schwartzy18510
New Member
Hello All,
First post by a brand-spanking-new forum member here. I am in the planning stages of my first water softener install, and while researching several of the finer elements of designing and sourcing a water softening system, I repeatedly came across threads within this forum in Google search results.
My knowledge base on the topic has been expanded exponentially already by the information shared in past threads by venerable members of this forum, particularly user ditttohead. I opted to join up given the knowledge base here in the hopes of both gaining and sharing knowledge in the years to come.
This will be a rather long-winded post, as I have some rather specific requirements in mind and have already performed what I hope to be much of the advance homework and elementary research involved. In the interest of respecting the time of the subject matter experts here, I'll attempt to provide as much information as I can regarding what I have learned already and what I'm considering at this point.
Pertinent Data
The subject residence consists of a 1,528 square foot 3 BR, 2 BA one-story home, inhabited currently by myself, my wife, and my infant son. We do have plans to completely finish the full basement (currently partially finished) in future by adding another 2 BR, 1 BA and an additional kitchen on our way to another three children, God willing. This would double the current 1,528 square footage.
Indoor water usage is approximately 62.5 gallons/day currently. Main water supply is a private well, pertinent content from an independent third-party chemical lab test outlined below:
Aside from this knowledge, I will need to plumb in two sediment filters and an unsoftened water bypass to the outdoor hose bibs, split the existing fridge water supply from that of the kitchen sink, move the pressure tank to the opposite side of the basement, and plumb in a utility closet with connections for a tankless water heater, utility sink, clothes washer, future bath, and kitchen.
I therefore plan on simply redoing all of the existing supply line plumbing during the course of this project. I could potentially utilize 3/4" or 1" line through the softener all the way to my main cold water line manifold prior to fixture end-runs (w/shutoffs!). I plan to bypass the softener with a main supply line to an "untreated" water manifold which will feed end runs to my two outdoor hose bibs and the ice/water dispenser on my fridge, where we obtain all of our drinking water.
I also plan to install a spin-down sediment filter upstream of the softener and a dual grade 50/5 micron Big Blue sediment filter downstream from the softener, with pressure gauges before and after. The main idea with the downstream filter is to protect against potential resin loss from the softener making its way into the plumbing and fixtures.
I grew up with hard water and am used to its effects, and we've lived in this house for six years now with the existing hard water. The primary reason for pursuing a water treatment solution at this point is the desire to replace our 18-year-old (!!) electric tank-style water heater (from whence I just shop-vac'ed 62 pounds of mineral sediment) with a natural gas-fired tankless unit. Of secondary consideration is the ability to better wash cloth diapers without additional, expensive softening agents and detergents.
Background & Environmental Circumstances
First, some background for sake of context. My wife and I do our best to be environmentally responsible, particularly as affects water use. While Michigan by and large doesn't struggle with the drought conditions of the southwestern states, we do live in a unique area of southwest Michigan which consists of primarily sandy soils. The soil composition and climate provide the perfect growing conditions for seed corn, as the sandy soils eliminate the possibility of poor crops due to overwatering. However, also due to said sandy soils, irrigation is commonplace.
Random fact - our county alone produces 10% of the nation's seed corn, and is home to not only the Seed Corn Capital of the World but also the largest-in-the-world flagship processing facilities of seed corn giants Pioneer and DeKalb (Monsanto). There are more irrigated acres of cropland in our county than the rest of the state combined, as well as in any other county east of the Mississippi.
All of this seed corn production and the accompanying irrigation has resulted in some local water supply concerns. For example, the spring-fed private lake within our HOA has been suffering from significant year-over-year drops in water level for much of the last two decades. We recently commissioned an aerial survey of high-capacity irrigation wells and identified 101 such wells within a 2.5 square mile radius.
These circumstances serve as stark reminders for us to curtail our environmental footprint regarding water use as far as is reasonably possible.
System Type Selection
With the above context in mind, my wife and I waffled for some time on whether to install a salt-free descaling or conditioning system rather than a salt-based softening system due to both the water usage of a salt-based system during regeneration as well as the salt brine discharge into the water table.
