New softener help

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Kadex

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Finally bought a house and got away from renting. Really need a softener and trying to figure this all out. Here are the details and what I have come up with.

1.5 bath standard shower and tub.
no dishwasher but will get one eventually
1300 sqf home two adults
currently have old galvanized plumbing with buildup in pipes that will be updated to 1" pex to a home run manifold with 1/2" to each fixture and of course separate line for outside spigots.

On well water with in ground pump and pressure tank in basement
water tested as follows

No copper
Iron didn't show up on test I'm thinking if any there's 0.1 to 0.3
No Nitrate/Nitrite
PH 7.5
No Chlorine
Hardness 21 gpg

It's hard to figure flow rate at the moment because the lines are so bad but, I got about 1 gpm out of tub.

I'm thinking of the Fleck 5600SXT electronic meter on demand 40K Grain and set to regen every 1300 gallons. Would really appreciate opinions and other suggestions and let me know I missed any needed info.

Thank You
 

Akpsdvan

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Looks like you are on the right track on the system and its size.
I my self would look at the 48k unit or 1.5 cubic foot with the 5600 SXT.
9lbs and 30k or about 1300
A little better bang for the buck on the salt.
 

Kadex

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Thanks for the reply I was kind of leaning toward the 48K but wasn't sure. Since the price difference is so minimal it would make more sense.
 

Akpsdvan

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If the number of people in the home is to increase, the 48k would be better, if the water was to increase in hardness then again it would be better to handle the increase.
 

Kadex

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Cool that's always a plus. When I first started looking I thought that if I got one too big it would take too long to regen, but I now realize that they have a few settings to adjust to what you need.
 

Kadex

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Yeah and that means I will have to regenerate the softener at 1:00 to 1:30am since I usually get up about 3:30-3:45. One more thing I'm deciding on. I was originally planning on using Potassium for softening and just using the softened water for drinking. After thinking more about that I decided to just go with salt and running a reverse osmosis since the cost of potassium is so much more, probably be saving money in the long run. Then I had a thought of just running non softened water through a charcoal filter to a small tap just for drinking water. Not sure what route to take. My main concern is good clean water for my parrots. I'm leaning toward the RO system but wouldn't mind others opinions.
 

Tom Sawyer

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I don't claim to know Jack about Parrots so what's in your water now that would cause them issues?

You water is hard and you probably are going to want to take care of that problem anyway but why the RO filter? If you are going to drink RO water, you will probably hate it because it tastes flat and unappealing.
 

Kadex

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I'm mostly concerned about extra sodium that will be in the water after softened. I know that I'm not on some strict sodium diet but it might be a bit much for the parrots. I can give them non softened carbon filtered water as I currently do, I was hoping to get away from the calcium buildup in their bowls. It appears some folks don't mind the RO water while others can't stand it. I know my uncle likes it but the cousins don't. Thanks for your input and another other ideas or thoughts are greatly welcome.
 

LLigetfa

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Don't feed Wonder bread to the parrots then. I wouldn't eat that stuff either.

I use an RO filter for all cooking and drinking water.
 

Gary Slusser

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The factory default time for a regeneration to start is 2am and you can set all electronic timers to any time of day.

Potassium is not as efficient as sodium chloride so in most cases you have to use more of it and it is very expensive.

The amount of sodium that is added to softened water is 7.85 mg/l (liter = roughly a quart) per grain per gallon of compensated hardness. I.E 15 gpg * 7.85 = 117.75 mg/l of added sodium. I don't remember how much sodium is in a slice of white bread.

Many beverages have hundreds of mg/l of sodium. Start reading labels of food and beverages and you'll see the huge amount of sodium we are ingesting on a daily basis.

BTW, good water, like RO or distilled water, has no taste, it's things in water that give it a good or bad taste.
 

ditttohead

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An RO system will provide you with excellent tasting water, A simple Coconut Shell GAC post filter will "sweeten" the water. It also acts as a non certified safety device for the water you injest. Well systems are not tested often and water changes over time. An RO system will provide considerable protection from most contaminants, (not all), and if the water is not to a desired tast, a post calite and corosex filter (80% calcite, 20% corosex is a common mix) or even a pure calcite filter will add a small amouint of "flavor" and also increase the pH to above 7.0 FYI, the remin filter should be installed immediately after the membrane permeate, not on the faucet line like the post GAC is.

Good DI water is very tasteless, except for the flavor induced by some poorly regenerated anion resin beds. Be careful of low grade DI, ithe most common smell/flavor is "fishy", the other is the water will taste and smell like the Sunday paper.

For most applications, RO will be fine. It has a 95%+ removal rate, DI has a 99+% removal rate.
 

Kadex

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This is some great info, exactly what I was hoping for. Will have to go over this info more thoroughly later as I am out of time this evening. Thanks for the info.
 

Kadex

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Hello,

Been busy and about ready to turn on the new water lines. I got the 48K 5600xt softener and would like opinions on settings as follows.

capacity - 27.3
hardness - 22 (I added 1 because of the minimal amount of iron) good or bad??
Safety Factor - 10% (not sure)
Day override - 10
Brine Fill - 8

Or would I be better off just going with 30 capacity with 9 BF?

Thanks
 

ditttohead

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I can post a programming guide for that exact unit tomorrow. I return to California in the morning so I will be at the office then. My programming guide will walk you through exactly how to set up the unit.
 

ditttohead

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5600sxtsmall 15 cu ft.jpg
Appreciate that ditto, will take any help that's available.

This should help. It is self explanatory. It is what we send our controls out with so the builders can easily program them. If the water has excessive sediment, the backwash time should be increased. Otherwise, this is the industry standard programming for the majority of water supplies.
 

pauli5500

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Check out my program, please? New installation

2 people (about 100 gal. per day total)
32,000 Clack WS-1
hardness--16 gpg
using Potassium Salt
I reset to 30,000 capacity since I read potassium is less efficient....the unit is regenerating about every 16 days...The number of gallons I'm getting betw regens is about 1830......Could/should I do better?
 
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