- Our water softeners can handle ~ 5 ppm of dissolved iron with no problems - if your iron concentration is above this level, we may need to consider a means of iron removal first. When using a water softener alone with an iron concentration above 2 ppm you may want to consider our Iron Eliminator add-on package. Very high iron and manganese levels can also be removed with water softening. This can be done by configuring the softener with special equipment and ion exchange resin - if you are interested in more information please email the factory with your request.
- If you have levels of iron within the 2-5 ppm range, you may want to add only the Res-Up drip feeder portion of our Iron Eliminator package to your design. A Res-Up feeder is a small tank that we mount into your brine (salt) tank, that gravity drips Res-Up solution into your salt. Res-Up (also sold under the brand name of Pro-Res) is a chemical solution that effectively removes accumulated iron from your water softener resin bed. This is a similar chemical to that contained within many water softener salts that are designed to enhance iron removal (Red-Out Salt, Rust Remover Salt, etc.). If a drip feeder is used, then you no longer will need to purchase this type of salt. Instead, you can simply use any standard granular or pelletized salts, that are purified for use in a water softener system. This design can be purchased on our Chemicals, Resin and Filter Media page. If purchased along with a water softener system, we will mount the feeder into the water softener brine tank.
- If you have a well, you first might want to consider installing a commercial sized sediment cartridge filter upstream of any softener you may purchase - this will extend the life of the softener. If you are on a municipal system with chlorine in the water, you can consider the same cartridge filter housing with a carbon filter cartridge installed to remove chlorine (chlorine can harm and shorten the useable life of water softener resin). You can look at commercial grade cartridge filters (low pressure drop) on our Cartridge Water Filter page.
- Our micro-processor/metered softener units are factory set to normally regenerate at 2:00 AM (although you can change this). So, if there is some water usage at (for example) 2:15 AM, and the softener determines that a re-generation is necessary, the unit will not regenerate until the following night at 2:00 AM. You need to make sure that in this case you have the extra capacity to carry you through the next day, and also have a little extra capacity for when the softener resin loses some of its fresh activity years down the road. For this reason the industry standard to recommend that you would set your unit 20% below its actual capacity.
- Standard water supply flow rate for residential application is about 8 GPM. The units we offer with 3/4" standard connections can accommodate 9-13 GPM, depending on what unit you are interested in. If your home has 1" or 1. ¼” supply piping, you may want to look at a higher capacity (higher flow rate) 1" or 1 ¼” units. Keep in mind that if you do not have larger diameter supply piping, you will not see any benefit in using a larger flow 1" or 1 ¼” system - so there is no need to spend the extra money.
Other considerations are:
- In general, the lower cost "down-flow, manual re-generation clock" units will do the job just fine, but use more water and salt in the long run. The medium price "down flow , micro-processor" metered units will use less water and salt, and our the most popular sellers. The highest price "up-flow counter-current brining micro-processor" units really minimize the salt and water consumption, but are high-end, and using these units mostly depends on your budget. Mechanical metered units are also available, and these units are a good choice in areas that have frequent power outages - although all of our microprocessor units have NVRAM and remember hardness and capacity settings, when power is lost the time of day needs to be re-set - mechanical metered units measure water consumption even in the event of a power loss (note: some of our water softener systems have an onboard battery back-up power supply, and time-of-day will be maintained during power outages when using these units).
- You will also need 5/8" OD (3/8" ID) poly-tubing for the drain line, or a drain line connection kit. Both are available for online purchase at the bottom of our water softener pages, or also at most local plumbing supply stores. Visit the Water Softener page for more information.
- If you are not sure of your water quality, and would like us to provide a free analysis, visit our Water Analysis page for more information on how to take a water sample and our laboratory's mailing address.
- CAI systems are highly efficient, and do not donate much additional sodium to your water - you can't detect by other than laboratory means. However, if you have some concern about added sodium or are following a restricted sodium diet as recommended by a physician, CAI softeners work equally well using potassium chloride as a regenerate.
- For customers living in California, where chloride discharge restrictions are tighter, you may want to consider a countercurrent (up-flow) design water softener, which will provide you with soft water with reduced consumption and discharge of sodium or potassium chloride.
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