Water Softeners and Air Filtration Systems - Can we do this "ourselves"?

Hi -

let me start off that "ourselves" means us and our plumber -- as opposed to one of the big commercial outfits. I had posted previously about the two vendors I had test our water and propose a system.

In short we had two real concerns about those vendors:
1) none of their proposed systems appeared designed to address the flow rate demands of our household (due to various fixtures etc, our peak goes up above 30-35GPM and normal demand when things are running is 20-25) and neither salesperson seemed to pay much attention to our flow needs and my concerns about reduced water volume and/or reduced filteration/softening performance due to the flow rate.

2) our utility rooms are crowded to say the least and the plumbing in there is fairly complex. We have mutliple Rinnai units, a reserve hot water tank with recirc loop, and water running from that through our floor heating in the slab. It looks like we're going to have to locate any system in a converted closet about 10 feet and two corners away in order to fit it and that will require running the main line over and back from the system etc. All of this gave me some pause about the vendors' plumber being able to come in and do this job right given our needs and current setup.

So, I had the plumber who worked on our house come by and he is willing to help us with the installation of the system and the necessary rerunning of lines to the location for the system, but hasn't done that many of these and wanted to know if I had selected a system etc.

I'd like to have a system that removes the chlorine and softens our water that is, obviously, reliable and requires as little maintenance as possible. Given the quotes we got from Kinetico/Culligan (3000-4000 for systems without adequate flow and based on an install with limited plumbing work but where it really wouldn't fit), I expect we are willing to go fairly high-end on the equipment and we will still be better off (or at least no worse) than the bids we got.

I have seen some posts re Fleck valves and took a look a their page - but am not sure which size we need and am also unclear about the resin/carbon etc options for the actual filtration medium.

Are there reputable online vendors who can help me design/build the entire system so then all I need to do is work with my plumber to do the install?

If I go this route, what maintenance is required and how do we do that ourselves as opposed to with a commercial vendor?

Thanks for any assistance - I'm reposting our test results if that helps - we had 2 done:

WATER TESTS:

Hardness - 8 in both tests

pH - 7.1/7.3

Chlorine -- 2.3/>3 ppm

Iron - solid -- .1 / negligible
Iron - Dissolved ppm -- .4/negligible

What you want to look for in a valve is the flow rate for that valve. A fleck 2850 valve will deliver 51 gpm normal and 66 gpm peak. http://www.pentairwatertreatment.com/PentairFiles/Pentair%20Water%20Treatment/Literature/2850%20Spec%20Sheet%2040726.pdf
That sound too much, but once you put it on a tank, the flow drops. A 4 cubic foot unit will have a flow rate of 20 gpm normal and 40 gpm peak. So to meet your flow rate demand, that's the unit.

They are easy to install and I can instruct you or the plumber the proper procedures. And as far as maintenance is concerned, all that is required is to add salt every 2-3 months. The carbon may need to be replaced every 5-7 years.

I sent you a PM

Are the benefits of a two-tank system -- as I understand it complete usage of one tank before regen and regenerating with soft water -- worth it, suggesting a valve with that capability?

I really don't see a need for a twin tank system for residential use. It does offer some benifits but the cost outways them IMO. The Fleck 9500 is a 1 1/2 valve and each tank will hold 4 cu ft of resin.