Softener, Too small, what now?

[DetRack]

Actually, our water flow is on the low side - water is around 4.50-5 USD per cbm (263 gal), and the common people use water-saving faucets and showerheads. The diagnosis data from the Clack valve shows the highest measured flow rate from the last 7 days, and that was 9lpm = 2.4gpm. I get your concern and as I said, if there is ever an issue with the unit, it will be replaced with something bigger.

So far, I measure 2GPG from the hot shower and <1 GPG for cold water in the shower. So I get most of my hardness from the residual limestone in the pipes and boiler.

 

[DetRack]

The video shows a sample which I just took from the cold shower at full blast. One drop means 1dH or 1.05 GPG. I could double the water to enhance accuracy to 0.5dH, but at that dilution our standard kits show a very faint reaction which is almost invisible except in daylight. It would show 0.5dH and a faint green tint. There is an extra kit where 1 drop = 0.1dH, but it's expensive and I don't need the accuracy.

During the stirring, there is never a trace of red or pink. From ecperience, this is a strong indicator that the hardness is well below 1dH.

 

[Sponsor]

 

[Bannerman]

Not a concern but only wanted you to be aware.

A little hardness can have a significant impact on the perception of users. Assuming a mix of 50% each hot and cold water for showering, that will equate to approx 1.5 gpg in use which contains significant enough hardness that your wife may not yet appreciate the difference in the water quality. Perhaps once the hardness scale within the water heater is finally dissolved and eliminated so the hot water is also <1 gpg, she will then recognize the water silkiness and residue reduction.

Be sure to reduce the amount of soap, detergent, shampoo etc as less of each will be needed.

 

[DetRack]

Good news: On day 14, the valve's daily reserve went down to 220l. The steps were 0.96cbm, 0.87 cbm, 0..78cbm and now 0.22cbm. The last step was much bigger than anticipated, but when I look at the history the number is backed by the throughput of the last week. We never used more than 0.26cbm (68 gallons) in the last week. Water usage will go up in spring when the kids need a full treatment after a day in the garden

 

[Bannerman]

Systems that dynamically estimate an appropriate daily reserve capacity such as your WS1, will typically consider each day's consumption using several weeks of usage history to establish each day's average. I seem to recall the Clack WS1 builds its algorithm over a 3 week period. As it is now day 14, the reserve amount will likely be further refined even if your daily usage remains consistently the same as the past 14 days.

 

[DetRack]

Yes, I expect that. So far, I'm happy with the performance of the valve. I noticed that the unit stores all usage data per day-of-week and I expect it to learn about our common peaks from observation.