Water Softner help

[The_Duckslayer]

My water softner has given up the ghost. Runs almost everyday now and does not produce much soft water. It is probably as old as the house, 17 years. I would like to purchase one and install it myself. What are some things that I want to look for and or avoid? I know that I would like to have a sensor one so that it only runs when needed and not on a schedule. Any tips would be helpful. I know that they sell them just about everywhere these days. What brand would be good to get and what should I avoid? Thanks in advance for your help. Take care and N Joy the Hunt././Jimbo

[backlash 1]

Unless your water has a huge amount of iron ( 4+ ) just get any old softner that is "on demand" in your price range. Kenmore, GE, Water Boss, is usually plenty good for the average household.

[eurolarva]

Sears stuff was pretty pricy. I got a morton system at meynards and it was pretty easy to install and I am impressed on how much less salt I use now. Maybe one bag a month at most with four people.

[Valv]

I have a WaterBoss that I bought over 10 years ago at menards and the unit still works like a champ.

I have well water, very hard, and I have to pre-filter, I have 5 children, and between the washes, showers, etc, my well was running constantly. I never used more than 2 bags/month, and the unit never misses a beat.

Now with only 2 children left home, I use only 1 bag of Morton pellets (the best I've found working with this unit).

[18 inch Crappie]

GE, Whirlpool and Sears are all made in Woodbury, MN but they have plastic control valves and plastic hookups. Try looking up a Fleck control. For the same money but far better unit.

[Eric Wettschreck]

Boiler, turbine, and water treatment stuff on an industrial level is what I do for a living.

Fleck is the way to go for a head, and Purlite is the way to go for resin. My e-mail is in my profile, drop me a line and I can explain the super duper tecky boring detailed stuff.

[spearchucker]

Mills Fleet Farm sells a model with a metered Fleck valve. It is the old style blue tank with a separate salt tank, but they are still the best. I installed one in our house and they work great. Any plumber can get parts for a Fleck valve if needed.

[LwnmwnMan2]

Just installed a Sears one about 4 months ago. Took me from about 4-5 bags every 6 weeks to 3 bags in 4 months now.

Basically just filled it up for the first time last week, even then, it was still about 1/4 full.

Anyways, whatever brand you go with, I'll give you a little hint that we found out.

When you're trying to sweat the copper pipe (if that's what you've got in your house) to the new pipe, it's somewhat hard, since you're probably not going to be able to completely dry that pipe out.

Anyways, we found some little rings of solder at Menards, that you just slip over the pipe, and they fit down into the connecting piece. You then heat the connecting piece up enough and it'll melt that little ring, rather than trying to get the solder to drip down in there.

It's pretty much an instant seal.

[The_Duckslayer]

Don't now if I will have to do any sweating or not... guess it all depends. I have not seen those but they sound kind of neat. I have never had an issue with sweating pipe though and this project would be easy to dry the pipe out. Thanks for the tip though! Now I have to get up off my lazy butt and go get a softner to install! Have a good one././Jimbo

[swamptiger]

I did some research on water softeners the last time my (Sears) softener gave out, and this time (about 6 or 7 years ago now), I bought a set of generic tanks with the Fleck valve - the simple one with the manual set and electric timer. I replaced the timer once since I have had the softener (about $40) and outside of that, all I've ever done to it is put salt in it. Parts for the Fleck valves are easy to find, and if you can use a screwdriver and a pair of pliers you don't need to call a plumber - they are actually a very simple mechanism to repair yourself.