Water Softener help

[jreacme]

Hi, I 'm looking to get a water softener. I have had such vast differences in quotes for this. And the latest came highly recommended at a competitive price but told me I needed to pick my own softener and buy it and he would install it. I don't know what to pick!

Here are my numbers from my water test:

Harndess: 6gpg
pH: 7.58
Alkalinity: 3.51 gpg
Chlorides 4 gpg
TDS: 223 ppm
Iron: 0.12 ppm
Turbidity: 1.4
Sulphates: 1.86 gpg
Iron Algaes: None

We have 7 people in the home. 2 adults and 5 kids. Kids are young and not using a ton of water now, but the oldest is 11, and will likely start using more soon. We have 2.5 baths and do about 8 loads of HE wash per week.

I was looking at this GE softener:

http://www.homedepot.com/p/GE-31-10...gclid=CIavzsK379ACFcxWDQodwK8J2g&gclsrc=aw.ds

As it says it filters Chlorine and we have city water. But I'm open to others. Would love advice from people not monetarily invested in my choice!

 

[SHEPLMBR]

Are you having issues with your water that would warrant a system. Or are you going by what you were told? Are your fixtures corroding? Black stains in toilet tank?

 

[speedbump]

I would first find out how your community treats it's water. Chlorine alone or Chlorimines? That to me would be the biggest problem. Getting the carcinogens out of the water.

Six GPG is almost soft all by itself. If you install a softener, you will have difficulty telling the difference.

I do sell softeners but wouldn't recommend one for your water. Find out what the city puts in your water then we can tell you how to remove it. I would never buy a softener that is filled half way with carbon to filter just chlorine. Once the carbon is saturated, it needs to be changed (1 to 2 years) then you dump out all your softener media along with the carbon and rebed the entire unit. Hopefully your city only uses chlorine and you can get rid of that with a simple carbon filter. Much less money than a softener. And if I was shopping for a softener, a big box store would be my last choice.