Flow rate? Flow thru? Water softner restrictions.

[polocash]

I hope I can explain this the way I understood it. I was told by a rep selling water softners that the flow rate is as important as the grain count. He said if I was trying to use more water in my house than the softner could keep up with, I would not be getting soft water. Is this possible? If my pipe to house is 3/4" could my flow rate exceed 10 gpm? He said some water softners have flow rates less than 10 gallons per minute and his unit is as follows: ( he said his unit could reach 19 gpm)

Certification:
WQA S-100
Distributor:
1.32" internal with upper basket
Bypass:
Full flow
Shut off:
Safety float
Inlet Pipe:
3/4"
Brine Tank:
18x40"

Certified Specifications
Rated Service Flow:
12.1 GPM @ 13 psi drop
Rated Softening Capacity:
31,200 gr @ 7.5 lbs; 41,900 gr @ 15.2 lbs; 47,600 gr @ 21.2 lbs
Max Flow Rate to Drain:
4.3 GPM
Amount of High Capacity Resin:
1.5 ft3 / 48,000 grains
Rated Efficiency:
4,170 grains @ 7.5 lbs

These are the specs on another I was looking at:


48,000 grain (10x54) mineral tank
1.5 cubic feet of high capacity resin
Riser style 1" distributor
760 Logix "on-demand" automatic control valve
Dimensions: 26x15x62
11.0 gallon-per-minute flow rate
Weight: 130 pounds
Available in blue, black and almond
Bypass included

My house is 1600 sq ft with 3 occupants and 2 baths. If there is anything else you need to know please ask. Hardness 16.

Thanks in advance for all help.

RC

[Gary Slusser]

I don't see a question but... the SFR of the softener is actually more important than the capacity, and both have to be taken into consideration to correctly size a softener.

The square foot size of the building has nothing to do with sizing water treatment equipment. Search for "softener sizing chart" and you can see how to correctly size your softener yourself. And you'll do much better price wise if you buy over the internet and install the softener yourself.

Gary
Quality Water Associates

[polocash]

I found three different charts on internet on size of water softner. I get answers between 30000 and 42500. That's probably because one calculator added 1 to number of people for appliances. The others did not say to do this. One sight said ave water was 60 per person another said 70 and the other left it blank but said 80 to 100 is ave. Closer to 100 in south. One said add 10 gallons a day for horse or like. I have 2 adults and 1 child in household in south. No more in plans. I was told if I use more water because of guests, water softner should automatically recycle sooner to balance. I do not know daily usage ave. but guess we are average when I look at our water bill that shows area stats. I thought I would go with at least 32,000 unit but lean towards mid 40,000's unit. I understand this part of math now. I still do not understand SFR. My water flow at outside spicket is about 4 gpm. Two of the calculators did not mention anything about this and the one that did was complicated. Installing it myself is no problem. I just removed old one and have 3/4" threaded hoses ready to hook up. I have bypass valve in bypass mode. It is hard to compare softners unless you had one exact model to shop. It is not like shopping for a Chevy Tahoe LT with a towing package. Every dealer has same car so who has best price? One softner may have best valve but short you on other aspects. Budget between 500 and 700.