Mr. Culligan's TDS and GPG #s are different than mine

[Mike Hawk]

We had a quote from them 11 days ago.

He stated our TDS was 237, Hardness @ 13 GPG.

Tonight my toys arrived A TDS-4 and Hach 5B.
I'm getting 172 TDS and 8 GPG.

I know the numbers can fluctuate but those seem like pretty big differences? I ran the tests several times. My cynical side is wondering if Mr. C inflated the #s...hmm.

 

[ByteMe]

With my limited experience, I've learnt to not trust any water company/professional without them proving they can be trusted first.

Most corrupt professions;

1) Politicians
2) Painters / Coating applicators
3) Water filtration companies / people

Just IMO of course. And no, not everyone in these professions are corrupt.

In your situation, when you add test tolerances plus test time difference, I suppose that much of a difference is possible. But then I'd NEVER trust any results from anyone trying to sell me something.

 

[Sponsor]

 

[Bannerman]

Tonight my toys arrived A TDS-4 and Hach 4B.

Do you mean a Hach 5-B Total Hardness test kit?

A TDS meter is not usually utilized when investigating the suitability of a water softener. A TDS meter will indicate the total quantity of various elements comprising dissolved solids whereas a lab analysis will identify the specific elements and the quantity of each.

A TDS meter is useful for testing the overall effectiveness of an RO membrane or DI system as those will remove the dissolved solids from the water.

If your supply is a private well, a comprehensive lab test should be performed whereas if you are using municipal or a community supply, the operator will have performed periodic testing so the results will be available, often on-line.

If your supply is a well, perhaps Mr. Culligan also tested for iron and manganese and if either or both are present, he stated a 'compensated hardness' amount including hardness, iron and manganese.

A softener can remove iron and manganese but each ppm of iron is equivalent to 4 grains of hardness. Each ppm of manganese is equivalent to 2 grains of hardness. Chlorine in the raw water, will oxidize iron and manganese so they maybe filtered out so the softener will no longer need to remove them.

 

[Mike Hawk]

Dang, you caught my typo before I could fix it!

Mr. C was quoting us $5,400 for a 10" resin tank + 375lb brine tank and another $600 for a single faucet RO. We are on municipal water

The other readings they took at the time of the quote:
0 PPM Iron
0 PPM Hydrogen Sulfide
7 PH

 

[ByteMe]

Lol, $6,000 total. Perfect example why they are freaking crooks. You can get a top of the line American made softener plus RO shipped to your house for around $1,200.

Sure, there is some value in the physical install, but $4,800 worth?

I don't care how you try to justify that kind of profit margin, they are trying to flock you good.

 

[Bannerman]

As your source is chlorinated, a compensated hardness level should be irrelevant.

The Hach 5-B is a quality test kit which is fairly accurate. Did Mr. C also use the Hach 5-B?

Municipal water supplies are often obtained from more than one source. While the various supplies are usually combined together, if a source with a higher amount of hardness is proportionally higher one day, but another source with lower hardness level is proportionally higher on another day, the tested hardness level can fluctuate.

You may wish to review the water analysis reports from your municipality. Hopefully, they will indicate the hardness level from each source. While most people assume an average hardness level should be used when programming the softener, in actuality, the highest tested hardness level should be programmed, to ensure adequate softener capacity regardless of the source.

 

[Mikey]

Most corrupt professions;

1) Politicians
2) Painters / Coating applicators
3) Water filtration companies / people

Thumbs up for #1.

 

[ditttohead]

Most municipal supplies can vary greatly day to day. This is very normal as the municipality will be switching wells, and getting water from different sources based on price, availability, quality etc. The important thing is for the end user to know the "normal high" hardness. Since you own a Hach 5B test kit, you can test the water intermittently to know what the hardness is. In locations where a high fluctuation is normal, a sensored softener may make sense, but the potential failure of the probes and additional up front cost is hard to justify.

 

[Mike Hawk]

Well according to http://www.ruralwater5.com/about-us the supply comes from a river. So I guess I was incorrect in saying "municipal"

 

[Reach4]

Well according to http://www.ruralwater5.com/about-us the supply comes from a river. So I guess I was incorrect in saying "municipal"

Many municipal water systems are supplied by a river. You may have water supplied by a company or by some non-municipal government water system. No practical difference in that it is a centrally chlorinated water system with some amount of other treatment probably having also been done. Iron and several other things will have precipitated out by the time the water gets to you.

If doing any changes, and if you do not have a backwashing filter as part of your system, I would add a sediment cartridge water filter on the incoming water that goes to indoor use. Not needed, but usually they will pick up some stuff.