Help!! Very lost and probably being ripped off!!

[Flagada]

Hi, I'm new to this forum. My wife and I moved down to San Antonio TX from Canada. We just purchased a brand new home built at the end of 2012 that requires a water softener - which we know nothing about. It's a decent size home with 5 bedrooms/4 full bathrooms. Fridge has a water line, kitchen sink with high pressure hose & dishwasher. The lot size is 15,500 sqft with an automatic sprinkler system. Although it's just us and a dog, we will have family over regularly which could put 2, 3 or all bathrooms in use several times during the year.

The builder recommended a water softener company. The sales guy recommended the Reionator Classic - $3250 tax & installation included. I haven't done a water test on the house yet (haven't closed on the house yet and I don't even know where you get those done). I've been told by locals that they happily use anything from a Sears bought $600 Kenmore system to a $4,000 Pellican or Culligan system...

Where do I start without making this too complicated! Thanks!

[ditttohead]

Considering the large size of the house, you will need a larger softener. Wait until you close on the house and post more information for us to make a recommendation.

The reionator has some Anion resin in it. This will have little affect on the water quality unless you are trying to remove tannins, sulfates, nitrates, etc. Does your water have this? If it is a municipal water system then probably not.


Non salt systems work completely different than salt based systems, and most of the professional on this forum are probably going to recommend a salt system due to our many years of experience with both system designs.

We would need to start:
Pipe size of the main line where the softener is to be installed.

Municipal or well water (your own well, not if the municipality uses a well)
Water hardness (your city will have a water report available online or you can call them and ask them)
If you have your own well, then you will probably be required to have a new test done, that will include all of the information we need.


Good luck on the new house, and congrats on moving to San Antonio, it is a beautiful town. I visit there a couple times a year and always enjoy it!

I can refer you to many great companies in that area that will give you an excellent price if you want.

[mialynette2003]

I sold the Reionator in Austin for a few years. A lot of customers complained about a fishy smell with them and we had to replace some of them with a standard softener. The anion resin is suppose to remove chlorine in city water. As Dittohead stated, post the water test results or the city water report and we will provide good info so you can make an educated decision.

[ditttohead]

I sold the Reionator in Austin for a few years. A lot of customers complained about a fishy smell with them and we had to replace some of them with a standard softener. The anion resin is suppose to remove chlorine in city water. As Dittohead stated, post the water test results or the city water report and we will provide good info so you can make an educated decision.

I forgot about that, the fishy smell of anion resin is never enjoyable. Without my books and cheat sheets on the topic, if I recall correctly the problem occurs when the anion gets depleted, the amines are the cause of the bad fish smell. This is a common issue with disposable DI cartridges. The other complaint we here with Anion resin is the water smells and tastes like a newspaper.

[Flagada]

Wow...definitely do not want fish or newspaper smells & taste in my water!! LOL...
As far as recommendations, please PM some. I'd love to know that I'm working with someone reputable.

Here's some more info:
- Municipal Water System
- 1.5" pipe (I was told that is not a standard)
- See Hardness data below since I haven't tested my water yet..


Here's the averages for my region from SAWS:

Constituent Concentration Range
Aluminum (ppm) < 0.00127 – 0.0109
Calcium (ppm) 60.8 – 103
Chloride (ppm) 11.9 – 25.4
Copper (ppm) 0.00116 – 0.109
Iron (ppm) < 0.0500 – 0.153
Magnesium (ppm) 11.2 – 20.5
Manganese (ppm) < 0.001 – 0.00928
Silver (ppm) < 0.001 – 0.0152
Zinc (ppm) < 0.004 – 0.131
pH 7.4 – 7.9
Sulfate (ppm) 10.4 – 53.6

Constituent Concentration Range
Total Alkalinity as Calcium Carbonate (mg/L) 124 – 262
Total Dissolved Solids (mg/L) 242 – 356
Total Hardness as Calcium Carbonate (mg/L) 198 – 316
Hardness as Calcium/Mg (mg/L) 180 – 310

[ditttohead]

Your water looks to be easily treatable. The 1.5" pipe is very normal on larger houses and is based on flow velocity codes based on the plumbing material. Copper pipe (cold water) has a maximum recomended velocity of 8 Feet per Second. So a 1.5" copper pipe would be rated for approximately 44 GPM. The tube inside the walls can often be Pex which has a much higher velocity rating of 12 feet per second so the pipe size will drop significantly. The pipe size is based on the assumption that all of the faucets and fixtures could all be used at the same time.

Hope this helps.