How much resin is in my water softener?
Water hardness is measured in grains, and water with more than 1 grain per gallon is usually considered hard. Using a water softener will reduce the concentration of minerals in household water, making it soft. Generally, soft water is helpful to the operation of a home plumbing system.
How to properly size a water softener?
- your water hardness
- your water consumption
- how both of those measurements correspond to the available water softener tank sizes and capacities
How much water softener or filtration media do you need?
There is no requirement to soften your water. The decision to soften is a personal choice that can affect your home and the environment. If your water’s hardness is greater than 7 grains per gallon or 120 mg/L, then you might need a water softener to ensure your appliances run well and to improve the taste, smell, or look of your water.
What size water softener do I Need?
Water Softener Sizing Guide.
- 0 – 3,500 grains per day needs a softener capacity of 24,000 grains.
- 3,501 – 4,500 grains per day needs a softener capacity of 32,000 grains.
- 4,501 – 5,750 grains per day needs a softner capacity of 40,000 grains.
- 5,751 – 6,850 grains per day needs a softener capacity of 48,000 grains.
How much does water softener resin weigh per cubic foot?
50 pounds per cubic footNet Weight (as shipped): 50 pounds per cubic foot.
How many grains is a 1 cubic foot water softener?
1 Cubic Feet of Softener Resin = 20,000 Grains Capacity.
What is the capacity of a water softener?
The capacity of a water softener is simply the amount of hardness it can remove before it needs to regenerate. Water softener capacity is one of the most poorly understood aspects of water softener sizing by both dealers and consumers alike.
How often should you replace your water softener resin?
every 10 yearsWater softener resin will usually need to be replaced every 10 years. Resin that's exposed to high levels of chlorine, iron, or water hardness will only last around 5 years. The lifespan of the resin depends on the quality of the water it is treating.
How much resin should a water softener have?
0.64 to 2.00 cubic feetDepending on its size, the amount of resin should be anywhere from 0.64 to 2.00 cubic feet. When you get the amount right, you eliminate one potential source of water softener problem.
What does 48 000 grain water softener mean?
Water Quality This family would do best with either a 48,000 grain unit (1.5 cubic feet), or ideally a 64,000 grain unit (2 cubic feet). Anything smaller would run out of capacity and work too hard to keep up.
How do I calculate softener resin?
Use the following formula to calculate the proper size:Multiply the number of people in your family times 70 (gallons of water used per day, national average).Multiply the answer by your water hardness in grains per gallon (to convert mg/l or ppm to grains, divide by 17.1). ... This is your "grains per day" number.
Can I replace the resin in my water softener?
Unscrew the valve head and set it aside (you may need a helper to hold the resin tank while you twist). Dump out all the resin and gravel (Photo 2). Before you install the new resin, cut the new riser tube to the same height as the old one and insert it into the water softener resin tank. Refill the softener (Photo 3).
What kind of resin is used in water softener?
polystyrene-type gel resinResin is the ion exchange media used commonly in water softening applications. The most widely used resin in the industry is polystyrene-type gel resin. This resin has a very porous, skeletal structure and each bead ranges in size from 0.3-1.2mm, containing approximately 45% moisture.
How do you flush the resin out of a water softener?
Follow these steps to flush the resin beads out of your plumbing system:Close the valves to the water softener and open the bypass valve.Drain and flush your water heater.Remove all screens on your faucet.Open the cold water valves throughout your home.Flush and clean the water supply from the washer.More items...
Should I replace my 20 year old water softener?
Eventually, components break, electrical problems occur, and it just stops working. While they can last much longer if well maintained, water softeners have a typical lifespan of between 10 and 15 years. If your water softener was installed more than a decade ago, replacing it may be the right option.
How do you drain a water softener resin tank?
3:2122:39WATER SOFTENER RESIN or Media REPLACEMENT - YouTubeYouTubeStart of suggested clipEnd of suggested clipAnd so make sure you don't lose the make sure you don't lose the eclip. So we'll set that aside. AndMoreAnd so make sure you don't lose the make sure you don't lose the eclip. So we'll set that aside. And then we'll float the Eclipse from the brine line. And again we just pull that straight out like.
What You've Probably Seen Online
The internet is littered with websites selling 24,000 / 32,000 / 48,000 / 64,000 grain water softeners. What does this mean? As mentioned above, th...
The Result of This Marketing Technique
When softeners are sold by grain capacity, such as "32,000" or "48,000" grain systems, it is a severe disservice to the consumer. It ultimately lea...
A Better Way to Describe Softener Capacity
The only accurate way to describe water softener capacity is by cubic feet of resin and how much salt it will take per regeneration to achieve the...