Ultimately, after exhaustively researching and reading user reviews for most if not all of the primary salt-free descaling and water conditioning systems (including Clearwave, Eddy, EasyWater, Nuvo H2O, Evo Clear, Pelican, and Aquasana) we came to the conclusion that the extreme hardness of our water likely precludes satisfactory results being achieved from most if not all of these alternative systems.
Calculating the Environmental Impact of a Salt-Based Softener
To garner an idea of exactly how much environmental impact a salt-based softener would have for our situation, I spent several weeks sifting through innumerable forum posts, industry publications, technical considerations, and sizing guides in order to get a handle on determining appropriate salt-based softener size for our application.
After determining what I believe to be ideal system size, I created several mock regeneration schedules based on our water content, water usage patterns, and intended salt efficiency. I then cross-referenced this data with technical specs from several models to calculate water efficiency and gallons used per regeneration. Ultimately I was able to create what I believe to be a fairly accurate estimate of potential annual water and salt consumption.
My current plan involves sourcing a 48,000 grain (1.5 cu. ft. of resin) unit which, according to my calculations, should regenerate approximately every 20 days at a 5 lb. salt dose per cu. ft. of resin (salt efficiency of 4,000 grains/lb.) and a 5% (24-hour) reserve.
This results in estimated salt consumption of .34063 lb/day, 7.12 lb/regen, and 124 lb/year, with estimated water consumption of 3.27 gal/day, 65.4 gal/regen and 1,140 gal/year (Note: calculations do not include the advertised 30% backwash water savings offered by a Vortech tank - more on this later). This amount of salt and water consumption results in an increase of TDS in regeneration wastewater of 131%, from 500 ppm to 1153 ppm.
The above estimates put daily water consumption attributed to the softening process at about 5.2% of our daily household consumption, a number my wife and I can live with in exchange for all the benefits of soft water and the ability to install a tankless water heater which will, in turn, have a much lower environmental footprint than our current tank-style unit.
(Post 1 of 4)
First post by a brand-spanking-new forum member here. I am in the planning stages of my first water softener install, and while researching several of the finer elements of designing and sourcing a water softening system, I repeatedly came across threads within this forum in Google search results.
My knowledge base on the topic has been expanded exponentially already by the information shared in past threads by venerable members of this forum, particularly user ditttohead. I opted to join up given the knowledge base here in the hopes of both gaining and sharing knowledge in the years to come.
This will be a rather long-winded post, as I have some rather specific requirements in mind and have already performed what I hope to be much of the advance homework and elementary research involved. In the interest of respecting the time of the subject matter experts here, I'll attempt to provide as much information as I can regarding what I have learned already and what I'm considering at this point.
Pertinent Data
The subject residence consists of a 1,528 square foot 3 BR, 2 BA one-story home, inhabited currently by myself, my wife, and my infant son. We do have plans to completely finish the full basement (currently partially finished) in future by adding another 2 BR, 1 BA and an additional kitchen on our way to another three children, God willing. This would double the current 1,528 square footage.
Indoor water usage is approximately 62.5 gallons/day currently. Main water supply is a private well, pertinent content from an independent third-party chemical lab test outlined below:
- Hardness - 21.8 gpg
- Manganese - .03 mg/L
- Iron - .01 mg/L (equivalent of .172 gpg)
- pH - 7.6 S.U.
- TDS - 500 mg/L
Aside from this knowledge, I will need to plumb in two sediment filters and an unsoftened water bypass to the outdoor hose bibs, split the existing fridge water supply from that of the kitchen sink, move the pressure tank to the opposite side of the basement, and plumb in a utility closet with connections for a tankless water heater, utility sink, clothes washer, future bath, and kitchen.
I therefore plan on simply redoing all of the existing supply line plumbing during the course of this project. I could potentially utilize 3/4" or 1" line through the softener all the way to my main cold water line manifold prior to fixture end-runs (w/shutoffs!). I plan to bypass the softener with a main supply line to an "untreated" water manifold which will feed end runs to my two outdoor hose bibs and the ice/water dispenser on my fridge, where we obtain all of our drinking water.
