Sizing a water softner

[Gillfree]

I need to probably install a water softener but I have a couple of
questions.

My water tested for hardness at 12 Gr/Gal, Iron and manganese well below
threshold. I have been getting these grains of tan colored sand in my shower
head and faucet screens, they are almost like sand. I believe I may have to
replace my hot water coil in my furnace as well. My water taste great however.

Now the questions, Are the problems associated with hard water the result
of a reaction between heat and hardwater? That is, does it make sense to
treat only the hard water that is going to be heated with a softener while
while allowing (by way of a tee) cold water to reach the cold water faucets?
The reason doing this is to preserve the great tasting water I have while
treating the water that is eventually going to be heated.

At 12Gr/gal hardness how do you size a softner? I am looking at the Kenmore 180 softener, http://www.kenmorewater.com/productlist/home-water-softeners/38818-180.html ,are these softeners reliable in general?

Also, is it possible for a layman like my self to remove and clean the hotwater coil from a Burnham Series 7 furnace? If so, how does one go about it?

I hope my thoughts are clear and appreciate any thoughts and comments. Gill

[Gary Slusser]

Those "grains" are more than likely little balls of hard water scale. A softener will prevent the formation of them and dissolve the scale build up in the coil, cleaning it out which increases flow and reduces wasted money for fuel to heat the scale before the water is heated while inproving the recovery rate of the heater.

All softeners have to deal with all the iron and manganese in the water, so the "threshold" amount must be counted and compensated for at the rate of 4 times the iron and twice the manganese and counted as gpg.

I am not a fan of softening only the cold feed to a water heater, that's nothing more than a very expensive means to keep the heater from scaling up. And as soon as you mix the soft hot water witrh hard cold, you have hard water again. Hard water causes many other unseen expensive problems than scale in a heater. And the good or bad taste of your water is due to whatever is in the water and how much of it along with your ability to taste; or it's all in yer head to begin with. :) Much more important is the usability of the water and how much money it costs you to use it around the house. Twelve gpg hard water is very hard and expensive to live with. The vast majority of folks don't taste a difference in their softened water.

The big box brands of softeners aren't all that dependable and many fail in about as long as their warranty; usually about 3-6 years. The most important part of a softener is the control valve, that's usually where the problems start so it pays for you to buy the softener using the best control valve. IMO the best controls are the Clack WS-1 and the Fleck 7000. They are sold by independent water treatment dealers and over the internet.

Cleaning a domestic coil requires some fairly dangerous acid and it is usually done in place with the addition of a few valves allowing the introductiion of the acid. Many plumbers won't do it and it can only be done a few times until the coil is damaged and leaks which mixes boiler water and 'potable' water.

Sizing a softener requires two parts; capacity and SFR (service flow rating). Their web site doesn't get into the SFR part. It is dictated by the resin which is usually stated as having a peak demand flow rate of 7.5 gpm per cuft. So you have to know the peak demand of your water use and then set the salt dose to generate the capacity that is needed based on the most efficient salt and water use. Most local and internet dealers along with big box store folks don't get into the SFR side of sizing a softener which usually causes hard water leakage and eventual softener faliure.

Gary
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