Questions about new water softener options

[Pmayer]

Hi guys,

My 20 year old Culligan softener is failing, and I had a plumber quote me 2600 for a new system. He didn't give me any specs, but it seems that it might be FLEX5800 SXT 10". I have a 3000 sq ft home with 4 bathrooms. My question;

- is this the right size unit for my home?
- In looking at this forum it seems that this is a popular unit. Are there better options in a similar price range?
- Does his price seem in line? I want quality, but I want good value too.
- I've never installed a water softener, but I've done a few water heaters. Is this something that a slightly above average (but not uber ambitious) DIY plumber should consider attempting?

Thanks for your help!

Cheers,

Paul

 

[Bannerman]

- is this the right size unit for my home?

- Water source - Municipal or Private Well?
- If private well, amount of iron and/or manganese?
- Raw water hardness?
- Average water consumption if known? If unknown, number of residents so as to estimate water consumption?
- Any high flow fixtures such as multi-head showers or hot tub etc?
- Pipe diameter and type of main water service supply?

A 10" diameter media tank will typically contain 1.5 cubic feet (ft3) of softening resin. While 1.5 ft3 resin will have a total 48,000 grains hardness removal capacity, salt consumption will be excessive in regenerating all 48K grains as 30 lbs salt would be required each cycle.

To obtain significantly increased salt efficiency, the usual recommended settings will cause regeneration to occur when not more than 36,000 grains capacity has been depleted, as the salt requirement would be only12 lbs each cycle. (36,000 gr / 12 lbs = 3,000 gr/lb efficiency)

Installation would be only slightly more complicated than a water heater as in addition to the incoming supply and house feed connections, a drain connection will be also required. The Fleck 5800 control valve will also require electrical power, supplied from a standard 115 volt outlet. Since this is to replace an existing softener, all of these requirements should be already in place although the Fleck supply and feed connections could be in an alternate position compared to your existing softener, depending on model.

For Fleck single tank control valves, the inlet and outlet connections are located on the backside, with the supply connection on the right and the outlet (house feed) connection on the left when facing the control valve from the front.

Because online water treatment equipment sales is typically price focused, recommend to not purchase from online dealers as to provide a lower price than other online dealers, often substandard components will be utilized.

Even if you plan to perform the installation yourself, recommend buying if possible from a local dealer as almost all will typically utilize proven, high quality reliable components since they will be obligated to provide warranty support for the systems they sell and install. It will cost the dealer far more to fulfill a warranty service call to replace a lower quality component purchased from an overseas supplier that may have been $5 cheaper, especially as most overseas suppliers offer no warranty.

 

[Sponsor]

 

[Reach4]

- is this the right size unit for my home?

How many people?
Private well water or city water?
How hard is your water?

 

[Pmayer]

Thanks for the responses and the follow up questions.

- The current reading on our water is 18 grains. That is behind the softener that is failing. Not sure what the reading is coming into the house.
- Water is municipal.
- There are currently only 2 of us living here. I noticed that the current unit that we have, which served 4 of us perfectly for 20 years, is 8" x 44". We probably use about 1/4 of the water now compared to when our high school kids were showering every day. So, I am questioning whether we need to go to a 10" unit at this point. What do you guys think?
- Main water line coming into the house is 1". Line currently feeding the water softener is 3/4".
- No heavy flow fixtures like hot tub or double head shower.

 

[Reach4]

It is important that your new softener has 10% crosslinked resin. That will increase the life. Chlorine and chloromine are hard on softener resin. Do get gravel.

1.5 cuft in a 54x10 tank is good for you. With your hardness and 2 people using about 120 gallons per day, expect it to regen about every 13 or 14 days.

1 cuft would also be adequate. You would regen about every 8 or 9 days, which is fine. If you have to replace resin in maybe 10 years, it is cheaper to buy 1 cuft of resin rather than a 1 cuft and a 1/2 cuft bag of resin.