Redo cold water lines for water softener

[JanC]

I'm in the planning stages of installing a water softener. This post is about the plumbing changes that will be necessary to locate a water softener in the garage. There is no space in the house to put the softener, so the garage is the only option.
The first drawing is the existing cold water plumbing, all located in a crawl space. 3/4" copper line comes in from the street and branches off as noted. The garage floor is about at the same level as the crawlspace ground, about 4 steps down from the house floor level.
I'm proposing in the second drawing cutting into the 3/4 line and running to the water softener (red line) and including two 1/2" tee's to feed the kitchen sink and a rear hose bib. From the water softener, I'll come back in (blue line) and attach to the existing line just ahead of the first 1/2" tee to the 1/2 bath sink.
This will add roughly 100' of 3/4" copper line (ouch $$$) to get to the garage and back.
Questions:
1) Does this seem like a reasonable plan?
2) Will there be any significant pressure changes caused by the additional piping?
3) I'm also considering adding a sediment filter before the water softener and a charcoal filter after the water softener (insurance agains beads getting into plumbing - it happend to my next door neighbor). Any thoughts or recommendations on this?
4) Any other helpful suggestions?
thanks in advance,
Jan

[JanC]

Let's see if these are any easier to read... the first drawing is the proposed changes, and the second drawing is the layout as it is now.
Jan

[wallskev]

I would leave only connect to the softener what you need. Leave toilets and outdoor Kitchen, hose Bibs on Existing Supply. Use PEX - 1 1/2" PEX is about $500 / 100 ft. and a breeze to install.

Isolate the Softener system with a By-Pass loop and Ball Valves isolation for maintenance.

You do not show a PRV location, but also we do not know the House Pressure front he street and if it is needed.


Just some ideas

[hj]

You can connect the soft water back into the system ANYWHERE the pipe size is adequate. You DO NOT have to connect at the point where the line was interrupted to go to the softener, unless that is the easiest point to do it. I do not know why anyone would suggest using 1 1/2" PEX in a residence. The pressure changes will be caused by the additional filters you plan to install, especially if they are not maintained properly.

[Tom Sawyer]

Most softeners come with a bypass built in so adding a bunch of ball valves is a waste of time and money. Do not leave the toilets off the softener, your fill valves will last longer. The only thing I bypass typically is the sillcocks. Unless you have a 15 bath mansion, 1-1/2" is way way larger than a residence needs.

[Starglow]

This is what I did on mine:



The blue shut off valve on the left is the main water line feed coming into the garage from under the house off the pressure regulator. I highly recommend adding a shut off valve for easier access in an emergency (mine was under the house), plus it makes changing the filter easier. Our city water tap is at the end of the main on our street, so we get a lot of crud as you can tell by the filter condition. I have since replaced the filter housing to a different model after this one basically fell apart.

The water softener is to the right of the filter and from there it feeds to the water heater out of view on the left and the cold water supply going back under the house.

I recommend connecting the 3/4" feed line off your water softener to a 3/4" cold water supply line feeding the rest of the house and not to a 1/2" line as this could affect your water pressure. I only notice a decrease in water pressure when the filter needs to be changed. And yes, the water softener does have bypass valves.