Common Sense May Not Be All That Common
Despite this concept being around for a long time there are many, many dealers - both online and in-store - who do not understand this concept or r...
How many gallons does a water softener use?
Regenerating once-a-week also keeps the water consumption low; a water softener uses about 50 gallons when it regenerates.
How many cubic feet of resin is in 32,000 grains?
What most dealers call a "32,000" grain system is more accurately described as a "1 cubic foot" system because it contains one cubic foot of softening resin. In order to get 32,000 grains capacity from this system the user would have to use 36 pounds of salt per regeneration!
How much salt is needed to regenerate a cubic foot system?
What is very interesting though, is that if you use 6 pounds of salt to regenerate a one cubic foot system, it will yield 20,000 grains of softening capacity. Although the one cubic foot unit will cost a little more than a 0.75 cubic foot unit the savings in salt will make up for this cost difference very quickly.
How hard is a grain of water?
A "grain" of water hardness is equivalent to 1/7000th of a pound. It is very important to know your water hardness when you're considering the purchase of a softener. Guessing at this number will result in an improperly sized system. Also, when it comes time to programming your softener it will ask for the hardness value.
How much water does a household use?
You can use this information to figure out how much water your household uses per day, on average. If you don't have this information, simply multiply the number of people living in your home by 75 gallons per day. This will give a fairly accurate guesstimate of daily water use.
Does a water softener run out of salt?
The efficiency of your water softener dictates how much salt you have to buy, how much salt you have to lug, and how much salt gets discharged to the environment. Sizing a softener and considering its salt efficiency will ensure you purchase a softener that never runs out of soft water but also uses the least amount of salt as possible.
What is the capacity of a water softener?
The capacity of a water softener is simply the amount of hardness it can remove before it needs to regenerate. Water softener capacity is one of the most poorly understood aspects of water softener sizing by both dealers and consumers alike.
How to describe water softener capacity?
The only accurate way to describe water softener capacity is by cubic feet of resin and how much salt it will take per regeneration to achieve the stated capacity. In some U.S. and Canadian jurisdictions a water softener manufacturer must state the salt efficiency of the system being sold. The efficiency is stated in grains/pound of salt. This is the most accurate, honest, and direct way to describe a water softener. Rather than showing the consumer a make-believe capacity that can only be achieved in a laboratory or with massive amounts of salt, the efficiency shows how much salt will be used and how much softening capacity will result.
How many grains of resin is in a 32,000 grain system?
What is sold typically as a 32,000 grain system contains 1 cubic foot of water softening resin. If one looks at the specification provided by the resin manufacturer you will see that 1 cubic foot of resin under ideal laboratory conditions can remove about 32,000 grains of hardness.
How much hardness can a water softener remove?
As mentioned above, the capacity of a water softener describes how much hardness it can remove before it needs to regenerate. A "grain" of hardness is 1/7000th of a pound of dissolved calcium and magnesium. A water softener advertised as a "32,000" grain system should be able to remove 32,000 grains of hardness before it requires regeneration, ...
What is 32,000 grain softener?
When softeners are sold by grain capacity, such as "32,000" or "48,000" grain systems, it is a severe disservice to the consumer. It ultimately leads to customer dissatisfaction for one of a number of reasons. When a consumer purchases a "32,000" grain system expecting to get 32,000 grains capacity there are three different ways the consumer may be disappointed with the purchase:
Is it better to use less salt in a water softener?
This is a much more efficient way to operate a water softener. Less salt means fewer dollars spent, fewer trips to the salt store, less salt to lug, and less salt discharged to the septic system and the environment. But beware - not all water softeners can be set up in this high efficiency mode.
How do you calculate water hardness?
The best way to determine how much grains per gallon of water hardness you have is to get a TDS kit.
How many grains of water softener do I need?
Sizing a water softener depends on the water hardness level, how much water you use on a daily basis, and having the right amount of grains rating while minimizing the use of salt.
How to size a water softener: finding the perfect balance
The most common water softener GPG sizes you will find online and in stores are:
How to size a water softener – real efficiency guidelines
Now that you’ve learned to calculate the amount of resin a softener needs to work correctly in your home, there’s one more thing you should know.
How to size a water softener – the downsides
Sizing a water softener isn’t all that hard once you take the time to learn all of the information mentioned above.
Discard the need to size a water softener
The best water softener alternative by far is a water descaler. And that’s for several reasons.
Efficiency or your money back
You can purchase our water descaler here or on Amazon. No matter where you get it from, you’re covered by our one-year money-back guarantee.
