Water Treatment/ hard water

[StihltheOne]

Went thru this a 2 years ago. The magnets do not really work...sorry... If you have very soft water, you probably do not need a softener, then the magnets will seem like they do a good job. You need salt to do the ion exchange to remove hardness. I oversized mine and it is night and day! Spend some money on a good one and you will be amazed! I bought a farm and fleet store one. It has a Fleck head just like culligan and a lot of the other name brands. In fact the same exact model! I paid about 650 and installed it myself. Culligan wanted 3k! Culligan just has Fleck make the parts slightly longer so that you have to go to them to buy stuff for 3 times the money! Fleck is made in brookfield WI if I remember right and I am 4 miles from them. That is the ONLY reason I even got this info. If you have iron use the iron out salt. It makes a difference as to cleaning the resin bed and maintaining it longer...

+1
You are right on the money. I used to work for culligan. How about a R/O under the sink for drinking water? I installed bunches of these. Our water around here is brutal and hard to treat, but it is treatable.

 

[angelo c]

Did a lot of research on this a year or so ago when my Sears finally died.
Bottom line is i got a salt based softener with separate salt tank and separate resin tank.

The saltless tanks supposedly don't remove the minerals. They change or nuetralize the ions so the minerals don't stick to anything, but they are still there. And almost 3 times the price.

The other option was the green sand filter that uses the potassium chloride and it was just too complicated for me. I have just the softener and drink right from the tap. No other treatment. It also removes the iron, but i should and will get an iron filter at some point soon.

Lurch,
What's in the second resin tank and how often does it require service/maintenance ?

 

[mtfallsmikey]

Went thru this a 2 years ago. The magnets do not really work...sorry... If you have very soft water, you probably do not need a softener, then the magnets will seem like they do a good job. You need salt to do the ion exchange to remove hardness. I oversized mine and it is night and day! Spend some money on a good one and you will be amazed! I bought a farm and fleet store one. It has a Fleck head just like culligan and a lot of the other name brands. In fact the same exact model! I paid about 650 and installed it myself. Culligan wanted 3k! Culligan just has Fleck make the parts slightly longer so that you have to go to them to buy stuff for 3 times the money! Fleck is made in brookfield WI if I remember right and I am 4 miles from them. That is the ONLY reason I even got this info. If you have iron use the iron out salt. It makes a difference as to cleaning the resin bed and maintaining it longer...

Yeah baby!...I sold many MacCleans, myers, Lancaster softeners/iron filters/acid neutralizers with Fleck heads..a local old-school hardware store still has a few NIB Fleck's from the mid-80's

 

[super3]

excuse the ignorance but how does a "magnet" get designed for this purpose?
Sized I could understand, but purpose designed?

Maybe that wasn't the best description on my part.
Ceramic vs rare earth.North on one side of pipe,south on the other facing the same direction. Iv'e had others tell me they tried them and when I asked them what kind they said just some old magnets they had laying around,said one was a great big one from a speaker.Iv'e talked to others that tried the elcheapo that wraps around the pipe and plugs in. They didn't work either.
There's a big differance in what's out there.If you burn wood do you choose cottonwood or oak? If you're a logger do you buy Polan? It.s a chainsaw! Not trying to push anyone to use them but I get a little tired of hearing they don't work when iv'e used them at 2 different houses in the last 14 yrs and they work fine for me. We also have some extremely hard water in this area.Iv'e also seen systems in this area with the same setup I have that did not respond, added 2 or 3 more units and then they worked fine.

 

[Lurch16th]

Lurch,
What's in the second resin tank and how often does it require service/maintenance ?

The main tank with all of the valves, etc is full of tiny resin beads. The salt tank just has the salt that you dump in. sorta looks like a plastic trash can.

The only thing i've done is fill the salt tank, not sure maybe once every 3-4 weeks. Can't remember because it isn't very often.
On my old one i think i replaced the timing gear after 12 years or something and every once in a while, year or so , had to brak up a salt bridge.

Main reason i went with a separate square salt tank instead of the cheaper All-in one.

Reallly isn't much to them.

I do have it plumbed to use softened water outside because if you have iron, your siding around the faucets will be stained.

But, you really shouldn't try to use a softener to remove iron.

 

[Burntime]

Make sure you get a seperate media and salt tank. If you do the all in one you are not supposed to use the iron out salt or resin cleaner. It is corrosive to the electronics! I did that the first time around and found out the hard way.

 

[angelo c]

Thanks Lurch, Burntime and Mtfalls
A

 

[Lurch16th]

Forgot to mention, maybe after 10 or 15 years you can consider replacing the resin beads, if there's a problem. But not likely. It looks like a very fine sand.

Yupp, using the iron out type salt in the single tank combo can corrode the electronics.

 

[angelo c]

15 years ?
I am lucky to get that long out of a wife !!!!!