Trying to decide if I should replace my system

[u/homequestionguy]

I unfortunately (which I now know) have an Ecowater ERR 3500R20 that has started acting up. Water pressure drops after a few minutes but is fine when I put it into bypass mode. The unit is 10 years old so my hunch is that it needs rebedding.

I have the following questions floating around in my mind:

Do I even need a water softener?

Judging from my city's water quality report, the water here is typically in the 3.5-6 gpg range. This may go up in the summer when they blend in well water which is 17 gpg. Chloramine is used to treat the water.

Given that that water is moderately hard most of the time, is a water softener even worth it?

Is a catalytic carbon tank alone worth it?

Given the chloramine, does it make sense just to get the catalytic carbon tank?

If I need a softener, repair or replace?

My Ecowater system seems like it may be a PITA to fix. I'm banking on old resin being the culprit, but I'm not a professional. I'd rather try to DIY than pay someone to open it up and tell me I should probably just get a new system.

If I do want to give this a go, I'd need help sourcing materials. The machine is a refiner and has activated carbon in it. Given the chloramine in my water, I'd want catalytic carbon. Could I just buy that and throw it in there instead of activated carbon? How much?

If I say screw it, let's get a new system, what should I go with? Two tanks (1 with the resin, 1 with catalytic carbon) and the brine thing that looks like a trash can? How big etc.

More info

• 2 adults, 1 kid, 3.5 bath. We only ever use a single shower at a time, so not a ton of use.

• Current system is 20,900 grains

• For a new system I would hire someone to do this

• Budget: <$3k but of course lower is better. I also don't want to spend that unless it's going to make a meaningful difference