Please help with water softener sizing

[ditttohead]

Regarding the 7000SXT, you will not be dissapointed. This is an old debate that is silly. Only one guy on this site does not like it, and his reaoning is because it is too hard to work on, and he personally had problems all the time with them. Funny, because it is the most reliable control we distribute. We distribute, Clack, Autotrol, Pentair, and many others. You are correct on the 5600 only handling Cation softener tanks as large as 12", the 7000 can handle the 13 or 14" tank you need. You could use the 2.5 Cu, Ft system, and the system size will be much smaller. The 3 cu. ft. unit is technically supposed to be spec'd out with a 14" x 65" tank. The 13 x 54 that is used for the 2.5 is a lot smaller and it puts the control valve right in front of your face. I would also recommend not using a low salt setting ever when using cation resin for iron removal, use a minimum of 8 pounds per cu. ft, you will lose a very small amount of efficiency, but it will assist the resin from becoming fouled.

You could also use the Clack Res-Up chemical feeder to help keep the resin clean, it is cheap, reliable, and simple.

[Gary Slusser]

Hi Fellas,
Sorry to bring back this old thread. Still haven't bought the new softener. Wife decided we needed new windows first.
Anyway, I am wondering if I can get a few more questions answered.
1. To Gary, You recommended a 2.5 cuft softener. When I plug the numbers into the chart on your website, I come up with 3.0cuft. I am using your chart incorrectly?

Rereading what I said, which was to use my sizing page and then commented about a 2.5' softener, if the sizing says 3.0', then 3.0' is what you need.

2. Also to Gary, I know you don't like the 7000sxt valve so what valve would you recommend? The 5600 seems to have a max of 2cuft of resin. I am planning to buy this softener online probably from Ohio pure water and as everyone knows Clack is not an option.

I don't think I've ever said I didn't like the 7000. I have said I had problems with them and more importantly, the 7000 is a 1.25" and very large valve and overkill for most residential softener needs. I would go with the 2510 SXT instead.

3. Should I be using sst-60 resin? I don't mind paying the extra 200 bucks or so if it will be more efficient and or remove the iron better.
I have decided against adding an iron filter as my iron is only 1.8ppm. The cost of a filox iron filter is almost $1000 and that buys a lot of salt. I don't want the extra water use, well pump wear or extra water discharging into my septic system.

I wouldn't propose SST-60 to you because your iron is not enough to justify the cost. And I think you've made a good decision against the separate filter. Just use some Iron Out in like 2 gallons of water every 4-6 weeks and do a manual regeneration. And don't run out of salt.

[ribs1]

Thanks for all the information guys. I'm planning to buy from Ohio Pure Water. Anyone have any better recommendations? Feel free to PM me if you don't want to post.
Thanks