What water softener/filter should I purchase?

[Logic]

Hi! Thanks for letting me join! This looks like a good place to be with a lot of knowledgeable people. I've done a reasonable amount of research on water treatment and am now looking for a good water softener. I was planning to purchase online as kinetico, culligan and wolverine seem to be way overpriced. However, if you know a good dealer with reasonable prices I would be willing to purchase local (Southeast Michigan area).

I am currently single, but have a 2.5 bath family home and want to size it as such.
My water has about 9 grains of hardness per gallon.
I have hydrogen sulfide (low amount per test strip, but it does stink when I turn on the tap).
0.1ppm iron (I feel like this may be higher but that's what my last test indicated.)
I currently have a TIRM installed. It functions by oxidizing iron, sulfide, and manganese and then filtering the oxidized version out in the media. It seems to use a fair amount of water when backwashing and I have a 2.5x10 sediment filter. I don't think this is big enough to allow enough flow to properly backwash the TIRM unit.
I, also, have an RO for drinking water.

Questions if you can please help:

Do I need a water softener unit at 9 grains (I think it would help, the spotting is getting pretty bad, but the place I bought the TIRM from thinks it's not a big deal. I think it would help the life of the RO system as well)?

Do you know of a good online retailer or someone local to me which is southeast Michigan (the two I'm considering most are the genesis from discount water and matrix from us water supply)?

What unit and size would you suggest/where can I get one?

Should I upgrade to a 4.5x20 sediment filter?

Is the TIRM unit (I think it uses katalox) a good way to get hydrogen sulfide out of water? Is there a better alternative? (More for future reference or if this unit stops working, but it definitely has fixed the stinky water at this point).

Thank you!

 

[ditttohead]

9 grains is hard but a softener is personal preference. Most people really enjoy them but it is not an absolute necessity. Do you have any more information on the "TIRM" system? Upgrading to the 4.5" x 20" is a good idea, but be aware, most BB size filters are manufactured by companies fighting to be the lowest cost, stick with the higher end filtrations systems.

 

[Sponsor]

 

[Bannerman]

I currently have a TIRM installed.

Unless the equipment supplier has given a unique name, I think you may mean BIRM as that is a common iron removal media. BIRM is not the same as Katalox Light. KL is a newer media which is now most often recommended.

The Hydrogen Sulfide odor, is that with both Hot and Cold water or Hot only?

 

[Logic]

The place I purchased it from had that with the operating instructions. I think it stood for total iron removal media (or I made that up myself... I don't remember which). He told me what media is in it but I wasn't familiar with media types so don't remember exactly what it was, but I kind of think it was katalox. I definitely remember he said it was from Germany. It works as an air oxidation system. I'll give him a call today and try to get some more info. The controller on the unit says Poseidon, guessing that won't be too helpful though ><.

As far as the filters I'm definitely willing to spend a little more money for a quality filter if it will last a while. Currently I've been flying through the 2.5x10 depth filters... thankfully they're cheap. What should I look for to ensure I'm getting a decent filter beyond cost? I've also noticed widely varying prices on the housing itself.

The odor is with both hot and cold. It definitely went away with the air oxidizer system. H2S seems to be difficult to test since it disappears before it can be sent in... I tried strips but could barely notice the color change if it did happen.

As a side note I have 3/4" pex and a 12 gpm well.

 

[Reach4]

As far as the filters I'm definitely willing to spend a little more money for a quality filter if it will last a while. Currently I've been flying through the 2.5x10 depth filters... thankfully they're cheap. What should I look for to ensure I'm getting a decent filter beyond cost? I've also noticed widely varying prices on the housing itself.

What is that 2.5 x 10 cartridge catching? A backwashing filter, such as one that uses Katalox Light, will catch stuff, and fine caught stuff will backwash out. With a backwashing filter first, expect a following cartridge filter to have to deal with much less than it did before. I presume your cartridge filter is before the backwashing filter. In that case, you could put a really course (200 micron?) filter cartridge into the filter housing, or even remove the cartridge entirely. An empty cartridge may catch sand and rocks with no cartridge.

A 4.5x20 filter will have less backpressure. If doing work on your filter system, I suggest adding in some boiler drain valves for sampling and for mounting a garden hose thread pressure gauge. You could consider teeing off the water feeding the softener for drinking water... have your own free mineral water. I drink my softened water that starts much harder than yours, because I don't feel like going to the basement to fill a drinking water jug.

I don't have a full bypass around my 4.5x20 filters (I had ordered them before deciding to get the backwashing iron+sulfur filter). I do keep spare o-rings on hand, because otherwise a failed o-ring would leave me without water.

If you meant BIRM, then the cartridge filter should have been after the backwashing filter. Also BIRM is not a good H2S media. If you replaced BIRM media with Katalox Light media, you would need to raise the backwash rate.

My H2S+iron filter uses Centaur Carbon, and draws from a bleach solution tank during regeneration every 3 days. The bleach rinses out before the tank goes back into service. I put in a bottle of bleach and top up with water every 33 days. It does nicely for me.

 

[ditttohead]

H2S is easily detected by your nose. You will be able to smell levels lower than most test kits will see. If the level is below most test levels then KL works great. If the media was from Germany then it is likely Katalox Light.

 

[Logic]

It is Katalox Lite. It has 1.0 cu ft of media in it. It says Poseidon on the valve, the guy who sold it to me said he thinks it's a Fleck, but didn't sound too sure.

I asked him about using it as a sediment filter and he didn't recommend it. He said he's had a few come back very dirty that didn't have sediment filters installed before. Anybody ever have this problem?

 

[ditttohead]

Backwashing systems are designed to backwash out sediment. In order for that to work the sediment needs to be light enough to be lifted out during the backwash cycle. If you are getting sand into the tank, this will typically sink down into the media bed. Lighter sediment will go down the drain... a sediment filter ahead of the system is fine but not usually needed. A simple Hydra filter tends to be enough.