Now on city water need advice

[My city water]

I recently moved to Houston TX and no longer am dealing with a well and lots of iron.

Now the water is 7 grains of hardness and between 2-3 ppm of chlorine.

From what I've read so far I should start with a carbon setup and then softner. The house has 4 full baths but only a family of 4 so usage shouldn't be too high.

So I will go with Chlorine Resistant 10% cross linked resin. Now should I consider Catalytic Carbon or just go with coconut carbon?

Is a 10x35 resin tank 1 cubic feet of resin and a 10X22 carbon tank .5 Cu Ft High Activity Carbon big enough?

Should I go bigger? How long will the carbon last?

Does anybody have suggestions for local suppliers?

Thanks

Erik

 

[Reach4]

Now the water is 7 grains of hardness and between 2-3 ppm of chlorine.

Looking at https://www.publicworks.houstontx.gov/sites/default/files/images/utilities/wq2015.pdf it looks like Houston uses chloramines rather than chlorine. Chloramines are harder to remove. I think they are harder for a homeowner to measure also. Note that the high levels that you describe would be at the treatment plant, and farther down the line the levels are lower.

 

[Sponsor]

 

[My city water]

I'm actually outside of the city in a mud district. They still use chlorine and I haven't heard of plans to change.

http://www.municipalops.com/districts/2016ccr/0112016ccr.pdf

 

[Reach4]

Nice.

I would order http://www.lamotte.com/en/drinking-water/test-strips/2964-g.html

I wish there was an inexpensive more sensitive version. Maybe there is.

Anyway, if the chlorine is low, I would not bother with the carbon for that. On the other hand, coconut activated carbon does remove other stuff. I don't know about the carbon tank size.

 

[My city water]

I've used a pool test kit and at the tap it's been about 2 for the past month.

 

[My city water]

I found this wifi enabled whirlpool water softner. It's a 46k unit comes with a 2 year warranty, 3 years on electronics and 10 on the tank. I can get 10% off and remote monitoring sounds like a bonus. Besides the unknown resin does anyone have an opinion?

https://www.whirlpoolwatersolutions.com/products/wi-fi-softener/

Full specs on page 3

http://pdf.lowes.com/installationguides/090259891412_install.pdf

 

[ditttohead]

Don't bother with the units from the big box stores, most of them are simply OPP designs. The lowest price wins... even the high end units at Lowes manufactured with Autotrol valves has just switched the valve to the lowest price valves from China in order to increase their profits. The price of the unit did not drop... sigh. Wifi enabled??? Seriously? Why? We have been working with app capable systems, wifi enabled etc... all of the designs are ignored after the first week. A properly designed and higher quality softener should last for 10 years without you doing anything more than adding salt. A softener is not an item that you want to add to your phone and be bothered with status updates... its not like the softener actually sends out any useful information. Wifi enabled is pure marketing, the actual functionality is nothing more than annoying.

Assuming chlorine... the 12x35 softener with .5 cf of carbon is actually a good system size/design. It has limitations but it is the smallest system design that still works for both chlorine reduction and softening with good effectiveness.

 

[My city water]

Thanks. I had figured as much but I love gadgets.

Anyway here is what I'm thinking.

FLECK 5600SXT 32k, 9x48 Fiberglass Resin Tank, 1 Cu Ft 10% Cross Link, Gravel Under-bedding,
15x36 Brine Tank
Fleck 5600STX 9x48 Fiberglass Carbon Tank, 1 Cu Ft High Activity Carbon, Gravel Under bedding

With the low hardness it's more about the chlorine removal.

 

[ditttohead]

If you like gadgets, try the XTR2 from Pentair. Full color touch screen with exceptional data logging for water consumption and much more but, not really needed in most applications. It is definitely a "geek toy"

 

[_John_]

I might do 10"x54" systems if it were me (might even go 12"x 52" on the carbon), but that's the setup I'd do in my house if I was doing a DIYer as far as types of systems go. 5600SXT's are solid valves.

9"x48" would work just fine if price played into what you posted.

 

[ditttohead]

Agreed, the 10x54 typically adds very little cost but it does add a 50% increase in size.

 

[Reach4]

I might do 10"x54" systems if it were me (might even go 12"x 52" on the carbon), but that's the setup I'd do in my house if I was doing a DIYer as far as types of systems go. 5600SXT's are solid valves.

The 5600SXT might not be so good backwashing GAC in a 12 inch tank. It's close. 10 inch no problem.

GAC needs a higher backwash rate than a softener.