[Robert B]

Someone simply answer to question withjout scientific mumbo jumbo....If I want softer water, do I raise the numbers or lower the numbers????

[bayview6]

Set your number to 23. Your water is either soft or it isn't.

[DON1968]

i HAVE LOTS OF IRON IN WATER.WHAT SHOULD MY SETTING BE?WHIRLPOOL 40,000 SOFTENER

[Bikebob14]

Water hardness is 15.1 coming in. What should the setting be on the softner?

[VCU9362]

The first message to adress this was, indeed, correct. Soft water washes the soap (and funkies) off you MUCH more efficiently. It just FEELS like soap is still on you (slippery a by-product of sodium ions. (Lake/river water is also, typically soft, but it doesn't usually feel slippery)

[orca17]

Originally Posted by Robert B

Someone simply answer to question withjout scientific mumbo jumbo....If I want softer water, do I raise the numbers or lower the numbers????

It doesn't matter. Your water will either be soft or not. Changing the settings only alters the regeneration intervals.

[equid0x]

If the water doesn't feel slippery, it's not soft, unless you have a valve that remixes in some unsoftened tap water. The cheapy ge units just keep turning it up until the water is slippery and stays that way until the night it cycles.

My unit here was original to the house and would have had roughly 7 years on it and the zeolite was shot. I changed it out and have been back in business for about 5 years now.

[VCU9362]

There is a FORMULA for setting your water softener. And in that formula, you raise the setting based upon iron content. You MUST know the approximate hardness level of your water source if you wish to operate with any efficiency at all. Therefore, no one can simply "tell" you what setting unlesscthey get their water from the same place. Put forth the EFFORT to find out... or test it. (Free test strips from Morton salt and others online.) Just "guestimating" is not the way to go. For example, on GE units, if the water hardness is (X) parts per million, you divide it by 17.1, add (X) points for excess iron, and set the unit accordingly. Mine works beautifully. On municipal, it is important to find out if your water is sanitized with chlorine or chlorimines. HOPE its standaed chlorine!!! My city uses chloramine which is a massive pain-in-the-BUTTCRACK! Chloramine will destroy a resin bed relatively quick and cannot be filtered with standard $5 carbon filters. No, it takes a $105 FILTER!! made from catalytic carbon.

[equid0x]

It's probably cheaper to just change the resin bed.