Selection of water softener

[Sigo]

We are purchasing a new house and will be on rural water. Would appreciate recommendations on a DIY system. Have been looking at Quality Water Treatment.com but at this point, not sure what to purchase. Attached is a water report. Would like to support a family of five in a 3500 sqf house.

 

[Reach4]

"rural water"? Isn't that a report from a chlorinated water system rather than a test from your well?

 

[Sponsor]

 

[Sigo]

Yes. This is from Rural Water District 13 in Leavenworth County, KS.

 

[Reach4]

So you only have 10 grains of hardness. I would start by reading about SFR at http://www.qualitywaterassociates.com/softeners/sizingchart.htm

Then you can continue with sizing. With your iron-free chlorinated water, you could go up to 28 days between regeneration, so you could have a larger system and still not use much salt each year.

I see you have some silica. Avoid having that dry on your windows and glassware if you want to avoid permanent spots. You might want to read up on that level of arsenic in drinking water. I am not saying your level is too high for good drinking, but read more. That water is much better than the standard max, and the max probably has some safety margin. And the numbers are in parts per BILLION. So we are talking low levels. Perhaps if you are extra cautious, you will decide to get an RO system for drinking, and you could even use that as a final rinse after cleaning mirrors and windows. The softened water feeds the RO system.

 

[ditttohead]

What is your pipe size?

 

[Sigo]

3/4 " coming into the basement from the main.

 

[Sigo]

So I'm still looking for recommendations on a system. Any input would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Reach4]

I would go with a 2 cubic ft softener with a Fleck 7000SXT (or maybe Fleck 5600SXT if the price difference is considerable) on-demand controller. This is called a "64,000 grain" softener, but in reality you will want to get 40000 grains from each regeneration by using 12 pounds (6 pounds/cuft) of salt each regeneration. That is much more efficient with salt. If you sometimes smell chlorine from your water, I would consider a 10% crosslinked resin. I would tend to avoid resins from Asia.