Getting a Water Softener System - Any Advice, Guys?

[Merle]

The excessive soapy feeling is from having too much soap for what your water needs to do the job. Cut back a bit and you'll find your comfort point.

That is also a valid recommendation in the clothes and dishwashers if you use something which isn't pre-measured. Only other thing that's of major interest, if you have an espresso machine; many say R.O. water is too pure for some devices and their electronic level sensors in the water tank et al. "Seasoning" the pure with a bit of mineralized can help you prolong the life of such devices.

Oh, and, if you're hypertensive; Do NOT drink the water from your softened taps. That's sodium you're placing in your water to replace the Calcium which contributes to hardness. Think of your taps as "Working" water now, drinking comes from the RO.
...and last... consider it full disclosure; some people believe RO is too pure and helps leach needed mineral from the human body. Consider it something to review, study, and make your own informed decisions upon. It's kinda in the realm of YMMV. But, by all means ask your PCP and specialists / pediatricians.

 

[Jnatcat]

Ok so we've had the softener for a few days now, and I can tell for certain that its working. I'm definitely getting that soap didn't wash off feeling.... but its not that bad. I knew to expect it, and I've been telling myself to ignore it, everything is normal. And once I dry off its gone, I don't notice it or feel soap. I'll get used to it. I'm the only one who seems sensitive to it though, my teen boys and my wife have noticed it, but its no biggie to them. That's a plus... if she hated it, might have a prob on my hands lol. Other than that, I cant say theres much else I've noticed yet. Time will tell I guess with things like spotting on shower door n such.

The RO drinking water is as expected. Good stuff and I like having it! Kids like it too. The only thing that's been a downer is it was hooked up to some kind of loop system that was pre plumbed in our house that goes to the kitchen sink and the fridge water line, but for some reason the fridge ice maker stopped working! There is water going to the fridge, its only one line. Possible I goofed things up when I emptied the ice bucket to make room for new, and took out the filter, but never been an issue before. So I'm not sure, I've got fridge warranty repair guy coming Sat to check it out... I'm sure he'll blame the Culligan guy lol. But we'll see!



I watched the guy install it, and it took him a couple hours. He had to custom cut copper pipe and fit and sweat the joints with a blowtorch. He also had to run a PVC drainage line to the closest place that drained into the sewer system, which happened to be the laundry room cleanout. According to the guys, and local law, salt system drainage when it recharges has to be drained into a city sewer source, that may be a factor where you live too. If you're comfortable with all those types of DIY, then rock on man! That's a great price!

Its all PVC here in southern Texas and all the hard work is done I think, it's going in the 3rd car bay and going to sit on the car stop, plumber installed the bypass along with drain and trap and had the electrician put in a plug so it should be fairly straight forward and may only require a few trip to the hardware store

 

[Jnatcat]

Picked up the softener today and the plan was just to cut off the caps the plumber glued on the then glue on the 3/4" adapters, well long story short the supply valve leaks alittle so had to shut of house water and drain lines soI could just git r done

 

[CyberJCM]

Ok guys, question now. I know there are some settings on this thing to control how soft it makes the water. I'm thinking it may be set a little high, after doing some reading and based on how much I feel the slippery feeling. I know you can adjust various things, like regeneration cycle time and frequency, and then salt dosage. I don't want to mess with much and risk screwing it up though.

From what I understand adjusting the salt dosage is the easy first step, and it sounds easy in theory. But again I don't wanna goof it, so I'm asking you guys! Righy now my salt is set to 10lbs. What should I change it to, or should I do something different?

Thanks!

 

[Jnatcat]

The two softeners I have had in the past you could not adjust how hard/soft you wanted the water you just set you hardness level and that determined the regeneration, the Whirlpool one I currently use has used little to no salt over the past week since I installed it and my water is at zero hardness which is what we like.