Help with water softener

G-Me

G-Me

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I have a water softener kit I bought from Autogeek. One question that I have not seen anyone ask or answer, how long does the softener last b/t charges? I know that it will vary depending on how hard that water and the amount of washes. My water is very hard and I wash 2-3 times per month. I'm not sure if I should be recharging after every couples washes or only a couples times a year. What do you guys do?

Thanks for any infoFeed back please
 
this is a product I still want to try .... it appears that you recharge when you start seeing water spots again.
 
Hi guys...well this is my first post here and love the look of the forum....

So water softeners.....

Im not sure exactly what softener you have bought but as to how long a softener lasts is basically dependant on the water conditions ...

I have an r.o system setup in my garage which has a 3 filter system...
The first filter basically filters out the sediment in the water i.e sand , contaminants etc then the water passes to the second filter which is a carbon filter which purifies the water down to around 60 parts per million then it is forced through a membrane which takes the water down to around 30 to zero ppm......This largely depends on how hard your water is in your state but where i live in England we have a lot of clay and chalk due to the hills around kent....
This means that you can then put a seperate filter at the end called a di unit which is a polishing unit and this then uses + and - resin in a cannister which attracts the last contaminants in the water and makes it zero ppm which is what my water is .......

My system will shortly be kicking out 2000 gallons a day as i filter and wash my car everyday with it and can leave it to dry with zero water spotting...

So if your filter system is a 3 or 4 filter system such as this



you will only need to change filters every 6 months minimum but if you have a single cell system such as this



Then i would say average water quality every 30 washes......
 
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I have the deluxe water softener kit from Autogeek.

I have fairly hard water and wash 2 - 4 vehicles a week. I usually find myself recharging after about 6 - 8 weeks. What clues me in is when the foam gun stops foaming as well.
 
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Thanks guys! Now to wait until those PC polishers going on sale:)
 
I just bought the water softener and cartridge. Very happy so far, great quality.

There was one that was somewhat similar on chemical guys website and I emailed about it. They said that with very hard water it's good for 8-10 washes, and that with city water 50-60. Now that's their filter which wasn't rechargeable so I stayed away from it. I'm not sure about AG's filter but it's probably similar.

I don't care too much though because it's rechargeable.
 
Dont know if this is a problem here i live, but how can you tell you got hard water?

Cant say i get much waterspots, but those filters looks like something thats pretty smart.
 
I have always heard that Northern KY (where I am from) has very hard water, and you could tell just by the smell (hot showers smelled like minerals) and the mass amount of water spots and lime and calcium build up on showers, faucets, etc. I used the Watersafe drinking water test (just google it) for about $15 to test for impurities, PH and hardness. It gives a good estimate of all. It said the EPA desired level of hardness is 50ppm or less...mine tested at 250+.
 
I have an watersoftener for the entire house, however the outside hose is not part of that system... Has anyone gone thru the effort of trying to connect into home system ?
 
Largebore said:
I have an watersoftener for the entire house, however the outside hose is not part of that system... Has anyone gone thru the effort of trying to connect into home system ?
Click to expand...

A plumber would probably give you a free quote.
 
Are the rejuvenating tablets something that can only be used once? In other words, do you have to use fresh tablets and water each time recharge a water softener cartridge or can you recharge one, take it out of the bucket and recharge another you use as a back up by soaking it in the same bucket of water with the tablets in it?
 
Largebore said:
I have an watersoftener for the entire house, however the outside hose is not part of that system... Has anyone gone thru the effort of trying to connect into home system ?
Click to expand...

I installed a whole house water softener this past spring and connected my outside spouts to it. I did it all myself. I am the kind of do-it-yourself type, but it was the first time I have sweated copper. If you have any handyman in you, its not as difficult as it looks. Buy a book and practice a little and you be able to do most jobs. Connecting to outside shouldn't be too hard.

I had a Autogeek watersoftener cartridge and it helped, but my water was just too hard for it to be practical. I was still getting spots, so if you have really hard water like me (over 250 ppm) then larger softener is the must have option. Since I hooked up to the house softener, I never have spots...and the Autogeek foam gun kicks ass. Before I was using the highest setting on the gun to get medium foam, now I use the lowest setting and get more foam.:righton: Use less shampoo too:D

As far as the tablets go, they are just salt. Let them dry and reuse them. The packet of salt from Autogeek will last a couple/few charges, but you can get softener salt from a hardware store (40 lb bag for $5) and it will last you forever! I probably needed to charge the softener every few washes, mostly b/c my water was soo hard and I use alot of water when I wash.
 
vxrmarc said:
Hi guys...well this is my first post here and love the look of the forum....

My system will shortly be kicking out 2000 gallons a day as i filter and wash my car everyday with it and can leave it to dry with zero water spotting...

......
Click to expand...

Do you really wash your car everyday or is that an exaggeration?

Howard
 
Largebore said:
I have an watersoftener for the entire house, however the outside hose is not part of that system... Has anyone gone thru the effort of trying to connect into home system ?
Click to expand...

i lucked out...

when we bought out house, it had a cold and hot feed for a washer in the garage, with a master cut-off in between. the washer is in the house, so i'm unsure of why the extra hookup is outside. anyway, early on, i installed a new water heater, and then got a softener installed for the house- Autotrol manual head, big ass Structural media tank, brine tank, etc. the unused garage washer outs, both hot and cold, are tied into the house softening. other spigots, irrigation, etc obviously are not.

my setup is the following in the garage for my car washing pleasure-

i use washing machine colored hose connections, one red and one cold with rotary shut-offs on the end of each hose. i then run the hoses into a y, and the y into my hose reel. so, not only is the water softened, but i can modulate the temperate with the rotary shut-offs. usually i have the cold side half shut off, and the hot side wide open, so the water i use is almost hot, but not full hot.

makes a big difference on many fronts!

the only bummer is the way the pipes are setup against the wall, they come out from behind the wall and are exposed for about 2 feet while running up to the mounted shut-off, so it leaves the possibility of them freezing in the deep winter. i had one of those thermostatically controlled pipe warmer things wrapped around them both and it's worked perfectly, allowing me to wash my car well in the winter and get that salt off frequently!

if you put the effort into tying the softener into a garage water supply, go the extra mile and get a hot feed out there.
 
Water softener: Salt does not directly soften water; salt is only used to regenerate water softeners. The salt creates brine, which flushes the resin bed in the water softener to restore the univalent sodium ions. The sodium does an ion exchange with the hardness metals (calcium, magnesium, etc), so basically the hardness metals are replaced with sodium.
The water to be treated passes through a bed of the resin; negatively-charged resins absorb and bind metal ions, which are positively charged. The resins initially contain a divalent (single) hydrogen, sodium or potassium ions, which exchange with divalent calcium and magnesium ions in the water. This exchange eliminates precipitation and soap scum formation. As the water passes through both kinds of resin, the hardness ions replace the hydrogen, sodium or potassium ions which are released into the water. The "harder" the water, the more hydrogen, sodium or potassium ions are released from the resin and into the water

For more information see article “Water Filtration” DetailingWiki a series of informative, unbiased articles dedicated to automotive detailing
 
TOGWT said:
Water softener: Salt does not directly soften water;
Click to expand...

In the end, the softened water from an inhouse system does have increased salinity but as you mention it is not due to direct immersion but through ion exchange. I have seen reports that the amount of salt is about as a diet drink.

I like my Kenetico system.
 
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