purchasing a water softener? Advice or tips

[cptndavis]

I use a carbon filter in my shower made by a company called Aquasana. It has majorly reduced my water hardeness as I no longer have any metal stains on the tub. No salt or chemicals needed, just hook the filter up to the showerhead. Most importantly it filters all the chlorine out of the water. I believe they make a whole house unit as well.

[Master Shake]

Also, check the method of regeneration. This means, is the water softener set to regenerate (clean out) with a fixed timer or a usage meter? A fixed timer is set to regenerate ever X amount of days (whether you used the system or not), where as a usage meter is set to regenerate ever X amount of gallons used. Most people will say a usage meter is better, but it also costs a little more.

With a usage meter, the size of the system does matter. Most systems are sold on a grain capacity/usage basis. There is a rough formula you can use, which is: # of people in your house X amount of water used on average per day/per person X hardness of water. For example, if you have 4 people in your house, and each person uses roughly 75 gallons per day, and your water test shows you have a hardness level of 20 (not uncommon for Arizona!), you need a system that can handle 6000 grain/day. Now take the 6000 g/day and multiply it by 7 days to get 42k g/week (your system should regenerate roughly every 7-10 days). In this case, you would want a system that is at least 42k grain capacity. *These example numbers may be exaggerated and will vary based on your usage, but the formula is right.

[Ponderosa]

Originally Posted by cptndavis

I use a carbon filter in my shower made by a company called Aquasana. It has majorly reduced my water hardeness as I no longer have any metal stains on the tub. No salt or chemicals needed, just hook the filter up to the showerhead. Most importantly it filters all the chlorine out of the water. I believe they make a whole house unit as well.

A carbon filter will not remove hardness. "Hardness" is the result of dissolved cations (primarily calcium around here) and, in home water systems, can be exchanged as in a conventional softener or removed by a membrane as in reverse osmosis. You can't filter them out. Carbon filters are used primarily to remove organic constituents and harmful byproducts of chlorination.

Rust stains are caused when ferrous compounds are oxidized to ferric compounds (rust) in the presence of oxygen (exposure to air). Water supplies here are usually low in ferrous compounds and rust is not a major issue. Water high in iron is hard on water softeners as well though a softener is effective in removing small amounts.