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Reach4

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I would prefer a glass jar with a screw-top lid. Peanut butter jar made of glass would be good, but those are mostly plastic now. I am currently using a relish jar.
 

SadGarbageWater

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I would prefer a glass jar with a screw-top lid. Peanut butter jar made of glass would be good, but those are mostly plastic now. I am currently using a relish jar.
I have a few of these kinds of jars. I do recall sending my water to be tested for pH before/after softener and the read was 6.8

The free chlorine test arrived and it is showing 0, so that's good! I tested the water outside and it was showing over 3 on the chart, so the catalytic carbon is working.

I did the water test strip again today while I await the Hach 5b test, and it's showing the water is soft.

Could there be salt leaking into the water? Would this lead to spots on dishes/showers, the shampoo to not lather, and the dry/irritated skin?

One dealer told me that he had to remove the KDF from his combo softener because his wife noticed a difference. We do still need to do this since it's ineffective just sitting in the same compartment with the carbon.
 
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Master Plumber Mark

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Just wondering who you bought this from and how come they wont help you or
service this unit...??? if you spent 9k for this system I feel you have been taken advantage of and
you should expect this company to stand behind their product....

I have typically installed a 2 cubic foot Clack carbon filter and 1.5cub ftClack Water softener for around 4k
and never ever had an issue

I dont know how shitty you have gotten with this company or I did not read how old this unit
is but I would be at the very least giving them a bad review on Google and yelp and seeing what
kind of compensation is possible
 

SadGarbageWater

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I should clarify - I paid $7500 for the softener and under sink RO from the LeverEdge/Westinghouse dealer. Purchased July 2024 - so roughly 6 months.

The additional $1500 was for the catalytic carbon tank (that I purchased from an online dealer and installed myself). I likely could have gone to a separate local dealer but am a little wary of the sales people at this point. Especially when I got a few quotes and they were between $2.4-5k for a 1.5 catalytic carbon alone.

The issue with the current company is that when I first brought up that I’m having problems, they kept singing the praises of their dealer and their company saying I’m the only person to have ever complained. My scalp and skin have suffered for 6 months. And literally as soon as I shower somewhere else, it is a relief. I don’t know what it could be. LeverEdge told me it’s a humidity change from FL to TN, and maybe that could play a part… but when I was in AZ for ten days I had zero scalp issues. They also told me I wasn't used to the water since it's a different source, which sounds like a cop out. Shouldn't soft water feel the same after treatment no matter the initial source? I do think the service Dept was genuinely trying to help at first, but I felt more like a burden than a valued customer.

Maintenance and parts can only be done by a certified dealer and I wasn’t impressed with the lack of knowledge or communication skills of this particular dealer or his team. It was my decision to steer clear and hopefully never have to see him again. It’s a big, long story but LeverEdge helped me find another dealer to help service the tank, although he is no longer actively selling the product. I could pay a service call and get him out to do the work, but I want to be well informed before I call on anyone to do anything.

I did write a google review for the Westinghouse dealer and the guy loosely threatened to sue me so instead of dealing with him, I removed it. I kept all correspondence just in case. I would rather not speak to him ever again. I would like others to know there are better options, but hopefully they find this forum! I wish I would have done more research before rushing. I knew I wanted a softener since I've had them for years. I didn't realize or understand how chlorine and/or chloramines should be treated and that tank sizing and configuration are important. A very expensive lesson learned on my part.
 

Master Plumber Mark

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I should clarify - I paid $7500 for the softener and under sink RO from the LeverEdge/Westinghouse dealer. Purchased July 2024 - so roughly 6 months.

The additional $1500 was for the catalytic carbon tank (that I purchased from an online dealer and installed myself). I likely could have gone to a separate local dealer but am a little wary of the sales people at this point. Especially when I got a few quotes and they were between $2.4-5k for a 1.5 catalytic carbon alone.

The issue with the current company is that when I first brought up that I’m having problems, they kept singing the praises of their dealer and their company saying I’m the only person to have ever complained. My scalp and skin have suffered for 6 months. And literally as soon as I shower somewhere else, it is a relief. I don’t know what it could be. LeverEdge told me it’s a humidity change from FL to TN, and maybe that could play a part… but when I was in AZ for ten days I had zero scalp issues. They also told me I wasn't used to the water since it's a different source, which sounds like a cop out. Shouldn't soft water feel the same after treatment no matter the initial source? I do think the service Dept was genuinely trying to help at first, but I felt more like a burden than a valued customer.

