


Metered water softeners measure the amount of water you use, and will try and regenerate often enough to keep up with usage. During service, water simply flows through the system. Mechanical components in a water softener only have to work during the regeneration process. Would your car require more service if you drove 40,000 or 10,000 miles per year? Tip 2: To make sure you don’t run out of soft water between regenerations, add 30% extra capacity for a reserve or safety factor. At this point the system will have to clean itself out with salt (also known as regeneration) to resume softening. Once a system has reached capacity, the resin beads will be covered with minerals, and be incapable of softening the water. Tip: Common residential sizes include 0.75, 1.0, 1.5, and 2.0 cubic foot systems 1 cubic foot of resin can remove 32,310 grains of hard water minerals (calcium, magnesium, iron, and manganese). These resin beads remove hard water minerals by pulling them out of the water – much like a magnet.Ī water softener’s capacity is based on the amount of resin inside the unit.
#7 little hard water conveyance full
Water softeners are full of small plastic beads called ion exchange resin. Tip: It is far more efficient and effective to use an iron filter to remove iron and manganese instead of a water softener. Tip: Multiply parts per million (ppm) of iron and manganese x4 to convert them into grains per gallon When sizing a water softener, you must convert the measurement of all minerals into grains per gallon (gpg). Water softeners can be used to remove dissolved calcium, magnesium, iron, and manganese.Ĭalcium and magnesium are measured in grains per gallon (gpg) while iron and magnesium are measured in parts per million (ppm).

Tip: Multiply the maximum number of people x your estimated use/person (4×100 = 400gpd) Water Quality Heavy water use (lots of laundry, long showers, etc.) can easily add up to 100gpd/person or more. This means an average family of 4 would use 300 gallons per day. How much total water does your family use throughout each day – a little, or a lot?Īverage domestic water use is 75 gallons per day per person (75gpd/person). The combination of these components will determine the flow rate a water softener can support. If your softener is too small and you try and use too many fixtures simultaneously, you will experience a large drop in water pressure followed by hard water and iron bleed through.Ī well engineered system integrates the internal diameter of the bypass valve, control valve, mineral tank, distribution system, as well as the volume and type of ion exchange softening resin. Tip: Add the maximum number of fixtures you could use at once (2 sinks + 1 toilet + 1 bathtub). It’s crucial not to undersize your water softener when it comes to flow rates. How many places could your family use water simultaneously? Could you have 2 sinks running, a toilet flush, and bathtub fill at the same time?įlow rates are measured in gallons per minute (gpm).
