Sizing a Water Softener

[seamonkeys1]

Need help sizing a softener for my house. The water is from the City and has 12-18 gpg with an average of 15. Two people live in the house and we average 160 gallons per day when going off of the bill. What size of softener would you guys recommend. I would like to use 6 or 8 pounds per cubic foot of resin to save on salt.

How long would resin last with 2.6- 3.0 mg/l of chlorine?

 

[seamonkeys1]

forgot I have .1 mg/l of iron.

 

[Sponsor]

 

[seamonkeys1]

I have been looking at a 2 cubic foot water softener.
If I use 2 pounds per cubic I would have a capacity of 23,000 / (18 X 160) = 8 Day.
Would this be what your guys recommend for my environment?

My flow rate is 15 gpm.

 

[ditttohead]

A 2 cu. ft. system would be fine, but... 2.6-3.0 ppm chlorine is nasty. That is swimming pool levels. The municpal supply is allowed up to 4 ppm, but I would highly recommend removing that prior to the softener, not just to protect the resin, but more for yourself.

2 pounds of salt per cu. ft. is too low, most companies go no less than 4 pounds per cu. ft. Regenerations every couple of weeks is fine.

If you go without chlorine removal prior to the softener, I would recommend a 10% crosslink resin to extend the length of times between resin changeouts.

 

[seamonkeys1]

I was looking at 10% crosslink resin imported for Ohio Pure Water. Don’t know if it is any good. I have a RO unit for drinking water, but how do you remove chlorine from the water for the whole house?

So my capacity should be 36,000 so regeneration would happen every 11 to 12 days using 4 pounds per cubic foot? We are just starting to have kids so my water usage will go up.

The tank size is 12 X 48 and not the normal 12 X 52 for 2 cubic feet of resin. Should I pay the extra $15 for the larger tank? Does it make that much of difference?I believe you can get the fleck 7000 SXT to work on a 12 X 52 tank as well?
I also see most guys recommend a gravel under bed and I see I can get them to throw it in for an extra 5 which doesn't sound bad to me.

 

[ditttohead]

12x52 is preferred. Gravel is preferred. Whole house chlorine removal is done with a matching system, but instead or water softener resin, it has GAC inside.

 

[seamonkeys1]

So it would be 2 cubic feet of GAC and regenerate after so many gallons with a fleck 7000 sxt head?

 

[ditttohead]

Carbon has a huge capacity, it is typically backwashed every 7-30 days depending on the source water. Water with sediment, silt, iron, etc, needs to be backwashed more frequently. Clean municipal water, less often.

 

[seamonkeys1]

What happen with a smaller tank on a softener 12X48 vs. the 12X52?
I understand it will have less free space, but what does less free space cause for problems?

 

[ditttohead]

For the most part it is not a problem. It has to do with proper sizing, expension room for resin during backwash, freeboard, calculations, etc. A 12 x48 is technically rated for 1.7 Cu. Ft. of resin, a 12x52 is rated for 1.8 Cu. Ft, so both are slightly undersized from a purely technical standpoint.