I am looking to replace my 20 year old water softener -
- any suggestions ?
.. recently noticed some staining in the toilets.
A fancy iron-remover is not required - there is a small amount
of iron in the well water - but if I can get 20 years service
from a softener - good !
Test results are
Mg / Ca 13 / gal
Iron 2 ppm
total 19 grams per gal
Southern Ontario
John T.

On Mon, 19 Sep 2016 16:22:40 -0400, wrote:

I am looking to replace my 20 year old water softener -
- any suggestions ?
.. recently noticed some staining in the toilets.
A fancy iron-remover is not required - there is a small amount
of iron in the well water - but if I can get 20 years service
from a softener - good !
Test results are
Mg / Ca 13 / gal
Iron 2 ppm
total 19 grams per gal
Southern Ontario
John T.

John,

Search for how to size a new softener, there are instructions or
maybe a calculator are available. About 75 gallons of soft water, per
day, per person. Covers laundry, showers, etc. The meter power head
needs to be set. Includes mineral hardness. (formula)

"Gary Slusser" in also a name to search. He's not posting here
anymore, bought an RV and retired.

On Mon, 19 Sep 2016 15:31:00 -0700, Oren wrote:

On Mon, 19 Sep 2016 16:22:40 -0400, wrote:

I am looking to replace my 20 year old water softener -
- any suggestions ?
.. recently noticed some staining in the toilets.
A fancy iron-remover is not required - there is a small amount
of iron in the well water - but if I can get 20 years service
from a softener - good !
Test results are
Mg / Ca 13 / gal
Iron 2 ppm
total 19 grams per gal
Southern Ontario
John T.

John,

Search for how to size a new softener, there are instructions or
maybe a calculator are available. About 75 gallons of soft water, per
day, per person. Covers laundry, showers, etc. The meter power head
needs to be set. Includes mineral hardness. (formula)

"Gary Slusser" in also a name to search. He's not posting here
anymore, bought an RV and retired.

Gary was a great guy to have around. On his advice I dumped the beads
out of my old water softener, cleaned the strainers, got a local guy
to order me a new load of beads and I was good to go. When the timer
went bad, some years later, I found one on the interweb for around
$100, including a new float valve. There is really not much that goes
wrong with a water softener.

On 9/19/2016 3:22 PM, wrote:
I am looking to replace my 20 year old water softener -
- any suggestions ?
.. recently noticed some staining in the toilets.
A fancy iron-remover is not required - there is a small amount
of iron in the well water - but if I can get 20 years service
from a softener - good !
Test results are
Mg / Ca 13 / gal
Iron 2 ppm
total 19 grams per gal
Southern Ontario
John T.


Your iron problem seems similar to mine and that would be that you are
dealing with what they call/called "bacterial iron" It is iron that is
in the water which settles out of still water rather than a heavier
concentrate which stains anything it comes in contact with.

Bacterial iron can be dealt with by the softening process provided you
don't exceed the capacity of the softener between recharging.

Formerly, our old Sears softener did a great job so long as we didn't
forget to add salt to the brine tank or, more frequently, have a period
of heavy soft water usage between recharges.

That problem was pretty much solved by the switch to the newer Sears
control head which bases its recharge cycle by water use and hardness
vs. water hardness and fixed timing (i.e. every three days or every two
days, whatever). I think this type of timer was introduced by a company
called Kinetico though they may have not been the first, merely the
first that I know of.

What I have had success with over the years with the demand recharge
system is to take hardness (I think mine is something like 26 gr of
hardness) and multiply it by a factor of 1.2 or 1.3. You can tweak it
whatever way you wish but I started with 20% increase since if I "run
out" of soft water at noon unless I intercede manually at noon and
trigger an instant recharge, I know that the required recharge will not
be occurring until around 2:00AM the following morning. IOW, my intent
is to always have the softener recharge itself BEFORE it really needs it.

Works for me, my 2 cents and worth every penny that you pay for it!

On 09/19/2016 08:22 PM, wrote:
I am looking to replace my 20 year old water softener -
- any suggestions ?
.. recently noticed some staining in the toilets.
A fancy iron-remover is not required - there is a small amount
of iron in the well water - but if I can get 20 years service
from a softener - good !
Test results are
Mg / Ca 13 / gal
Iron 2 ppm
total 19 grams per gal
Southern Ontario
John T.

http://www.lowes.com/pd/Whirlpool-44...ftener/3824565

On Tue, 20 Sep 2016 08:34:58 +0000, Walt
wrote:

On 09/19/2016 08:22 PM, wrote:
I am looking to replace my 20 year old water softener -
- any suggestions ?
.. recently noticed some staining in the toilets.
A fancy iron-remover is not required - there is a small amount
of iron in the well water - but if I can get 20 years service
from a softener - good !
Test results are
Mg / Ca 13 / gal
Iron 2 ppm
total 19 grams per gal
Southern Ontario
John T.

http://www.lowes.com/pd/Whirlpool-44...ftener/3824565


Thanks everyone - for the input.
Some good general info at the Lowes web link - Whirlpool Manual -

https://images.lowes.ca/pdf/1973/whe..._f.2.26.13.pdf

I might just go that route - and forego the long warranty lure ...
John T.

On 9/19/2016 1:22 PM, wrote:
I am looking to replace my 20 year old water softener -
- any suggestions ?
.. recently noticed some staining in the toilets.


Stop eating so much meat. Meat makes really clingy ****splats in the
****ter.
Try a more healthy, veggie diet.
Remember:

1. eat mostly fruits and vegetables (not the human kind)

2. not too much

Hope this helps, and Happy ****splatting!

On Mon, 19 Sep 2016 20:03:13 -0400, wrote:

Search for how to size a new softener, there are instructions or
maybe a calculator are available. About 75 gallons of soft water, per
day, per person. Covers laundry, showers, etc. The meter power head
needs to be set. Includes mineral hardness. (formula)

"Gary Slusser" in also a name to search. He's not posting here
anymore, bought an RV and retired.

Gary was a great guy to have around. On his advice I dumped the beads
out of my old water softener, cleaned the strainers, got a local guy
to order me a new load of beads and I was good to go. When the timer
went bad, some years later, I found one on the interweb for around
$100, including a new float valve. There is really not much that goes
wrong with a water softener.

When I replaced my softener years ago it came with the resin. Learned
there are different quality of the resins. Some have a 10 year or
more lifetime usage.