Water quality - Softener necessary?

[Tampa Water Softener]

I know this is an old post, but there are a lot of views so I thought I would try to help clear a couple of things up. (For what it's worth, I am an Accredited Green Plumber and Master Plumber).

First, Morton is right. A water softener and a reverse osmosis system are two totally different things. A reverse osmosis system is a type of drinking water filtration system. It potentially provides the cleanest water possible, depending on membrane used to filter the water. Reverse osmosis systems actually waste about 4-5 gallons of water for every gallon of clean water produced, so they are usually only used for drinking water.

A water softener, on the other hand, is a device to remove hardness minerals- calcium and magnesium- from the water. The amount of these minerals in the water is measured several ways, but "grains per gallon" is the measurement used to size a water softener. The more grains per gallon of minerals in the water, the "harder" it is.

Water in the Tampa Bay area has an average hardness of 7-10 grains per gallon. This is considered fairly hard as far as hard water is concerned. Water softeners are sized by the capacity in grains. So, theoretically, a 40,000 grain water softener will be able to soften 4000 gallons of water at 10 grains per gallon before it needs to "regenerate".

Water softeners contain "resin" beads that attract and "capture" the hardness mineral molecules as the water passes through the resin tank. When these beads get "saturated", a salt-water solution is back-flushed through the tank to clean them off. This is called regeneration. The amount of water used varies between models, but even an efficient model uses about 40 gallons per regeneration.

So, Mike is right also. If a water softener is undersized it will need to regenerate more often and could cause a high water bill. On the other hand, there really is no drawback to going a little bigger than you have to because it will just go longer between regenerations.

Last, there are some pretty big differences in efficiency between some models. The more efficient the water softener, the less water and salt it will use. The best ones can soften over 5000 gallons of water per pound of salt. Even though salt is pretty cheap, that usually means less water used also.

Sorry for the long post, but I hope this helps clear up some of the confusion I have seen in the Tampa water softener market.

[Patfl1]

I have a Kinetico Model 60 I want to install at my home in St. Pete. We moved, and the servicer I used is now out of range. Does anyone have any recommendations. I need to get a quote for install, and would like to have the valve serviced. I just installed a 10 ppm resin.
Thanks in advance,
Patrick

[Innertuber]

A water softener will make it easier to wash your car, keep the shower and glasses cleaner and you might prefer the effect.

I've installed several and I always use the exact same model. Based on my research hands down this is superior. Fleck 7000 Electronic Metered High Flow On Demand Water Softeners

A plumber can install it or perhaps you can. It will flow up to 25 gpm. I buy them online.

I've even used a second one as a carbon filter with 2 big blue sediment filters and been able to flow more than 15 gpm.

Good luck

[tom11011]

I would like to resurect this thread in the hopes that "Tampa Water Softener" or someone with knowledge will respond. We just bought one and I want to be sure I am setting it properly.

A hardness of 7-10 was mentioned for the area, does that include the New Tampa area? Also, is there any iron in the water, the instructions say to increase my hardness number by 5 for every 1ppm of iron. The default setting of the unit is 25 which might be too high.

Please chime in.

[BucFan]

I lived 7 yr without softner/filter and moved a place with it and found that it is a money making scam by these companies trying to sell you the filters as well as installation. I have it, but could live without the systems. I don't know the effect on my longterm health is though.

[EngGirl]

Originally Posted by BucFan

I lived 7 yr without softner/filter and moved a place with it and found that it is a money making scam by these companies trying to sell you the filters as well as installation. I have it, but could live without the systems. I don't know the effect on my longterm health is though.

+1
It's really a win-win industry

[bentlebee]

Originally Posted by BucFan

I lived 7 yr without softner/filter and moved a place with it and found that it is a money making scam by these companies trying to sell you the filters as well as installation. I have it, but could live without the systems. I don't know the effect on my longterm health is though.

I have a complete different experience. Our dishes and glasses stay cleaner as well as faucets with less work to keep them nice and shiny and skin feels much better even without body lotion.

We never fell for sales stories from plumbers who wanted to sell us a $ 3000 system as being the only good working system and bought a system at Home Depot and had it installed by a licensed plumber.

You don't need an expensive system. In another home which is larger we had also a system installed and again the plumber was giving us all the negative info on how short this system will work and not perform good as the house is too big for the system while the system is sold for exactly the amount of bathrooms, etc. but we don't fall the sales crap they try to sell as right now this plumber is advertising so much on radio, bill boards, etc. which all has to be paid by the clients for paying them more and their prices have sky rocket since they started to advertise so much.

Your home will show less wear and tear on pipes as rust and hard water play less of a role with a water softener.

Of course a lot of tenants don't like it as they have to buy salt and pour it in which is an additional cost and most tenants don't care about pipes and faucets like an owner does. Higher end tenants all seem to appreciate water softeners but lower end tenants is the group where only a small percentage likes it and we believe it has to do with spending money and time to buy salt.

Of course not everyone will like a water softener as in the end it is a personal preference aside from the benefits for the plumbing of your home which to me is very important.

[The Chap]

Originally Posted by bentlebee

I have a complete different experience. Our dishes and glasses stay cleaner as well as faucets with less work to keep them nice and shiny and skin feels much better even without body lotion.

We never fell for sales stories from plumbers who wanted to sell us a $ 3000 system as being the only good working system and bought a system at Home Depot and had it installed by a licensed plumber.

You don't need an expensive system.

Agreed. We've had our water softener/filter for a month now, and the difference is VERY noticeable. And, we also did not go with an expensive system.