On Thu, 17 May 2012 21:41:29 +0000 (UTC), "Arklin K."
wrote:

On Thu, 17 May 2012 14:02:09 -0700, Dottie wrote:

don't expect the water softener to stop your problem.

A softener replaces calcium ions with sodium ions, one for two. If water is
let to stand, sodium will be left (instead of calcium), causing spots.

Interesting. The salesman said that it would take the calcium down to
zero grains and that every 600 gallons it would replenish itself.

Automatic regeneration. It's generally set up to do it at night when you're
not likely to use water. It is noisy, if you care about such things.

He said the only thing I'd need to do is put fifteen pounds or so of salt
into the brine tank twice a year (for the reflush every 600 gallons).

Not buying that! I was using a hundred pounds a month.

He said the family uses about 75 gallons per person so that's why there
were two tanks.

And my water softener -
from Home Depot - was installed by my late husband.

From what I can gather, there is the existing pipe going into the tank,
plus a bypass valve to bypass the system for repairs plus the system
itself.

Since the system doesn't need electricity, all it needs is plumbing -
which I can do, unless there's something special needed.

Now to find an equivalent water softener that can handle 14 grains of
calcium (is that really a lot like the guy said ... or just normal)?

It's more than normal, since most city water is already treated but it's not a
"lot" for a well. Thirty or even forty grains is a lot, but not unheard of.
I few years ago, we lived in an apartment where the calcium came out as rocks.
*THAT* was hard water.