A 1 cubic ft softener will do nicely. It will regen frequently over holidays (every 2-3 days) but will regen weekly during normal operation. There will be no problem re-using your existing brine tank as you should only use about 23 lb of salt each month. There are a few other things you want to keep in mind: 1. A Fleck 5600sxt controller or equivant 2. gravel underbed 3. top distributor basket 4. High quality resin, preferably American or German made for better size distribution Once you have a softener, I can help with programming to ensure it operates as efficiently as possible. Just add a post to this thread so all the information will be in one place.

Since the cost difference between the two sizes is small, I would go with the larger softener. The size of your home, number of bathrooms, and your indication that you will have a large number of guests at a time make the 2.0 cubic ft softener a better choice. When it is just the two of you, it will go up to 12 days between regenerations, which is fine with your water quality. The following requirements are for an industry standard softener. If you are looking for a non-electronic softener, Kinetico offers the more reliable options at a premium price (and you would need to deal with a local Kinetico rep). Any decent softener vendor should be able to provide the following: High quality American or German made resin. This will provide a tight size distribution for optimal flow within the resin Since you have CITY WATER: 10% crosslinked resin. The oxidizers that city water treatment plants use, such as chlorine or chloramine, are harmful to softener resins. Higher crosslinking will resist chemical attack longer. Top basket. This serves two purposes. It sets up a proper water distribution during normal operation and prevents resin loss during backwash. Gravel underbed. Since you will have a larger residential softener, this is very important. The gravel underbed is there to set up proper flow patterns, improve backwash, keep the bottom basket in place, prevent basket failure, and prevent channeling. Many softener sales companies like to leave this out or sell softeners with a vortex system instead. Vortex systems weigh less than gravel so they cost less to ship. In addition, they are a more expensive item that adds profit for the softener salesperson, but provides no additional benefit to the homeowner . It simply adds another piece of equipment that can break. Fleck or Clack valves. If you choose Fleck, get the 7000sxt. These set the industry standard. Be aware that you will not be able to purchase Clack valves online. This is not a problem if you purchase locally. The valve should regen based on water usage, not time. Noryl bypass. Most softeners are available with either Noryl or stainless bypass valves. Both are good valves, but the noryl tends to be more reliable when not used for long periods of time. Install the softener with a three-valve bypass. This will make it so much easier if you ever need to remove the softener for repairs or wish to take it with you when you move. Use full-port, quarter-turn valves. This post was edited by aliceinwonderland_id on Mon, Mar 31, 14 at 10:31

Check out Abundant Water Flow http://www.abundantflowwater.com/ I purchased my water softener and whole house filter from them and have been very satisifed. I believe they have been mentioned on the GW before - do a search. I read them my water test results, explained what kind of water demands I had, and they sized the system for me. I think I paid around $700 for the unit and that included shipping right to my house. I set it up but had a plumber make the connections. The whole thing ran me about $900 - works like a champ. I use Potassium Chloride instead of salt to flush the system. One thing we found is that the water softener created a faint after taste probably from the the Potassium Chloride. So I added a Big Blue whole house water filter after the softener and it makes the water taste better.

If you layer in the Iron Out with your salt, you use 1/4 C per 40 lb of salt. If you are going to use it only periodically (monthly), and don't want to foul your resin from the inside out, the proper procedure is this: Ensure you have a strong brine in your brine tank - at least 24 hours since the last regen. Dissolve 1 C Iron Out in cool water and pour it into the brine well inside your brine tank. If you don't have a brine well, for some reason, pour it down the side of the tank rather than through the salt. Place your softener into manual regen and stay right there. When backwash is complete, the softener will move to the brine/slow rinse mode. Pay attention to the way it sounds. After 10 minutes or so the sound will change when there is no more brine to draw. At this point, we want the Iron Out to sit in the softener for an hour. To do that, push the button to advance to the next regen step, then the next until your softener is back in service mode. Do this as quickly as you can. Switch your valves so your softener is bypassed and wait one hour minimum. Place your valves back in service mode and manually start a softener regen. Once the regen is complete you're good to go for another month.