invernite
New Member
Hello,
I've been browsing this forum and am hoping to get some help from all the expertise on this board. We recently moved into our new home and have hard water (31 gpg hardness, 0.25-0.5 iron). I've been trying to buy a water softener and filtration system and am thoroughly lost - as a consumer it's worse than shopping for a mattress!
I've spoken to a couple of large companies in the area - one sells Kinetico and Fleck (though I thought Fleck only makes valves and not entire system), and the other sells EcoWater and Hellenbrand. Unfortunately they all throw around a lot of marketing jargon and acronyms that, to a consumer that knows nothing about water softeners, do nothing other than confuse customers. Both firms are pitching $5,000 systems (including the water softener, carbon filtration system - either built in, or separate - and under-counter RO for the kitchen). This amount is well outside of the budget - we had never imagined it would cost so much for home water treatment!
We are on city water (it's actually a large community well). Are the $5,000 top of the line systems really worth the price? Does downflow vs. upflow really make much of a difference? One company says two tanks are absolutely great because we'll never have hard water and regeneration is on demand (more salt & water efficiency), and the other says I don't really need two tanks (unless I need 24-hours soft water), and that the newer valves all regenerate on demand. Neither one is clearly telling me what the capacity they're recommending is, but from the conversation I'm putting together that one is suggesting 64K grains and the other 32K grains.
I feel like I'm being pushed to whatever they want to sell and unfortunately don't know how to make a well-informed purchase. I'm hoping that I can get unbaised advice here on what makes sense for our family. The summary info is:
Community well
6 people in the house
Average use of about 300 gallons per day (based off water usage statements over the last year at our last home)
30-31 gpg hardness
0.25-0.5 iron
All help is GREATLY appreciated!
I've been browsing this forum and am hoping to get some help from all the expertise on this board. We recently moved into our new home and have hard water (31 gpg hardness, 0.25-0.5 iron). I've been trying to buy a water softener and filtration system and am thoroughly lost - as a consumer it's worse than shopping for a mattress!
I've spoken to a couple of large companies in the area - one sells Kinetico and Fleck (though I thought Fleck only makes valves and not entire system), and the other sells EcoWater and Hellenbrand. Unfortunately they all throw around a lot of marketing jargon and acronyms that, to a consumer that knows nothing about water softeners, do nothing other than confuse customers. Both firms are pitching $5,000 systems (including the water softener, carbon filtration system - either built in, or separate - and under-counter RO for the kitchen). This amount is well outside of the budget - we had never imagined it would cost so much for home water treatment!
We are on city water (it's actually a large community well). Are the $5,000 top of the line systems really worth the price? Does downflow vs. upflow really make much of a difference? One company says two tanks are absolutely great because we'll never have hard water and regeneration is on demand (more salt & water efficiency), and the other says I don't really need two tanks (unless I need 24-hours soft water), and that the newer valves all regenerate on demand. Neither one is clearly telling me what the capacity they're recommending is, but from the conversation I'm putting together that one is suggesting 64K grains and the other 32K grains.
I feel like I'm being pushed to whatever they want to sell and unfortunately don't know how to make a well-informed purchase. I'm hoping that I can get unbaised advice here on what makes sense for our family. The summary info is:
Community well
6 people in the house
Average use of about 300 gallons per day (based off water usage statements over the last year at our last home)
30-31 gpg hardness
0.25-0.5 iron
All help is GREATLY appreciated!