I also plan to install a spin-down sediment filter upstream of the softener and a dual grade 50/5 micron Big Blue sediment filter downstream from the softener, with pressure gauges before and after. The main idea with the downstream filter is to protect against potential resin loss from the softener making its way into the plumbing and fixtures.
I grew up with hard water and am used to its effects, and we've lived in this house for six years now with the existing hard water. The primary reason for pursuing a water treatment solution at this point is the desire to replace our 18-year-old (!!) electric tank-style water heater (from whence I just shop-vac'ed 62 pounds of mineral sediment) with a natural gas-fired tankless unit. Of secondary consideration is the ability to better wash cloth diapers without additional, expensive softening agents and detergents.
Background & Environmental Circumstances
First, some background for sake of context. My wife and I do our best to be environmentally responsible, particularly as affects water use. While Michigan by and large doesn't struggle with the drought conditions of the southwestern states, we do live in a unique area of southwest Michigan which consists of primarily sandy soils. The soil composition and climate provide the perfect growing conditions for seed corn, as the sandy soils eliminate the possibility of poor crops due to overwatering. However, also due to said sandy soils, irrigation is commonplace.
Random fact - our county alone produces 10% of the nation's seed corn, and is home to not only the Seed Corn Capital of the World but also the largest-in-the-world flagship processing facilities of seed corn giants Pioneer and DeKalb (Monsanto). There are more irrigated acres of cropland in our county than the rest of the state combined, as well as in any other county east of the Mississippi.
All of this seed corn production and the accompanying irrigation has resulted in some local water supply concerns. For example, the spring-fed private lake within our HOA has been suffering from significant year-over-year drops in water level for much of the last two decades. We recently commissioned an aerial survey of high-capacity irrigation wells and identified 101 such wells within a 2.5 square mile radius.
These circumstances serve as stark reminders for us to curtail our environmental footprint regarding water use as far as is reasonably possible.
System Type Selection
With the above context in mind, my wife and I waffled for some time on whether to install a salt-free descaling or conditioning system rather than a salt-based softening system due to both the water usage of a salt-based system during regeneration as well as the salt brine discharge into the water table.
Ultimately, after exhaustively researching and reading user reviews for most if not all of the primary salt-free descaling and water conditioning systems (including Clearwave, Eddy, EasyWater, Nuvo H2O, Evo Clear, Pelican, and Aquasana) we came to the conclusion that the extreme hardness of our water likely precludes satisfactory results being achieved from most if not all of these alternative systems.
Calculating the Environmental Impact of a Salt-Based Softener
To garner an idea of exactly how much environmental impact a salt-based softener would have for our situation, I spent several weeks sifting through innumerable forum posts, industry publications, technical considerations, and sizing guides in order to get a handle on determining appropriate salt-based softener size for our application.
After determining what I believe to be ideal system size, I created several mock regeneration schedules based on our water content, water usage patterns, and intended salt efficiency. I then cross-referenced this data with technical specs from several models to calculate water efficiency and gallons used per regeneration. Ultimately I was able to create what I believe to be a fairly accurate estimate of potential annual water and salt consumption.
My current plan involves sourcing a 48,000 grain (1.5 cu. ft. of resin) unit which, according to my calculations, should regenerate approximately every 20 days at a 5 lb. salt dose per cu. ft. of resin (salt efficiency of 4,000 grains/lb.) and a 5% (24-hour) reserve.
This results in estimated salt consumption of .34063 lb/day, 7.12 lb/regen, and 124 lb/year, with estimated water consumption of 3.27 gal/day, 65.4 gal/regen and 1,140 gal/year (Note: calculations do not include the advertised 30% backwash water savings offered by a Vortech tank - more on this later). This amount of salt and water consumption results in an increase of TDS in regeneration wastewater of 131%, from 500 ppm to 1153 ppm.
The above estimates put daily water consumption attributed to the softening process at about 5.2% of our daily household consumption, a number my wife and I can live with in exchange for all the benefits of soft water and the ability to install a tankless water heater which will, in turn, have a much lower environmental footprint than our current tank-style unit.
(Post 1 of 4)
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