On Thu, 8 Jan 2004 16:15:42 -0000, "Christian McArdle"
wrote:

The more recent Kinetico dual tank metered models required that for
a while, but they now accept pebble salt as well.

Can you now just buy a Kinetico over the counter, or do you have to ask some
otherwise unemployed scrote to come over and case the joint for a "survey"
and then sell you one with a 400% mark up and "free" fitting?

They do sell through dealers.

I was thinking of changing mine a few months ago, but it's still
working OK, so I haven't. Kinetico gave me the names of three dealers
in the local area (Basingstoke, Godalming and High Wycombe)

Most dealers sell several makes and usually have their own brand
assembled from OEM components like Autotrol valves and cost somewhat
less.

I bought my Kinetico unit from a dealer in Slough (although this was
in 1985) and I can't find the name now. They were happy to sell the
softener and a fitting kit for DIY install.

As far as the fitting part is concerned, it's worth getting wide bore
hoses - the standard ones are washing machine types and restrict the
flow.

I moved mine when the kitchen was refurbished and replaced the
original valve assembly (which had small plastic valves) with an
assembly I plumbed myself using lever ball valves and standard
plumbing parts. Basically you need a double check valve in case the
mains fails during the start of a regeneration and salty water would
be sucked back. The remainder is then three valves - one inlet, one
outlet and a bypass in case you need to remove the softener for any
reason.

Some of the softeners have a means of controlling the metered
regeneration. On the Kinetico, there is a geared cam arrangement
driven by a paddle in the flow path. This slowly rotates and at a
certain point trips the tank switch over and regeneration. You can
get different metering cams to go in the top according to the hardness
of the water. The default delivered one does 6 cycles per revolution
- we upped ours to 7 because there was still some residual hardness.
Other makes have methods which control the amount of water let into
the salt tank which in turn controls the amount of saturated brine
solution during a regeneration.





Christian.



..andy

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