Water Softeners and Air Filtration Systems - help picking a water softener

I know this isn't a new issue, but I still don't have the answers I need. I need a new water softener and have narrowed it down to a culligan medallist 24 series or a hellenbrand promate 5. Which is better, less prone to replacements or failure, and will get the iron out, which is our biggest complaint about our water. Our current water softener is 20+ years old, bleeds iron, and the timer is beginning to stick during regeneration.

We have four people in the house (two young kids) have 2-3ppm iron and 13gpg hardness. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.

Both are modified Fleck control valves. Get the original. Buy a Fleck.

So where do I get an original fleck?

I've always liked the Fleck 5600 meter demand system. It does not have electronics. You can buy online or from a local dealer. It's not a propriotory valve so you can buy from a lot of different places.

Depends on ability. Sure you can buy a Fleck at a plumbing supply house and Joe the Plumber can put it in. But next week, Joe might be a landscaper. Then you may have to call Mike the Plumber, who says he can't fix it but he will sell you a new one. I am going to guess that your old system is a Culligan if it lasted you 20 years. Yes, I work for Culligan if you are wondering, LOL. But truth be told, we have been in business for over 75 years and feel assured telling you we will be here in the future.

If you want to buy from a local dealer you might also consider an independent local water treatment company rather than one affilliated with a national chain.

If you want to do your own installation and are able to do your own repairs then you will find it much less expensive to buy from an online seller. From an online seller you will be able to buy a unit delivered for well under $1000. A unit with standard "high capacity" resin may be marginal for your iron levels--you might want to consider either fine mesh resin (typically about $60 more in a 48K unit) or SST-60 resin (typically about $200 more in a 48K unit. With either of these resins you will still be well under $1000 if purchased online.

Thanks for the input. Our current water softener is a watermate, which is also made by Hellenbrand, and has lasted a while. We would not install something ourselves--plumbing is NOT a strong suit in the family genes. So if we purchased the fleck unit, we would have to have a plumber install it.

Onto a different question, the culligan guy told us we should install their medalist 24,000 unit, while the the local plumber suggested putting in a unit that had 32-35,000 grains of resin. I am unsure how many grains are in the promate 5. Anyway, is 24000 too low of a number? I realize the machine will regenerate sooner when it runs out of soft water, but I'm thinking when the kids get older and take many showers, will the culligan model be enough, or will it just run all the time.

My opinion is that you should buy a substantially larger unit.

You listed 4 people in the house=240 gallons per day.
You listed 13 gpg hardness and iron of 3 (high number). this gives as adjusted hardness of 28 (using 5 for each unit of iron). So you need to remove 28 x 240 =6720 grains per day or 47,000 grains per week. With the level of iron you have it would be reasonable to regenerate every 4 days (27,000 grains). To get good salt efficiency you should buy a 48K (1.5 cubic foot) unit and then regenerate using 6 lbs of salt per cubic foot of resin (9 lbs per regeneration).

Given your concerns about water usage as the children get older it would be reasonable to buy a 64K (2 cubic foot) unit.

A 24K unit is too small. A 30K or 45K would be a lot better. And the reason your Hellenbrand lasted a while is because it was made by Fleck. You could buy a 30K Fleck 5600 meter demand system for about $550.00, pay an installer about $200.00 and be very happy with your water for years to come.

Depends on ability. Sure you can buy a Fleck at a plumbing supply house and Joe the Plumber can put it in. But next week, Joe might be a landscaper. Then you may have to call Mike the Plumber, who says he can't fix it but he will sell you a new one. I am going to guess that your old system is a Culligan if it lasted you 20 years. Yes, I work for Culligan if you are wondering, LOL. But truth be told, we have been in business for over 75 years and feel assured telling you we will be here in the future.
I'm not a big fan of Culligans. The horror stories I have heard I thought came from only on Culligan dealership. I moved to Fla and began hearing the same stories. Made me think twice.