wuffers
New Member
Hi guys,
My wife has been bugging me to get a water softener installed, and I'm the sort who likes to go research things before making a purchase (whereas my wife likes to impulse buy lol).
We have a 4600 sqft home with 6 bathrooms, currently with just us 2 living there. We plan to start a family, so I am considering purchasing a slightly larger capacity, and we sometimes host guests as well.
Our water consumption is approx. 130-150 gallons per day, and I've tested our water with a Hach 5B kit, coming to a 8 gpg result (seems our city report of 7.5 gpg is pretty accurate). Every calculator I look at says a 1cf (32k) unit should suffice.
After looking at many reviews, Fleck seems to be one of the better brands out there. I like the idea of the dual tank 9100 SXT.
Some q's:
My wife has been bugging me to get a water softener installed, and I'm the sort who likes to go research things before making a purchase (whereas my wife likes to impulse buy lol).
We have a 4600 sqft home with 6 bathrooms, currently with just us 2 living there. We plan to start a family, so I am considering purchasing a slightly larger capacity, and we sometimes host guests as well.
Our water consumption is approx. 130-150 gallons per day, and I've tested our water with a Hach 5B kit, coming to a 8 gpg result (seems our city report of 7.5 gpg is pretty accurate). Every calculator I look at says a 1cf (32k) unit should suffice.
After looking at many reviews, Fleck seems to be one of the better brands out there. I like the idea of the dual tank 9100 SXT.
Some q's:
- Is purchasing a 1.5cf unit overkill (1.5cf x2 tanks), for the purposes of "future-proofing"? Based on a calculator I saw, for our current load @ 6lbs salt setting, it will be ~21 days for each regeneration for a normal single 48k tank.
- Should I be looking at this unit as a "total combined" capacity? Two tanks of 1.5cf is actually 3cf, which is way too much, so I should be looking at either the 0.75 or 1cf dual tanks, meaning a total of 1.5 or 2cf?
- For the Fleck 9100 SXT, with two tanks, does that mean regeneration for each tank will take place every 42 days (one is in use for 21 days, dormant for the next 21 since it's switched to the other)? Or do both tanks have their own 21 day regeneration cycle?
- Is it bad for the resin to have such a long regeneration time (21 days, let alone 42)? I often see people mention that the ideal recommended regeneration cycle is 7 days.
- What kind of "servicing" does a water softener unit need, and how often should this be done (annually)?
- Does it matter whether a plumber or a water treatment company install the unit (and service it later on)?
- I've read elsewhere that I should insist on a 3 valve bypass at the unit, as well as bypassing exterior faucets (watering plants, car washing, etc). This is a fairly standard thing for plumbers but maybe not for a water treatment company?
- Do I also need to bypass drinking water? I have a fridge with those changeable filters, as well as a filtration system at the sink with a hot water dispenser (filtered water to the hot tank).