Whole-house water softeners
Two numbers decide most of it: how hard your water is and how much of it the house uses. Put them in and get the size class, then compare the systems in it.
Choose a system
Only a salt-based softener lowers the hardness reading. The other three solve a different problem, and on a lot of houses one of them goes in front of the softener.
Resin and a brine tank: the only kind that takes the hardness out. Fleck 5600SXT systems by grain size, twin tanks for large houses, and the store-brand cabinets.
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Template-assisted media that changes how the minerals behave and leaves them in the water. Less scale on heated surfaces, the same hardness reading.
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Hardness with iron, manganese or a sulfur smell. Fine mesh resin for softening and iron together, and when a separate iron filter goes first.
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Chlorine and chloramine out before the water reaches the softener. Backwashing tanks, upflow tanks with no drain, and catalytic carbon for chloramine.
CompareThe size most houses land on
Both regenerate by meter, both fit a 10 in tank footprint. The difference is the valve and who you call for parts.
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AFWFilters
Pentair's Fleck valve, sold by AFWFilters. You set it from the manual, and Fleck parts are easy to find.
Aquasure
Aquasure's own metered valve, with every line and fitting in the box. Parts come from Aquasure.
Know your number
Grains per gallon, the unit a softener valve asks for, on Penn State Extension's scale. Utilities report hardness in mg/L; divide by 17.1 to get gpg.
Hardness by Florida utilityOwning one
Salt bridges, a stuck injector, a bypass left open, and the hardness setting after a utility changes its source.
Where it goes on the main line, the drain air gap, the bypass, and the first regeneration.
What each does in the brine tank, and when potassium chloride is worth its price.