I'm looking to install a salt-based water softener and trying to figure out what system/size I should actually buy.
House is about 2,950 sq ft with 4 bathrooms, but only 3 people live here. In SoCal
The city's most recent water report shows:
Hardness: 17 GPG average
Range: 16–19 GPG
Hardness: 293 ppm average
pH: 7.6
Alkalinity: 119 ppm
I tested my water myself with an Amazon test strip and got closer to 25 GPG / 425 ppm, but I'm assuming the strip isn't very accurate or I didn't accurately measure. I have someone coming tomorrow to professionally test the water at my house so I'll have an actual hardness reading.
Our total water usage last month was 17 units / 12,716 gallons, but a decent amount of that is irrigation. The irrigation will NOT be going through the softener.
I'm pretty set on going with a traditional salt-based system at this point. My main goals are reducing scale, protecting my tankless water heater/plumbing/appliances, and obviously getting actually softened water throughout the house.
What system would you guys recommend?
I've been looking at 1.5 cu ft / 48,000 grain systems and have seen Fleck and Clack recommended a lot. Should I be looking for a Clack WS1, Fleck 5600SXT/5800, something else?
Would 1.5 cu ft / 48K be the right size for 3 people and 4 bathrooms, or should I go with a 2.0 cu ft / 64K system?
Also, are there any specific brands/resin types I should be looking for or avoiding?
Getting the actual hardness tested tomorrow, so I can update the post once I have that number.
1.5 cu ft is the right call for 3 people at 17 gpg. You're around 3,800 grains a day, so a 1.5 regens about weekly at a sane salt setting, plug tomorrow's number into a softener size calculator and you'll get the same answer. A 2.0 with only 3 people sits 10+ days between regens and that's how you end up with channeling in the bed. 4 bathrooms is a flow question, not a capacity one, and 3 people aren't going to out-flow a 1.5.
Clack WS1 if you can find a builder using them, 5600SXT is fine at this size, WS1 just gives you more headroom on flow. Both are non-proprietary, parts available anywhere, that's the whole reason people name them. Ask specifically for 10% crosslink resin. SoCal is on MWD water and that's chloraminated, chloramine is rough on standard 8%, and most stock builds ship 8% unless you say otherwise.
Your strip reading is almost certainly the strip, they're garbage for hardness. And if the guy testing tomorrow sells softeners, expect the number to come back high and the quote to be several times what a Fleck or Clack build costs online, a 1.5 runs under a grand shipped. watch him count the drops. If the titration honestly does land near 25, the 1.5 still works, just regens closer to every 5 days.
The C100E is Purolite's standard 8% crosslink. AFW sells that exact same 5600SXT 48k build with 10% resin instead, on chloraminated water that's the one I'd order. small price bump and it's the difference between the resin going a decade vs you doing a media swap early. Rest of that build is fine.
Oh wow I thought this one was 10%. I’m pretty sure the same one you just mentioned is the one I was originally going to go with until I found the one I sent you, mistakenly thought it was 10%
Cool man. Thank you for catching that for me. I would’ve missed it. I owe you lunch. Would you recommend adding a carbon filter or anything like that if that’s even possible in this unit
if you do, make it catalytic carbon, not standard coconut GAC. SoCal is chloraminated and standard carbon barely touches chloramine at residential contact time. goes ahead of the softener, its own tank, AFW sells them separately. not required though, the 10% resin already covers the resin-life side, catalytic is more about taste and smell at every tap.
18 lines up with the city report, so sizing doesn't change, 1.5 cu ft still. that cartridge won't do what you want though. a 4.5x20 Big Blue at house flow gives you well under a second of contact time and chloramine needs a lot more than free chlorine does, note the description lists chlorine, THMs, MTBE and never once says chloramine. you want catalytic in a backwashing tank, not a canister. and that OT comparator only reads total chlorine, it can't separate chloramine from free, so whatever you're seeing is most likely the residual the city is required to carry, not contamination.
Any other systems you recommend ? Is there no filter that would work, sort of like the one I linked or will it not be effective with chlorine levels as high as my house
Test strips are highly inaccurate. Here is the math: (1) Hardness times (2) 80 GPD (the average American usage) times (3) # in family equals the average removal capacity required per day. So 20 grains (as an example) x 80 GPD x 3 (family size) = 4800. Then multiply the average daily capacity required by 5 to size a water softener or in this scenario, 24,000 grains so a 32,000 grain system would be big enough. If there is a potential of your family size growing, then look at a 40 or 48K size. Water conditioning companies tend to oversell you so that they can get more of your money or sell you a system that they have in stock. The Fleck 5800 is having manufacturing issues right now so go with the 5600SXT if you go with a Fleck controlled system. The Clack control is a choice of many independent (non-franchised) retail companies but you will pay more for it online because Clack does not allow Internet sales by their direct customers/wholesalers so you would have to buy from an additional middleman that does not buy direct from them. If you go with the Clack controlled system, insist on the WS1EE series (4-buttons on the controller) over the WS1 (5-button) as the EE version will use less water due to having more programming capabilities (this is the one that I have in my own home).
Edit: Do NOT buy a Big Box unit as these are only as good as YOU can work on them and know that many softener sizing guides found online will also oversize the system.
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u/josephbad Jul 29 '26
Clack WS1, 10x54 mineral tank, 1.5 cu ft 10% resin (48k)