The service manager was to be here between 8 and 9 this morning. So finally at 11am, I called his cellphone. "Oh, I got tied up, I am on my way to your house now". Very nice, as I took 1/2 day vacation, and now must take the rest of the day off. (Actually had to switch shifts, so now I get to work midnight shift tonight in the ER). Anyway......he shows up at 12:45, states he will only be here for 30 min, and we will have soft water again. Ha. An hour and a half later, he declares something inside the head was partially clogged with sediment, and he replaced the clogged part, and after a few regenerations, we should be good to go. The jury is still out, as the second tank will need to be regenerated again this evening, and the hot water tank completely flushed, yet again. I asked him what the next step will be if this doesn't fix the problem-his answer, "there won't be a next step because I am confidant your problem is resolved". So. If it recurs, I will call corporate directly. Six days with hard, nasty water is enough. And 4 days of vacation that I have used waiting for their service techs over the last 4 months. Geesh. We have really "bad" water, so we will stick with Kinetico-had an "offbrand" when we first moved in that did nothing, and at least this system has done a good job for many years. Keeping my fingers, toes and eyes crossed! Thanks for all of the info!

Yur choices are either have your membrane try to remove calcium carbonate or sodium. Calcium is know as a hydrophobic element and sodium is a hydrophillic element. What this means the water loves sodium and hate calcium. Membranes will rid the deposits of sodium very easily and calcium will adhere and soon the membrane is shot. Inn fact we get the word calcification from this process. The prefilter will suffer but not as much. Certainly, if you remove the calcium and iron, the whole system will benefit. Membranes will start to be damaged in as little as 5 gpg in a relatively short time. Are you connecting the RO to the ice maker? Good idea if you can. Andy Christensen, CWS

If a ball valve has a problem it's usually at install. Either a defective ball valve or more likely the installer applied too much heat or took too long when soldering it in. The reason I recommend a three ball bypass along with the OEM bypass is that most dealers want to install just the OEM bypass and the redundancy of the additional three ball bypass, at it's modest cost during installation, is a good idea. With no Kinetico bypass what you have will serve you once the ball valves that leak are taken care of. Understand before you speak with the dealer that the water at the float valve is under system water pressure and all that is between correct operation and failure is the float. The tank drain elbow is provided so that if the float fails the overflow will be directed to a drain cause if it fails when no one is around it will be pumping water into the brine tank at house pressure. If there is no floor drain handy then it is common to drill a hole through an exterior wall and run a PE tube from the brine tank elbow through the wall to the outside. The elbow is a gravity drain and will not run water up. Many softeners are installed disregarding the brine tank drain and as long as the float never fails or leaks it's OK. I've seen quite a few where the float failed and there is substantial water damage. Do not let the dealer minimize the importance of the brine tank drain or say it can be ignored because you're betting a lot on that float mechanism... an awful lot. If something does happen and there is no line to drain there's a chance your homeowner's insurance won't cover the damage. With a washing machine I'd think that one of the Gap-It airgaps from airgap.com will do nicely. Pick the one that accommodates both the washer drain hose and the softener drain hose.

For sure, correct set up is something I am not ready for, at this time. I will be by install time. Regarding APEC, they say their membranes (Dow Filmtec) and filters are manufactured in the US, and their systems are assembled in the US. If you have any bad experiences with them, I'm listening. If you have a good recommendation for an alternative I would consider it as well. My big picture plan is to put the RO system in the basement right under the kitchen feeding a faucet and refrigerator, with a 10 to 14 gal tank to support our heavy coffee, water, ice, and cooking habits. Our water pressure on city wateris 55 psi with the softener in its current bypass state, so I'm also concerned about final RO pressure to the fridge. My research continues.