Maintenance and parts can only be done by a certified dealer and I wasn’t impressed with the lack of knowledge or communication skills of this particular dealer or his team. It was my decision to steer clear and hopefully never have to see him again. It’s a big, long story but LeverEdge helped me find another dealer to help service the tank, although he is no longer actively selling the product. I could pay a service call and get him out to do the work, but I want to be well informed before I call on anyone to do anything.

I did write a google review for the Westinghouse dealer and the guy loosely threatened to sue me so instead of dealing with him, I removed it. I kept all correspondence just in case. I would rather not speak to him ever again. I would like others to know there are better options, but hopefully they find this forum! I wish I would have done more research before rushing. I knew I wanted a softener since I've had them for years. I didn't realize or understand how chlorine and/or chloramines should be treated and that tank sizing and configuration are important. A very expensive lesson learned on my part.


In all honesty if that is the worst you ever get taken in your life consider yourself lucky,,,
at least its not a family member that screwed you over....
 

SadGarbageWater

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In all honesty if that is the worst you ever get taken in your life consider yourself lucky,,,
at least its not a family member that screwed you over....
I suppose you’re right lol things could always be worse.

I may just have to grin and bear it until I can’t stand the water anymore and I decide to start over.
 

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I suppose you’re right lol things could always be worse.

I may just have to grin and bear it until I can’t stand the water anymore and I decide to start over.

Iam just wondering what do your neighbors have for water softeners in your community??
 

SadGarbageWater

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Iam just wondering what do your neighbors have for water softeners in your community??
The only people I have talked to either filter their drinking water only (which isn't an option since I unfortunately have sensitive skin), or they use some other type of filter that needs to be changed out. I think it's a big blue.

I can slowly see the water being a little better since the multiple regens - and will continue to pay attention to my settings. I did increase the hardness to compensate, increased the lbs of salt to 10 with 25k capacity, and have it set to regenerate every 14 days. I will see if this helps. I still get zero lather when washing my hair but as long as the water is safe and clean, I'll deal with that one day at a time and keep trying different products.

Thanks to everyone who helped and replied. I learned a lot and am glad this forum exists!
 

Master Plumber Mark

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The only people I have talked to either filter their drinking water only (which isn't an option since I unfortunately have sensitive skin), or they use some other type of filter that needs to be changed out. I think it's a big blue.

I can slowly see the water being a little better since the multiple regens - and will continue to pay attention to my settings. I did increase the hardness to compensate, increased the lbs of salt to 10 with 25k capacity, and have it set to regenerate every 14 days. I will see if this helps. I still get zero lather when washing my hair but as long as the water is safe and clean, I'll deal with that one day at a time and keep trying different products.

Thanks to everyone who helped and replied. I learned a lot and am glad this forum exists!

I know you probably think I am blowing smoke up your ass

you probably ought to increase the hardness level to around 23 parts hard
and increase the salt setting to around 12 lbs per regen and try that for a while
and see what transpires...

that is about the average common setting for my Clack water softeners in Indianapolis
with a 48,000 grain unit...
 
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SadGarbageWater

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I'm not opposed to trying! But my unit is currently only a 32k grain capacity (it has a plate and then 1/2 ft3 carbon & 5 lbs kdf). If I change out the carbon & kdf and add more resin, it’ll then be a 48k.
 

Master Plumber Mark

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I'm not opposed to trying! But my unit is currently only a 32k grain capacity (it has a plate and then 1/2 ft3 carbon & 5 lbs kdf). If I change out the carbon & kdf and add more resin, it’ll then be a 48k.

You have an extra special unit.... and god only knows what is going on inside the unit that the
service tech does not want to fool with or he simply dont know how to fool with....
It feel that it would have been easier for them to try to make you happy and just change
it out and put a new unit in instead of putting you through all this misery.....
Give them a bad review on Yelp and Google and be done with it...

We have put in a few 48,000 grain softeners in with the carbon in the top of the tank
and they seem to be working fine but I dont know anything about the special innards
of the unit you have a picture of....
Even the ones we have installed I have told the customer that the
carbon will have to be replaced in maybe 8--10 years from now... depending on use....

I prefer a separate 2 cubic ft carbon filter in its separate tank and the 48,000 water softener in its own tank just because
they will last a whole lot longer ....

then you are not dealing with all this bull chit trying to figure out what the hell
is going wrong with the system,



o.jpg
 

Reach4

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Could there be salt leaking into the water? Would this lead to spots on dishes/showers, the shampoo to not lather, and the dry/irritated skin?
Extra salt should show up on a TDS meter. A softener will usually make a small increase in TDS, but not a big one. I understand I used fuzzy words instead of numbers. It should also show up as a taste of salt. If you have extra salt, I would expect that to be higher right after regeneration.

I have no clue on the KDF.
 
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