SadGarbageWater
New Member
I apologize for the lengthy post. Any help is appreciated! I moved to Middle TN from North FL about 7 months ago and have been fighting the water the entire time!! I have never experienced anything like this, I have overpaid for a few different tanks, and we are still MISERABLE with the water quality! The biggest issues being our skin and hair. My hair can't get a lather and it feels like WAX and frizz no matter what I try (no poo, low poo, specially formulated shampoo, ACV rinse, etc.). I am desperate for help, answers, a real specialist and not just a "salesman"... Full disclosure, I've always had water softeners (and well water), and never any problems! I was told that I'm just "not used to the feel of the water" which may be true, but we shouldn't be having these issues.
2 people in household, 2.5 bathrooms. Sometimes family will come for a few days to visit, but never longer than that.
Here is a link to our water report/s (we are on the line and I can't get verification from municipality - but these are similar): Shelbyville and Flat Creek - both have incredibly very high chlorine levels and I *think* this may be the source of our initial issues.
A recap: we bought a system from Westinghouse (LeverEdge) in July and feel that it has never worked correctly. The first month, the brine draw didn't work. That has since been corrected. It's the "Progressive Revolution". We have the 10x44 and were told it has the 1 cu ft of resin, 1/2 cu ft of coconut carbon, and 5 lbs of KDF55. The selling point here was that this would reduce chlorine and soften the water. The demo put on by dealer said hardness was 10 or 11. He never asked to see water report and since we are not familiar with municipal water and new to the area, we trusted him. We have since sent water to test where they said it was 5GPG. I changed the settings to reflect this number. It is pre-fill and upflow - I have since learned from this forum that this is not as great as the salesman preached. We paid a small fortune for this and are stuck, so I'm hoping there's something, anything, we can do to make it work! Settings, anything!
I was able to reach out to someone on this forum and they suggested we get a 1.5 ft3 catalytic carbon auto backwashing system for the chlorine. We purchased this one through the Water eStore: HUM Catalytic Carbon - we were able to hook this up ourselves and FINALLY got the chlorine smell out of our home.
Why are we still having issues with our skin & hair? No lather, water spots on dishes, dry skin, itchy scalp and dandruff (which we have never had!), shower door spots, etc.? Sometimes we feel really dry/chalky and other times really waxy. Is there residual salt? We have had water softeners for over 10 years and this is bizarre... is something else wrong? Do we need a second carbon tank? Extend rinse times? Could the KDF be an issue for our skin? Do we need to change the water flow level from the meter to the home (is it coming out too fast?), pH level problems? Willing to try anything but need guidance.
To recap: We now have an auto backwashing 1.5 ft3 catalytic carbon tank, a 10x44 softener with 1 ft3 resin .5 ft3 coconut carbon, and 5lbs KDF55, and an RO for POU at kitchen sink.
I've changed the softener settings a few times based on results I've found here and this is what I landed on.
The brine soak period is 4 hours, these are the only other things I changed.
Hardness - 5
Regen day - 14
Total salt - 9
Capacity - 24k
Backwash - 8 min
Rinse 6 min
I even bought a shower head that is supposed to add some vitamins/minerals BACK to the water, just in case that was the issue... nothing is helping. Please send thoughts on what to try. I feel like I'm maybe missing something and on the verge of a mental breakdown!
2 people in household, 2.5 bathrooms. Sometimes family will come for a few days to visit, but never longer than that.
Here is a link to our water report/s (we are on the line and I can't get verification from municipality - but these are similar): Shelbyville and Flat Creek - both have incredibly very high chlorine levels and I *think* this may be the source of our initial issues.
A recap: we bought a system from Westinghouse (LeverEdge) in July and feel that it has never worked correctly. The first month, the brine draw didn't work. That has since been corrected. It's the "Progressive Revolution". We have the 10x44 and were told it has the 1 cu ft of resin, 1/2 cu ft of coconut carbon, and 5 lbs of KDF55. The selling point here was that this would reduce chlorine and soften the water. The demo put on by dealer said hardness was 10 or 11. He never asked to see water report and since we are not familiar with municipal water and new to the area, we trusted him. We have since sent water to test where they said it was 5GPG. I changed the settings to reflect this number. It is pre-fill and upflow - I have since learned from this forum that this is not as great as the salesman preached. We paid a small fortune for this and are stuck, so I'm hoping there's something, anything, we can do to make it work! Settings, anything!
I was able to reach out to someone on this forum and they suggested we get a 1.5 ft3 catalytic carbon auto backwashing system for the chlorine. We purchased this one through the Water eStore: HUM Catalytic Carbon - we were able to hook this up ourselves and FINALLY got the chlorine smell out of our home.
Why are we still having issues with our skin & hair? No lather, water spots on dishes, dry skin, itchy scalp and dandruff (which we have never had!), shower door spots, etc.? Sometimes we feel really dry/chalky and other times really waxy. Is there residual salt? We have had water softeners for over 10 years and this is bizarre... is something else wrong? Do we need a second carbon tank? Extend rinse times? Could the KDF be an issue for our skin? Do we need to change the water flow level from the meter to the home (is it coming out too fast?), pH level problems? Willing to try anything but need guidance.
To recap: We now have an auto backwashing 1.5 ft3 catalytic carbon tank, a 10x44 softener with 1 ft3 resin .5 ft3 coconut carbon, and 5lbs KDF55, and an RO for POU at kitchen sink.
I've changed the softener settings a few times based on results I've found here and this is what I landed on.
The brine soak period is 4 hours, these are the only other things I changed.
Hardness - 5
Regen day - 14
Total salt - 9
Capacity - 24k
Backwash - 8 min
Rinse 6 min
I even bought a shower head that is supposed to add some vitamins/minerals BACK to the water, just in case that was the issue... nothing is helping. Please send thoughts on what to try. I feel like I'm maybe missing something and on the verge of a mental breakdown!
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