Watersoftener - Help Needed To Decide

[Mike Kaz]

Hi,

New to the forum and wanted to see if anyone could help me decide on the softener I need?

Hardness: 24 GPG
pH: 7.6
Iron: 2

We currently have an 18 year old Twin Tank Fleck 9000 with the 1" valve and 40K grain capacity. Would like to replace with the same or similar. We are on a well and have a 1" line coming from the holding tank and its reduced to 3/4" going to the softener. Also the pipes between the two softener tanks is 1". When talking to the water softener companies, they are recommending the Fleck 9000 or 9000 sxt with the 3/4" valve. Along with upgraded vortex tanks and sst60 resin.

My questions are:

- Will I have a pressure loss going with the 3/4 inch valve as opposed to the 1"?

- Do i need the SST60 resin? I don't think I have that now as my softener is 18 yrs old and got what the company installed with no known upgrade.

- Do i need the vortex tank? Sounds like a good idea, but noticed on some forums that the system is breaking or separating.

Thanks for your help...

Mike

 

[Reach4]

- Will I have a pressure loss going with the 3/4 inch valve as opposed to the 1"?

For a softener with backwash under 7 GPM, Fleck says 1/2 is OK up to 20 feet.

- Do i need the SST60 resin? I don't think I have that now as my softener is 18 yrs old and got what the company installed with no known upgrade.

Are you doing your iron treatement with the softener, or do you have an iron treatment that preceeds the softener. SST-60 would improve handling iron, but a softener is not the most efficient way to handle iron usually.

What is wrong with your current system? Maybe some maintenance would get that going again.

If replacing that, a single tank would be better for most homes. That is because when treating iron with a softener, you should regen more frequently. A dual tank unit would either regen each tank less often, or it would leave unused capacity. The reason for a dual tank in a residence would be that the household is operating at unpredictable odd hours.

Do you have any smells from your water? A separate iron treatment system can often deal with iron and more.

 

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[Mike Kaz]

Thanks for your reply...

The current softener is leaking at the bottom piston during regeneration and with it being 18 years old, thought it would be best to invest in a new one. Its does appear to be working ok, but the water doesn't seem as soft as it once was. Have been using the res-cleaner for about a year and that seemed to make it a bit better. I did think about changing the rubber washers on the piston, but was a bit hesitant.

We do not have any iron filter and the water is perfectly clear using the existing softener. The original recommendation is that the existing setup would take care of the iron and it seemed to. The advice on the SST was that it would take care of the iron better.

 

[Reach4]

You could probably find info on rebuilding that unit with the seals.

Search this forum for "iron out" and you might find many last discussions that maybe useful about treating for iron in a softener. Iron Out (same as Super Iron Out, I think) is cheaper than res out, although it has a smell.

The deal with SST is that the iron cannot soak in as far into the resin.

A treatment where you do an extra-strong regen (add an extra maybe 3 gallons of water to the brine tank before each regen, may resurrect your resin. Maybe you would be better off replacing your resin every 17 years.

 

[ditttohead]

Hi,

New to the forum and wanted to see if anyone could help me decide on the softener I need?

Hardness: 24 GPG
pH: 7.6
Iron: 2

We currently have an 18 year old Twin Tank Fleck 9000 with the 1" valve and 40K grain capacity. Would like to replace with the same or similar. We are on a well and have a 1" line coming from the holding tank and its reduced to 3/4" going to the softener. Also the pipes between the two softener tanks is 1". When talking to the water softener companies, they are recommending the Fleck 9000 or 9000 sxt with the 3/4" valve. Along with upgraded vortex tanks and sst60 resin.

My questions are:

- Will I have a pressure loss going with the 3/4 inch valve as opposed to the 1"?

- Do i need the SST60 resin? I don't think I have that now as my softener is 18 yrs old and got what the company installed with no known upgrade.

- Do i need the vortex tank? Sounds like a good idea, but noticed on some forums that the system is breaking or separating.

Thanks for your help...

Mike

3/4" and 1", no difference, you will not notice any change.
You do not need the SST60
You do not need the Vortex tank
You should upgrade the 9100SXT. The 9000 is not very common compared to the newer 9100 series. They are basically the same except it has an updated valve body made of plastic rather than brass. The brass bodies can become damaged from certain water conditions over time. The plastic bodies do not suffer from this potential problem.

 

[Mike Kaz]

Thanks for your reply Dittohead... How about the type of resin we should get. Imported or US based? The 8% crosslink would handle the iron?