Water Softener/Acid Neutralizer

[jake730]

Hi. I'm new to the blog. My question is in regards to what water treatment equipment is best suited for my situation.
Bought a home and quickly realized that we a had hard water. Had to replace a 10 yr old tiolet due to it. We have well water with no treatment equipment except for a UV filter. Water tastes fine with no unpleasant odors.

Had the water tested by a independent lab. Water hardness is 44 GPG. PH is 6.7 Nothing else stands out.

Report recommends water softener and acid neutralizer. Do I need both or would one do better than the other? If PH is affected by hardness than why don't I have a more neutral PH considering the harness of my water. Just a little confused.

Sized the softener to be at least 80,000 grains. Currently just wife and I but we want to plan for a couple children. Any recommendations on size?

Equipment I'm looking at is the Fleck 5600 SXT w/ digital metered valve. Will add some inline filters before this too.

Well flow rate is 7-8 gpms.

Thanks!

 

[Ryan Symons]

Personally I would avoid the 5600 altogether. It's a low end unit and requires more upkeep over its lifetime than just about any professional grade softener. I would consider a twin tank softener. It's the most efficient for salt and water usage and "endless" soft water.
As far as ph...there are many options. 6.7 isn't too bad so an upflow calcite/corsex should get you there and would be the cheap and easy fix. You will want to install it before the softener because it will add a couple grains of hardness.

 

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[Reach4]

6.5 pH to 8.5 pH is considered OK, although there can be concerns for corrosion. You would want to avoid metal pipes, and use plastic.

Charts say that for high 44 grains hardness, you want to compensate with a 1.3 factor that says you should use 57 as a hardness setting on your softener.
I think you are saying that there was little iron in your water test. What was your sulfate?

A dual, or a 3 cubic ft softener ("96000 grains") should do the softening just fine. That tank sits taller, with the controller atop a 14 x 65 inch tank, so you might use a little stool when doing settings. A 2.5 (80 grains) is just undersized a bit for 4 people, but might be fine. Regen in that case might be about 6 days. While they are not advertised as freely as the 5600SXT, the Fleck 5800 or 5810 softener controllers are available. They are newer. A little noisier when they start backwash, but they use soft water for the brine refill. The sound is only startling if you are near it when it starts a regen at 2 AM.

pH treatments may not be needed, but you would avoid metal pipes. I would use a powered anode in the water heater. That protects like magnesium, but does not contribute to H2S generation.



I am not a pro.

 

[jake730]

My plumbing is 99% copper and the house has never had a water softener to my knowledge. Leaky pipes will just be on a case by case basis. Not saying I don't want to protect against further damage. I just don't won't to over engineer if it's not necessary or cost effective.

Yes I was saying it without saying it. There are no flags that come up on the report other than ph and hardness. Everthing was at low levels. I've attached I pic of the report so I don't misquote anyone.

 

[ditttohead]

A calcite filter is simple and requires very little maintenance but... try running the LSI calculator. https://www.lenntech.com/calculators/langelier/index/langelier.htm

My guess is your water would not be corrosive even at this low pH. A simple softener may be all that is needed. Do you ever get any blue/green staining on the white sinks or toilets?

 

[jake730]

All of the fixtures were replaced 12 yrs ago when the home was remodeled. But there is a old cast iron tub that I'm sure has been here for a long time that has some blue/green stains around the drain. But nothing drastic.

 

[ditttohead]

A softener and a simple polyphosphate injection system might be a good solution. Easy to maintain, reasonably priced, especially compared to a copper repipe.

 

[jake730]

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