Considering replacing Rainsoft system with a wholehouse filter

[brianarnes]

I currently have a Rainsoft system on myhouse. I live in Houston TX and we are on city water. Yes the water is hard. I am trying to figure out the best way todo this, if I should replace the softener system with a whole house filter or add a whole house filter into the line with the softener system.

I am concerned about the salt being dumped into the system by the softener and would prefer to stop doing that.

Does any one have any recommendations for a system? We use about 12K gallons a month with a family of 5 (2 adults and 2 teens and 1 preschooler) with 2.5 baths.

[Andy CWS]

Replacing it with a filter will eliminate the benefits of soft water.

What is your issue with 'dumping salt' into the system. There are at least three common complaints concerning this.

With city water, chlorine may also be a concern

Andy Christensen, CWS-II

[Gary Slusser]

The formula to find out how much added sodium in softened water is 7.85 mg/l per grain of ion exchange. I. E. say you have 15 gpg hardness, 7.85 times 15 = 117.75 mg of added sodium to roughly a quart of water. A slice of white bread usually has 120-160 mg of sodium. An 8 oz glass of skim milk, 500-530 mg. So taken in actual figures, where's the problem?

And if you buy a better, more efficient correctly sized softener, you'll use very little salt.

If you mean a disposable cartridge filter when you say "whole house", they were never meant to be used as POE (point of entry) "whole house" and don't work very well but, they do not soften water.

[brianarnes]

I have a concern about dumping salt back into the waste water system when the system does a regeneration. I was looking to have the same"quality" of water from all the faucets as our kitchen where we have a under sink filter that was installed by Rainsoft.

[Andy CWS]

Thank you. I didn't want to assume that you had one of the other reasons.

I think Houston's water is around 8 grain per gallon, if I remember correctly. With today's extremely highly efficient softeners, your desposal of salt into the water system would be so minute that it could hardly be detectable. Houston doesn't ban, prohibit or even discourage softeners in their public works system, does it?

You didn't mention which Rainsoft machine you have and they do make some that are not very efficient (timer models), but you could probably figure out how much salt is being used over a period of time and compare with your water meter readings.

Now you are saying that you have 'an under the sink filter'. Is that an RO?

If so, and you want the same quality (whole house RO) at all faucets, that is not practical, cost efficient or really needed. Besides the space required is really quite large and operating cost will increase depending on your volume. If you estimate that you are using 12,000 gal per month, or aboout 75 gal/person/day, then your concentrate water (waste) may be in the neighborhood of 48,000 down the drain. This will increase your sewage charges as well.

There is no perfect arrangement, but a high efficiency water softener using as little as 0.5 lb per regeneration is practical and effective with a solid, reliable technology.

Thank you for making clear your objections to the 'salt' question. Can you tell us more about the model of softener you have and whether it is a demand operated type or a timer model?

Thanks,
Andy Christensen, CWS-II

[brianarnes]

The softner system is supposedly regenerates based on every 10K gallons of water that flows through it. Then it regenerates at 2AM.

[Andy CWS]

Right. So about once every 3.5 weeks or so. Not bad. I still don't think the amount of salt should a concern especially into a system as massive as Houston's. At around 8 grains, there probably aren't all that many softeners on line. Cities in my area have 17 - 29 grains and the hard water effects are very evident and damaging. Are you aure about 10,000 gals of service? How big are your tanks?

Nonetheless, you won't find another method --magnets, electric wires, etc.-- that will produce results with all the benefits that your present system does. In fact, I would recommend a dechlorinator before the softener.

Also, was that an RO under your sink?

Andy Christensen, CWS-II

[Gary Slusser]

I have a concern about dumping salt back into the waste water system when the system does a regeneration. I was looking to have the same"quality" of water from all the faucets as our kitchen where we have a under sink filter that was installed by Rainsoft.

OK, that amount is the number of lbs of salt that your softener uses per regeneration and then the number of gallons of water used for a regeneration.

And I see your softener regenerates at 10,000 grains used but you say gallons which is not possible with most control valves and Rainsoft uses a Fleck 5600 control and the max gallons is 2100. Also, most softeners are not sized for max salt use or grains of capacity and most control valves are not set at the max gallons between regenreations.