Parasound
New Member
I'm just a non-plumber homeowner and I'm trying to understand how to set my water softener.
According to our city water department our water is a blend of aquifer and City water. Hardness from the city plant is 15.5 grains per gallon and from the aquifer hardness is 9.8 gpg. So to guestimate the hardness coming to our house I added the two numbers and divided by 2 to get 12.65.
When I check hardness with Hach SofChek test strips it shows between 1.5 and 3 gpg, or more.
I have tried different settings for the Autotrol 460i demand controller hardness set anywhere from 17 to 24.
I read about this calculation to increase the hardness setting to compensate for iron and manganese.
-multiply iron in ppm by 4
-Multiply manganese in ppm by 6
-add 2 gpg for any inefficiencies
So, add those altogether, 12.65 + 6 + 3+ 2 = 23.62, so I set the hardness setting at 23-24.
When I test the water with test strips typically it reads between 1.5 and 3 gpg, but the last time was significantly higher but I can't remember what it was at the time.
I have the hardness setting at 23 now.
I have the capacity setting at 24. - (I have no idea if this is right, it was set here when it was installed ~ 20 years ago)
If I decrease the capacity setting to less than 24 will it regenerate more often? Should I increase the hardness setting?
How do I get it to regenerate more often?
Maybe our water softener is too old to maintain water softness at 0 gpg? It is probably ~ 20 years old, and maybe the resin has passed it's useful lifetime?
It is just my wife and I who live in our house and use the water, so we probably don't use a lot of water.
TIA
According to our city water department our water is a blend of aquifer and City water. Hardness from the city plant is 15.5 grains per gallon and from the aquifer hardness is 9.8 gpg. So to guestimate the hardness coming to our house I added the two numbers and divided by 2 to get 12.65.
When I check hardness with Hach SofChek test strips it shows between 1.5 and 3 gpg, or more.
I have tried different settings for the Autotrol 460i demand controller hardness set anywhere from 17 to 24.
I read about this calculation to increase the hardness setting to compensate for iron and manganese.
-multiply iron in ppm by 4
-Multiply manganese in ppm by 6
-add 2 gpg for any inefficiencies
So, add those altogether, 12.65 + 6 + 3+ 2 = 23.62, so I set the hardness setting at 23-24.
When I test the water with test strips typically it reads between 1.5 and 3 gpg, but the last time was significantly higher but I can't remember what it was at the time.
I have the hardness setting at 23 now.
I have the capacity setting at 24. - (I have no idea if this is right, it was set here when it was installed ~ 20 years ago)
If I decrease the capacity setting to less than 24 will it regenerate more often? Should I increase the hardness setting?
How do I get it to regenerate more often?
Maybe our water softener is too old to maintain water softness at 0 gpg? It is probably ~ 20 years old, and maybe the resin has passed it's useful lifetime?
It is just my wife and I who live in our house and use the water, so we probably don't use a lot of water.
TIA
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