Which Fleck to buy, how to determine proper size

[northcoast]

We need a new softener as our old Culligan Mark 89 is leaking at the control box. Hubby willing to install a new one but knows nothing about softeners. I am getting confused with all the info on the internet. We are not tied to regenerating once/wk like most seem to recommend. So here's our info:
-On a well
-3 reside full time in house, 4th is home from college on breaks & summer.
-no idea on usage as I can't see a meter on the softener
-Water hardness is 20 gpg
-Iron is 2.09 mg/l

Ohio Pure Water suggested a 5600SXT, 64,000 grain capacity, 2.0 cu ft resin. I asked if we could get a 48,000 grain capacity with 1.5 cu ft resin and regenerate more often. I was told yes it would work but careful changing the salt setting as it may not clean all the resin? Does that make any sense? I saw info on Aquatell site but I don't know if it's correct or how to use that info.

I have looked at other threads but I don't know/understand all the lingo/settings.

Currently our Culligan softener is set at 10 lb salt/cycle, probably going 3 times/wk depending on laundry loads. We could love to be as efficient as possible with salt.

Thank you for your help!

 

[Reach4]

Iron is 2.09 mg/l

You really want to have a backwashing iron filter before the softener. Bonus: it can get rid of H2S coming in from the well.

But if you don't do that, I would go with the 1.5 rather than the 2.0 so that you will regenerate more often. Then set the hardness to 33 to compensate for iron. Also get a ResCare feeder and clean with Iron Out, or a better-smelling alternative, periodically.

 

[Sponsor]

 

[northcoast]

What is a backwashing iron filter? I am fairly confident we have ferrous iron. No color coming from raw well water but after it sit, water changes color.

 

[northcoast]

Yikes, a backwashing filter appears to be the cost of a cheap softener. That is still cheaper than Culligan if I have to buy two items - filter and softener.

 

[Reach4]

Yikes, a backwashing filter appears to be the cost of a cheap softener. That is still cheaper than Culligan if I have to buy two items - filter and softener.

Usually more, actually. But it is worthwhile.

Katalox Light is a media worth reading up on. How many GPM can your pump provide for backwashing in the middle of the night? A 10 inch tank with 1.5 cubic ft of KL needs about 8 GPM of backwash. A 7 GPM submersible pump usually can do that fine. Iron media needs a higher backwash rate than a softener does. A 10 inch diameter softener usually backwashes at 2.4 GPM.

 

[ditttohead]

Don't bother using the 5600 for KL and a 10" tank. It has difficulty backwashing anything more than 7 gpm. The 5810 or Clack valves would be a much better option. KL usually works fairly well for iron but sometimes additional oxidants are needed for proper operation.

 

[Master Plumber Mark]

Just get yourself a 64,000 grain unit and it will handle the iron and
soften the system just fine.... especially if you are on a well...

The CLACK valve is the best choice

all you have to do is get something similar or larger in size to the cullligan you had
and if you were happy with the old culligan that never gave you troubles
then you will be happy with another brand with a larger capacity.....

very simple..very easy..

 

[ditttohead]

This is a bit of an oversimplification. Iron can be reduced with a softener assuming the pH is ideal and you don't have any concern for efficiency. If the pH is high (varies on many factors) the resin can become excessively fouled and will require very high salt settings and frequent regenerations and regular chemical cleaning.
Clack and Fleck are both excellent valves. Both have their issues and I could argue that either one is better then the other but in reality you cant go wrong with either one. It is more of a Chevy vs Ford argument.

In general low pH and iron can be reduced with a softener without too many problems except for massive inefficiency. High pH, you will likely foul the resin potentially beyond reasonable cleaning.

The math... 1 ppm of iron requires the softener be adjusted to accommodate an additional 85 ppm of hardness.

 

[northcoast]

Sorry for the delay in response. It's been a busy couple of days.

Thanks for all the replies so far! Now that pH has been mentioned, is 7 considered ideal? Ours measured at 6. We self tested at home with a pH strip that didn't measure more precisely than a whole number.

The Culligan worked well enough but we were ignorant. We are not super picky about how soft the water needs to be. Obviously we don't want it hard nor have too much of an iron issue. It appears that the Culligan is .7 cu ft resign. Manual states that exchange capacity @ salt dosage per recharge is 20,100 grains @9.8 lb/salt. That is highest number listed in the manual. So how does that compare to say the 64,000 grain unit or a 48,000 grain unit? Will it recharge less often and use less salt?

I also thinking of not getting an iron filter yet since we don't have too much of a problem with iron staining. We have some but not bad. My guess is laundry is done at times but not enough soft water is in reserve. I try to space out laundry but sometimes that is not realistic.

 

[northcoast]

@ ditttohead by massive inefficiency do you mean lots of salt is used to soften water with iron & low pH?

 

[SuperGreg]

With that low pH do you have any issues with green copper staining in the sink/tub?

 

[northcoast]

no green staining in sink or tub

 

[Master Plumber Mark]

Ditto head knows a lot more about this than me
basically a larger unit will re-charge less often simply because
you will have a much larger reserve water capacity to go through....compaired to a wimpy 21,000 grain unit.
You will use more salt per regeneration, but you
will regenerate less often... so it is basically a wash....

One thing I always like to mention is where is the unit located in the home and how far away are the bedrooms
from the unit??? Some folks have the unit directly under their bedrooms in the basement or on an adjacent wall
in the home right next to where they sleep..... A 21,000 grain unit will probably regenerate every other night depending
on how many people live in the house and the sound of the unit doing its thing can drive some light sleepers nuts....
A larger unit will regenerate much less often--like every 10 days depending on the number of people in the house...
I like the larger units for this reason..they are much less annoying

 

[northcoast]

Ditto head knows a lot more about this than me
basically a larger unit will re-charge less often simply because
you will have a much larger reserve water capacity to go through....compaired to a wimpy 21,000 grain unit.
You will use more salt per regeneration, but you
will regenerate less often... so it is basically a wash....

One thing I always like to mention is where is the unit located in the home and how far away are the bedrooms
from the unit??? Some folks have the unit directly under their bedrooms in the basement or on an adjacent wall
in the home right next to where they sleep..... A 21,000 grain unit will probably regenerate every other night depending
on how many people live in the house and the sound of the unit doing its thing can drive some light sleepers nuts....
A larger unit will regenerate much less often--like every 10 days depending on the number of people in the house...
I like the larger units for this reason..they are much less annoying

Thanks for mentioning some things to think about!

 

[ditttohead]

low pH is ideal if you are going to use softening for iron reduction. Regarding efficiency each ppm of iron requires compensating 85 ppm of hardness... iron reduction filters are designed specifically for iron reduction. Using a softener for iron reduction causes more salt/tds pollution into our water supplies. Less salt is a good thing. I am not a proponent of using softeners for iron reduction above 1 ppm. Many companies promote it above 5 ppm, this would be like driving a tank to work every day at 1 mpg.

 

[northcoast]

low pH is ideal if you are going to use softening for iron reduction. Regarding efficiency each ppm of iron requires compensating 85 ppm of hardness... iron reduction filters are designed specifically for iron reduction. Using a softener for iron reduction causes more salt/tds pollution into our water supplies. Less salt is a good thing. I am not a proponent of using softeners for iron reduction above 1 ppm. Many companies promote it above 5 ppm, this would be like driving a tank to work every day at 1 mpg.

Thanks for explaining this. It has got me rethinking some things...