Denny,
I am by no means an authority.. But I know the 1st questions people on this board will ask you are:
are you on city or well?
How much iron? How hard is water? Have you had it tested by a lab? If not, do so.

You say you're handy and can install yourself.. I'm in NO WAY related to this company, but have heard good about it.
www.ohiopurewater.com

Denny,
I have been doing some research on softeners myself because I am looking for a long-term solution to the water quality problems I have in my own home.

As you know, most of the water softeners out there use salt of one kind or the other to regenerate the resin bed in the softener tank. The main problem with these units is that they discharge salt water into septic tanks, ditches or municipal sewage systems.

In southern California, there are towns that have banned this type of softener due to the salt pollution they emit on every backwash cycle. There is an alternative. The link is below. These units are more expensive to buy but the benefits are worth it. The discharge water is friendly enough that you could water your flowers with it. You don't have to buy salt, lug salt or pour salt anymore so you have to take into consideration the cost of buying the salt and transporting it over the next fifteen years, let alone your time to deal with the salt.

Maybe your budget won't stretch that far but it is worth looking at. Let me know what you think.

Here is a link that might be useful: Softener

To "soften" water is to remove calcium (among other things like iron) from the water and that is commonly done by one of two methods.

One method is ion exchange as done by a water softener. A water softener exchanges either sodium ions (if using NaCl) or potassium ions (if using KCl) for calcium ions in the hard water. That's it, no ifs, no ands, no buts, and no sales double talk. Simple chemistry and physics. Softening water is not black magic. It is physics and chemistry. No matter how hard sales people try (and want) to they can not violate the laws of physics or change the nature of chemical actions and reactions.

The other is by a filter, but no simple filter will remove calcium. You would need a reverse osmosis unit large enough to service your entire house. You would not want to pay for that big an RO nor pay for the service and routine maintainence it would require and RO water would be very agressive in your plumbing.

NO magnet(ic) gizmo or electronic gizmo will soften water but people waste their money on them EVERYDAY.

Pick the right softener (not a box store brand) and get a competent install and you should go 15-20 years.

The MOST IMPORTANT thing is that water treatment begins with a complete water test so you know what needs to be treated or filtered out to get the quality water you want. Are you on a well or a water system? Do that and post the results so we might help.

I believe that EPA investigations have shown no damage to septic systems from softener "salt" discharge.

I also believe that while most people use NaCl (salt), that is what is causing the concern. I believe (but check to be sure) that California will accept the use of KCl in water softeners. You will have to check to be sure.

justalurker,
What are your thoughts concerning the link below?

Here is a link that might be useful: Banned

castoff,

To comment about local ordiance I'd have to be there and do considerable research. I defer to water treatment pros who are in those areas to comment on how those laws effect softener sales and installations.

As far as the link you provided, I've already commented on that and similar products in my previous post in this thread.

I can second the recommendation for Ohiopurewaterco.com. Four years ago I needed a water softener, regenerative whole house filter and UV water disinfection. I had my water tested and based on the test bought all three items from the company. The two regen units (water softener and filter) had Fleck valves that have been bulletproof. The entire set of equipment came in 4-5 business days and I paid neither sales tax nor shipping.

I'm sure you can buy a good water softener through the yellow pages, but I found the prices for these door-to-door outfits to be outrageous. I paid less for all of my gear than one of the companies wanted for their water softener alone.

Rick

Hello! I'm looking into replacing a failing Sears water softener. Did a DIY water test - looks like I need to handle hard water (~150ppm), some iron (~0.5ppm), and pH around 8. Other tests show zeroes (TDS meter shows values between 340 and 360).

Many websites advertise "catalythic" water softeners (for example, see the filtersorb link). I dislike the "filmy" feel of softened water, so if their claim is true, I'm tempted. Though I'd still need a way to remove the iron - an iron filter would bring DIY cost to about two grand.

On the other hand, a Fleck SE model would cost almost $1500 less.

Are the "catalythic" advantages real? Is their "no maintenance" claim real? Are there any other advantages? Are those advantages worth $1500?

Any thoughts?

Thank you!

Boris

Here is a link that might be useful: Filtersorb catalythic water softener

I keep on researching the 'catalythic' water softeners, and the longer I look, the less I like what I see. For starters, I found a reference to them in the junk-science-scam-rebutting page (see the link). Also, so far I haven't found any positive reviews - only advertisement and questions. The lone "I've used it and liked it" post that I found, didn't look convincing at all.

The 'how it works' is a pair of identical paragraphs, that seem to be copied everywhere, also listed in the junk-science page. I'm starting to suspect a scam.

Here is a link that might be useful: Catalythic scam rebuttals