I had my Miele Excella DW bypass our whole house softener and had it connected to the COLD water supply. Why? Long story short, TOO soft water and/or too HOT water can permanently etch your glassware. I learned this the hard way. The Miele DW softener supposedly reduces your water's hardness to about 5 grains of hardness, which is supposed to be optimal for use with today's DW detergents. A whole house softener will reduce it to zero grains of hardness. The detergents are too harsh in zero hardness and permanently etch glassware. Glassware is supposed to be washed in less hot water than a normal household water heater sends in the hot water supply. Therefore, I let my DW heat the wash water to the proper temp for each wash cycle setting. I wash my glasses in a seperate cycle setting "Crystal/China". I have two DW, so this is my luxury and so far it is saving my glassware, including crystal wine glasses and my "good" china! Having to heat the wash water causes my DW cycles to run a bit longer, but my dishes are being washed as optimally as Miele technology knows how to do!

If you have a whole house softener, you likely have soft water, i.e., zero hardness. You could end up with etching of your glassware over time, like I did. To prevent it with my new kitchen, I had the plumber run UN-softened,COLD water lines to my Miele DW and let the DW soften the water to about 5-6 grains or hardness, which I'm told is ideal for washing dishes in very hot water and with today's DW detergents. Otherwise, you should not add any Miele salts to the DW, and you should run your clear glasses in a seperate, shorter glassware cycle, which if connected to cold water, will be at a lower temp which will help control etching. Good luck!

A 0.75 cubic foot system will work just fine for you, even if your water use ends up being higher than the 100 gpd (gallons per day) you have estimated. At 100 gpd water use and 15 gpg (grains per gallon) hardness, regenerated with 6 lb salt per cubic ft of resin, a 0.75 cubic ft softener will regen every 9 -10 days. If your water use ends up closer to 120 (60 gpd/person, which is typical), the softener will regen every 7 - 8 days. The only reason you might wish to consider a larger softener is If you have any high-water-use fixtures, such as a multi-head shower or a jetted tub. The flow rate through those items would exceed the service flow rate for a 0.75 cubic ft softener, resulting in hard water. Since you have a well, you really should have a thorough water test completed. If you contact a local water treatment plant or look on your state's website, you can find certified labs. Two wells, even in close proximity, can have water with very different analysis. Iron and manganese, in particular, will make a huge difference in softener size and regen salt dosage. This post was edited by aliceinwonderland_id on Wed, Apr 10, 13 at 12:38

Milo, It's good to start your own thread instead of hijacking someone else's. I disagree quite a bit with Delray, I can't tell exactly what's going on with that particular unit but you don't want to mix media in your unit - in other words, you don't want carbon media in the same tank as the resin for the softener. You want those to be two different units. Different media have different backwashing requirements and lifespans. If you want a water softener, buy a decent water softener with an industry standard control valve (Clack or Fleck). If you want a carbon filter, decide if you need a simple cartridge type filter for drinking water (what I recommend) or a backwashing whole house filter. If you have a specific contaminate that can only be removed with reverse osmosis then get a separate unit to do that - usually only for drinking water. Whole house R/O is crazy expensive to buy, operate and maintain and is over-kill for virtually everything unless you need to remove a specific contaminate for drinking water. Most people don't need an R/O filter - even for drinking water. Keep in mind that R/O water is aggressive to metal plumbing unless minerals are added back in. I also disagree with: "whole house water filtering has to be fairly robust to last - that is why they are expensive. Kinteco (and others) make water filtering for restaurants, mfg plants etc and that is expensive since those businesses can't afford any breakdowns..." This is pretty bogus. We are talking about residential water treatment - not commercial treatment. A good quality residential water softener is about $600 online with an industry standard Fleck valve and no smoke and mirrors. That's the cost of the unit. Doesn't include installation and maintenance. A backwashing carbon unit with 1.5 cf of GAC is $500-600, again with a Fleck valve. A cartridge unit for drinking water will cost about $100 + $30 a year for the cartridge.