and Best bang for your buck water softener

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maximizedmom77

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Hi! I am new to water softeners and see there is a rabbit hole when it comes to it.

There are so many on the market!

What are some of the best bang for your buck water softeners?

Are there any must haves for a water softener?

Could I buy one from a big box store with great success and maybe make it better by changing out some of the parts with much improved pieces? Ie, the valves)?

Can you direct me to some threads of parts can be changed to greatly improve a low priced water softener that doesn't need much to make it stellar?

Can you also direct me to some great threads to help me with water softener protocol to best take care of it?

Do you recommend potassium over salt? I saw this mentioned somewhere.

Thoughts on brands like clack or one that is newer, Genesis?

Also, hope this is on topic still, but any recommendations for a reverse osmosis system?

Best directions for installation of a water softener and reverse osmosis that will be both up to code and have the most success with the least amount of problems?

Please go easy on me... I am new to this so some of the terminology may be in another language. If you are able to take the time to elaborate, that you in advance!

I am sure I would have plenty more questions had I been researching this longer than a short night, ha! I don't like to go into anything blind sided and want to have an extremely educated decision to make:)
 

Bannerman

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The best bang for your buck is to buy from the start, the appropriate equipment for your specific water conditions and consumption requirements.

Start with obtaining a lab test of your water if you are on a private well or obtain your town's water report if you have a municipal supply. Most municipalities now post their water reports on-line. As hardness is not often specified, you may want to obtain a Hach 5B hardness test kit to determine and periodically monitor your hardness level yourself directly at your home.

Most softeners are assembled using various off-the-shelf components which may or may not be labeled with a brand name.

Fleck, Clack and Autotrol control valves are the most recommended on this site whereas big box store, prorietary (ie: Culligan, Kinetico) and imported equipment (ie: Genesis) are not generally favoured here.

Here's a link to softener sizing information and an online sizing calculator.
http://www.qualitywaterassociates.com/softeners/sizingchart.htm
http://www.qualitywaterassociates.com/sizing.php
 
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Reach4

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For a lab water test, which you want if you have a well, I like kit 90 from http://www.karlabs.com/watertestkit/
Potassium will cost probably over 5 times as much, and because the solubility changes with temperature much much more than with regular sodium salt, it is trickier to use.

If you get an RO filter, you want one with a permeate pump.

Most that study this prefer a softener with a separate brine tank rather than a cabinet unit. The cabinet units are compact, but they tend to be a replaceable unit rather than a repairable or cleanable unit. I know people that are happy with cabinet units. I know somebody who knows softeners well who bought one for his mother recently. But those with experience tend to prefer the classic style.
 
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Reach4

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Thank you for your detailed responses.

Which one do you both have and where did you get it?
I got the water test I pointed to. My softener is old and uses an old Autotrol controller. If I replace it, I am not sure what I will replace it with. But it works.

My iron+sulfur filter uses a Fleck 5600 SXT controller. It has been trouble free, but it was only installed in 2012. Click Inbox above.

The website that you pointed to did not appeal to me.
 

ditttohead

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Wow, the old brasswell unit lives... unique but not one that I would typically recommend. Semi-Proprietary, though we get parts fairly easily for a few of our dealers that still service this unit.
 

montelatici

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As with most things, there will be people in the business that will recommend higher cost equipment and steer you away from products available from quantity retailers. I bought a system from one of the high cost suppliers and had it for more than a decade, and though they performed the water test and installed a very expensive system, it never really did the job. After years of calling the idiots back in, the conclusion was my water was what it was. I did some research, got rid of the expensive system and I installed a system most of which came from a big box store, and it does the job far better. It's only been installed for 9 months but even if it fails yearly, replacing it costs peanuts.
 

ditttohead

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Replacing it annually, that sounds like fun!

I have one of the original prototype 7000 Fleck valves in my house, I am planning on replacing it with a new prototype valve in a few months. A good quality unit should last you for decades. Many of the Big Box units are very inefficient, even though they make claims of the ultimate in efficiency. Marketing literature is fun to read sometimes...

One of the guys who helps a lot on this site is near you, not sure if serves your area but it is worth a try. http://www.swssystem.com/

Skip has an extensive knowledge of the local water problems and he is a great guy.
 
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