Water Softeners

[Chris Bates]

Hi,
We have never used softeners at home despite having hard water in the region. This hasn't been a big issue as long as patients are decalcifying monthly. However since all our ROs are heat disinfected weekly I wonder if we are giving ourselves unneccessary work, Our heat membranes are lasting 2 to 2 1/2 years and we do get problems with drain valves chalking up and sticking. I am considering fitting softeners.
Can anyone recommend a reasonably priced, duplex softener with proven reliability, easy installation and small size ?
Chris

[Ian Wilde]

We use these ones Chris where needed.
Obviously they are available from other sources and I bet you can beat the price too.

We haven't had to order one in a while but I'll be shopping around when we do.

http://www.softwatershop.co.uk/watersoftener/skylark.htm


Ian

[Chris Bates]

Thanks Ian,
I was thinking Duplex- I see they offer those too. If anyone has experience of duplex softeners I would be interested. Also quite a few are non-electric which might be easier to install too.
Chris

[Ian Wilde]

No problem Chris,

I can see the point of having duplex in a main unit but do you not think it's overkill for a home situation?  (extra cost, space etc...)  If the softener went down the absolute worst is that you might need to soak the RO membrane in citric overnight to bring it back around and when all is said and done a new membrane is only a couple of hundred quid.  Providing the resin doesn't get turned to mush by high chlorine levels then we've always found that a regularly regen'd softener is quite reliable.

Just a thought...

Ian

[fraser gilmour]

We use a metered 10l simplex unit from gapswater.co.uk

[Terry Simpson]

We use the Kinetico 2020c water softener supplied by the soft water company: www.thesoftwatercompany.com.
It's mechanical no electrics involved, it is a two tank system so one cylinder can backwash whilst the other is in operation and does not interrupt treatment. Also rather than using salt tablets or granules it uses blocks of salt (about the size of 1.5 house bricks end on) which our patients find a lot easier than bags of granules.

[Ian Wilde]

Nice piece of kit Terry but expensive?  I can see the advantage with the salt block but again are these pricey?

The ones we use are very basic compared to the Kinetico and we have to set them to backwash at a time when there will be no one drawing from it - usually crazy o'clock in the morning.

[Ian Wilde]

Fraser - is yours more of a traditional plant setup?

[Ian Wilde]

Ours looks like this btw...  Luckily in Manchester we have little need for them.

[fraser gilmour]

No we use this one as standard, fleck 5600 control head, which is pretty bulletproof and easy to service

[Ian Wilde]

very similar to the one we have

[Terry Simpson]

No it's not cheap, about £700 and the salt works out at about £0.60/kg. However the're compact, quiet (backwash whilst in use so won't disturb your sleep) clean and maintenance free.

[Chris Bates]

Hi,
Yes I was looking at the Kinetico too. Quite expensive but the membranes for Aqua C Uno H is about 4 x the price of one for a Purite and we have very hard water so it may make sense in the long term as some heat membranes only seem to last about 2 1/2 - 3 years.

[DrewB]

Hi Chris,

We are using the kinetico softners as well. We also have approx 10 harvey water softners that we are no longer using.

http://www.fountainsofteners.co.uk/PBSCProduct.asp?ItmID=17510357&AccID=70764&PGFLngID=1&keyword=&gclid=CIrazfrZ%5FcYCFUvItAodJHoNFg&campaignid=304086488&adgroupid=17513390288

They work on the same principal as the kinetico ones and we worked out a discount for a bulk buy. You are welcome to try these if you would like I would be happy to have them out of the plant room.

Please feel free to contact myself or Gareth to discuss.

Drew

 

[Chris Bates]

Hi all,
We have been using duplex non-electric softeners for a while now.

Harveys/Crown softeners - 6 of 8 stopped working as the flow measurement part jams up very easily and irreparably.

Kinetico softeners seem better but about half of them keep letting through salt boluses which shut down the RO and take a while to clear.

We are moving to the traditional timed softener with the Autotrol head as many others use.

Does anyone else experience salt breakthrough with the Kinetico softener or have a solution ? It has become quite an issue for us.

Chris

[fraser gilmour]

We've been using this 5L softener unit for a little while now and are slowly switching all our HHD patients over to it. Great for lifting and handling and very economical on it's water use, the valve is a bit noisy when doing the regen but not a big problem.
Fileder and Gaps water are supplying.

 http://www.spectrum-filtration.com/product/wts-soft/

[DrewB]

Hi Chris,

We had problems with salt break through on kinetico softners. I would have a look at the incoming water pressure. From memory it needs to be around 3bar.

Drew

[Terry Simpson]

I must admit that is a problem we have not experienced in Leeds, however we do set our incoming water to a max 3bar