Need new water softener

[destmasters]

Hello all:

I've not posted in a long time (a couple of years??) but find myself with a new issue and from past experience I know this is the best place to get the input I need.

We live in the Tampa Bay area of Florida and are on a well. Our current water softener pretty much died. It's a Kinetico and we've been told by several folks that while Kineticos are great for city water, they aren't the best choice for well water. We've decided on a Fleck 5600. What we haven't decided on is do we install it or do we have it installed? A little background...

We've been given prices for the system installed of about $1000 which includes pulling out the old system and hauling it away. We can order a new system and install it ourselves for about half that. Since there is a system currently on the well, I think we'd be okay installing this new one but since we've not done this before, perhaps there's something I'm not aware of. My husband is a former electrician so the electric hook up isn't an issue. The water "piping" is PVC tubing so there isn't an issue of sweating copper pipes, etc. Any thoughts on this?

After we jump this hurdle and get this taken care of, we'll be having a water treatment system added but WON'T be handling that ourselves. Our well is heavy on iron and sulphur. As of yet, we don't have exact readings on the water, we've never needed them since we bought the house with the softner and all was fine... until it died of course.

Thanks for any input on the installation of the softner and or our future hopes of a treatment system.

Destiny

[David Martel]

Destiny,

It shouldn't be hard to put in a new softener yourself but since you're going to have other water treatment work done perhaps you can get the water treatment company to give you a quote on a new softener. You say the Kinetico died, have you considered fixing it? Since you already have the Kinetico you know whether it works on your well. I seem to recall that the valve on the Kinetico is made with readily available parts so replacing the rubber parts shouldn't be a big deal. If the resin needs to be replaced a local business can do that for you. I bet you can fix it for a lot less than $1000 or $500 if you do the work.

Dave M. <

[Dick]

I recently installed a new Sears softener to replace our ailing 15 year old Sears. Took me about 20 minutes. Nothing magic. Of course then you have to dispose of the old one. I wouldn't pay someone to do it when you already have it plumbed. That's the hard part.

[destmasters]

Thanks Dave. Actually, the initial repair folks quoted repairs at almost $900 because of the parts needed, resin replacement, etc. We were told it needed the "2nd and 3rd section" of the valve part, where the turbines and such are housed. They also quoted us a refurbished unit for about $650 which started our search for a new unit installed ourselves.

Apparently, the rubber and plastic in the Kinetico is what makes it problematic for well water since the elements in the well water (like our excess iron and sulfur) erodes those parts. Our Kinetico is probably over 8 years old though I'm not sure how relevant that is.

[Edwin Pawlowski]

Go for it. If your husband is an electrician, he is good with his hands and if he can read a wiring diagram, he can read an installation manual. There are no big mysteries about setting up a softener.

There was a fellow posting here from Pennsylvania, Garry Slusser, that used to sell them and could have one drop shipped to you. He has not posted her in a long time, but may be worth contacting him as he seemed very knowledgeable and helped a lot of people here. . Quality Water Associates

[J Kelly]

They have a 10 year warranty. Find out for sure how old it is.

[J Kelly]

I bought a Clack WS-1 from Gary this past September. Rarely am I as pleased with a product and business as I was with this purchase. Gary is a fantastic guy, and the softener is working perfectly. Gary includes very detailed info on installation and programming of the units.

[willshak]

On 3/10/2005 5:25 PM US(ET), [e-mail] took fingers to keys, and typed the following:

I replaced an old Culligan WS with a new Sears one a couple of years ago. I had copper pipes so I had to do some sweating for rerouting since the inlet and outlet ports were closer together than the Culligan ports. I also installed a 1/4 turn ball valve on the outlet pipe, so the next time I have to replace or service it, I won't have to drain the whole house to remove the unit. Electricity was not a problem since both the old softener and the new one had electric plugs and were plugged into a nearby outlet. It took me about an hour of work.

[RBM]