Water Softeners and Air Filtration Systems - Kinetico installation question

I have recently purchased a Kinetico 4040s OD. Brand new still in the box from someone that never had it installed. I contacted the Kinetico dealer in my area (there is only 1) and they quoted me $250 to install. I agreed to that. When the tech came out he stated that his boss( the person I spoke with) told him 250 for the first 30 minutes of installation and a dollar a minute thereafter. Then he went on to tell me that the filter was too big and the salt tank was too small for that system. The filter is about 16-18 inches and the tank is the standard 20 inch tank that comes with the unit. My question is:
Can someone besides a Kentico dealer install it....another company, plumber, me/husband? Is it really that hard? I have the installation maual that came with the system however I am uncertain about the tank size and if the disk needs to be changed. Right now it is a 4. My hardness is 7. We bought a water test kit to test the iron and the reading came out as no iron present. Any ideas would be greatly appreciated..!

Elizabeth

Somethings are very funny about the way the dealer has treated you.

First of all, I have never heard of an install that took only thirty minutes, let alone one they could predict over the phone. That would be an adequate quote unless some extensive re-plumbing had to be done. But as a policy, that is unusual.

Secondly, the brine tank is not too small for the unit. It should be 20x12x16". That is the one that comes with it as your system uses, at most, 1.25 lbs of salt per regeneration. It CAN use the bigger ones, but not necessary.

It does require a prefilter as your bottom two tanks are carbon. And it must have a by-pass attached to the plumbing prior to the softener.

Actually, at 7 gpg you disk should be changed to a disk #1, I believe. #2 would be safe. I'll check the data sheet and get back with you. A disk 4 will cause it to regenerate way too often, 4 times as often.

It can be managed by a first-timer but there may be some tricky little short cuts that experience has shown.

You can email if you like.
awc222@yahoo.com
Put Kinetico in the title.

Andy Christensne, CWS-II

Today, I took it upon myself to load up part of my system and take it with me to another Kinetico installer (different region) He was awesome. Changed out my disk to a 2. Said 1 was okay but borderline. Seemed the changing of the disk was rather easy BUT it is better to be safe than sorry. He changed the disk to a 2 and supplied me with some additional pieces that were needed for the install and hopefully by this weekend we will have it in. He also said to stay with the same tank. Thank you so very much for replying. I may have a question or two. But I will let you know....Again THANK YOU!!!! :)

Elizabeth Ellis

Elizabeth,

I am glad that it is worked out for you. I thought the statements from the the local dealer were a bit off. But, no need to burn bridges; you may need them someday.

You will find this to be an excellent model and extremely salt efficient.

Let us know how it turns out.
Andy Christensen, CWS-II

It is great!! We love it.. Quick question. Does the salt tank always hold water at a certain level or only when it is going to clean the two main tanks? We put 1 bag of salt into the brine tank (it was about 1/2 full) It has been about 5 days and noticed about 2" of water above the remaining salt. Just seeing if that is normal..???

Thank you,
Elizabeth



Elizabeth,

I am glad that it is worked out for you. I thought the statements from the the local dealer were a bit off. But, no need to burn bridges; you may need them someday.

You will find this to be an excellent model and extremely salt efficient.

Let us know how it turns out.
Andy Christensen, CWS-II

Yes. There should be a grid at the bottom suspending the salt and about 2" of water above the grid. There will be ample brine solution available to handle frequent regenerations at any time.

Use only high quality salt!

Glad it worked our for you. I am sure you will get many years of great service. What have you ndone to improve your drinking water?

Andy Christensen, CWS-II

We have not addressed getting an under the counter drinking water system yet. I have seen some Kinetico units for sale. It took us 6 years to address our hard water issue. Hopefully it wont take that long to get a drinking water system in place...??? Is there any system that you recommend?

Elizabeth


Yes. There should be a grid at the bottom suspending the salt and about 2" of water above the grid. There will be ample brine solution available to handle frequent regenerations at any time.

Use only high quality salt!

Glad it worked our for you. I am sure you will get many years of great service. What have you ndone to improve your drinking water?

Andy Christensen, CWS-II

There are numerous approaches you could take for premium drinking water.

I would avoid the faucet type attachments and pitcher filters. They may do an adequate job to improve taste but do nothing to remove dissolved solids.

The best value would be an reverse osmosis system. If you are happy with Kinetico's quality in your softener, you'll be very pleased with their ROs, of which there are a few to chose from.

K ROs have some unique features that set them apart from other systems. They are not cheap but have the longest warranties in the industry.

There are many other companies that also produce ROs and most are quite good.

DO your research an dask as many ?s as you like.

Best to you.
Andy Christensen, CWS-II