Fleck Mechanical vs SXT

[somedumbname]

Hello,

I'm getting ready to order a water softener for my first home, and I need advice. I've decided on getting a Fleck 9000 twin-tank setup (48k gr capacity), and I'm trying to decide whether I should go with the mechanical or digital setup.

Through searching online, so far the only things I have seen is that the mechanical seems to be more durable yet harder to set up, while the digital seems to be easier to set up along with a time option on regeneration yet people are worried about durability of these units.

So negating price (actually, ohiopurewaterco is showing the digital system as cheaper right now), what are people's opinions on this topic?

Thanks!

[Akpsdvan]

Both set ups are very good.
As you point out that there are some pros and cons to either..
What was the water test?
The SXT can go to a higher gallon setting while the older style has either the standard or ext meter... so there is that part of the 9100.
The SXT can do a bit finner tune in the gallon settings, timer settings... and can be set for a day default where the older style can not.

I would take either one, for me to pick one it would depend on the house, water test and number of people there at the time.

[somedumbname]

I'm probably going to get my head bitten off for this, but I haven't actually gotten the water tested at my house yet. I do think I should, but I haven't yet at least. I'm going off of test results done by my local water provider of the water that leaves the facility currently. I'm not sure how much worse water can get on the trip to my home, but I do know I should get testing done just to verify what I'll be dealing with.

Their test results showed very high hardness at 23gpg and no real iron content, ~1ppm chlorine. I didn't see anything that I should be concerned about. Is there anything that normally would spike up between them and my house?

[Akpsdvan]

Most likely no for the spiking from plant to your house.
There might be a season change, I know that around here there are some wells that change in different parts of the year..

If it is city water then there should really be no need to test the water.

That said, the SXT is still new, only about 1-2 years out.... I know that the old SE when it first came out had a few challenges and there where changes made over the years and now there is the SXT.. There may or may not be challenges with this control, time will tell. I know that the older style is bullet proof and little to nothing goes wrong..

[somedumbname]

Thanks for the quick replies! I've got an appointment set up to get my water tested tomorrow, better safe than sorry.

How difficult is the mechanical version to program though for someone like me who has never had a water softener before? I'm leaning toward the SXT right now, partially since it seems like the durability of the circuit board is the only question mark and it seems to have more functionality, and mostly since for some reason the SXT softener package is cheaper than the mechanical package @ ohiopurewaterco right now (not sure why since the unit by itself is more expensive?)...

As for ohiopurewaterco, is anyone familiar with their standard Hi Capacity resin (it appears to be generic)? I'm going to need to decide if I should upgrade to the SST-60 resin or not.

Thanks!

[Wally Hays]

For sheer ease of set up and service I think I would opt for a Clack WS-1 if you are installing it yourself.

[Bob999]

For sheer ease of set up and service I think I would opt for a Clack WS-1 if you are installing it yourself.

The poster seems to be shopping at a site that sells the EE version of the Clack valve. The programming of the EE version is, in my view a bit more complex than the Fleck SXT because of the way reserve is handled. Additionally, the Clack is not a twin tank system so not directly comparable to the Fleck 9000/9100.


As to the choice between the Fleck valves--There is also the 9100 SXT--it has a plastic valve body as compared to the brass valve body on the 9000 but offers a second backwash which is not available on the Fleck 9000.

My personal preference would be for the 9100 SXT because of the second backwash. All modern valve designs for the residential market use a plastic valve body and I don't really consider the brass valve body on the 9000 to be an advantage.

With your water conditions the added cost of the SST-60 resin makes it an unecomonic choice. You will be better off going with the standard resin which will likely need to be replaced within 10 years (as would SST-60) because you have a chlorinated water supply.

[somedumbname]

Got the water tested. Hardness is actually around 28+, we had to let the water run for a while because apparently I have some nasty scale buildup. First test actually showed a lot higher, but once we ran more water it came down around 28. I hadn't run the water much for days and days, so I guess I can buy why it was higher at first. Is this normal for a house with around 7-8 years running with no softener and 28gpg hardness?

Other changes from my original quotes is that there is absolutely no iron in the water, and the chlorine tested out at around .3ppm.

With that hardness, I'm thinking I should still be fine with 1-3 people (possibly 4?) on a 48k gr unit. Am I correct in that assumption? It seems like it would just refresh every 4 days or so with 4 people here.

I'm leaning toward just going with the Fleck 9000/9100 SXT with the 48gr ($920-950), but then if I end up with 5 people living here would I have to upgrade the capacity? Would it be more cost effective to just go with the 64k unit now ($1055-1090)? It seems like it's way more economical just to bite the bullet and go to the 64k gr capacity now at a higher cost, but with only 1-2 people normally here at a time, it seems like it will either take way too long to recharge, or waste water that way... It seems like with my hardness, the 48k gr is optimal for 3 people, while the 64k gr is optimal for 5 (by my math, please correct me if I'm wrong)

Thanks for the help, I'm learning a lot through searching this forum.