We have a new (to us) piece of property north of Blanco, and we're in the process of getting infrastructure in place. The land was raw beforehand, so we're cutting roads, drilling a well, getting power on-site, building a shop and a place to stay, etc.

I know the water out there is pretty hard, so the plan is to install a water softener upstream of the cabin. I know nothing about them, so I was hoping for a little steering from the all-knowing OB regarding brands and personal experiences beyond what Google can tell me.

Thanks in advance!

Could pipe water in from BCS...

Kinetico

We have always just bought the appropriate sized AO Smith and plumbed it in. Keep salt filled and always been sufficient.

This topic is relevant to me as well. An older woman in my family was recently widowed. She has a water softener currently and wants some sort of water softener going forward but has concerns with the one she has going forward.

Issues she has expressed include:

Doesn't want to load salt because she doesn't have the strength to lift the +20 lb bags. Doesn't want to call someone to do it for her. Are the 5-10 lb bags a reasonable alternative? She would rather not have to deal with salt at all which leads me to the next bullet

The only alternative to ion exchange is RO. I haven't seen the cost of a whole home RO system, but I hear they are pretty expensive compare to the others. Any idea what they run?

One of her other complaints is that the system wastes water when it cycles. I told her they all do that in some form of another.

What makes Kinetico different from the others? I assume it creates its own energy from the water flow but otherwise operates the same way

Being a PE I should know these things, but most of the websites on these things act like they are nationally secured top secrets. I know it isn't rocket science. Can someone help clear this up?


This is for SAWS water, BTW

I bought my system for our Hill Country ranch from an Ag here on Texags. The number on my softener display is 254-228-7526. It was sold by AquaPure out of Salado. I opted for a twin tank with Clack valves, a backwashing sediment filter, and a big UV system. I am on a deep well with a 10,000 gallon in ground cistern, so I opted for the extra filtration goodies. You won't really need the extras, so that's going to help on price a lot. The price installed was pretty high but sold the equipment direct to me and let me do my own install. They gave me everything I needed and it's been a really good system. It might require salt once every 12 months or more and that's a family of 6. I've been really happy with it. It is a metered regen setup, and with twin tanks, it can do it anytime it needs to.

Quote:

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Being a PE I should know these things, but most of the websites on these things act like they are nationally secured top secrets. I know it isn't rocket science. Can someone help clear this up?

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Kinetico operates the same way as any other softener from a chemistry perspective, but you are going to pay a lot more for it. It uses no electricity, but it won't solve the issue of the lady having to fill it with salt. The reason I did not select kinetico was the sediment filter required cartridges, and therefore continued costs I didn't want. Plus, the system was a fair bit more expensive than comparable 'regular' units.

I think someone makes a 'water conditioner' that uses no salt, and everything I tried to find out about it at the time lead to a dead end in terms of specs or how it worked. I could not find anything to explain how it did what it did. So, I quickly checked that off as snake oil.

I went through this process last year after buying our house in Round Rock and discovered the existing Culligan system was shot. Kinetico made a good pitch, but as others have mentioned were more expensive and you're also tied into service from only the dealer you bought it from.

All 3 companies I had quote the system recommended whole-home filtration to help the water softener tank lifespan due to chlorine here in town. In most systems, whatever the name, you're likely getting a Clack valve. Not sure they'd come out to Blanco but ultimately I went with Hill Country H2O in Cedar Park and they were great.

Edit to add: My brine tank can probably hold about 6 20lb bags and recharges every other week so I'm not constantly having to fill it with salt. I believe the smaller units you see at Home Depot or Costco recharge more frequently and need to be filled more frequently as well.

Feel free to PM me. I own a water treatment company north of Austin.
Mike

I often recommend a feed scoop for loading salt. Doesn't solve the unloading from a vehicle, but I suppose you could use the scoop from the car to smaller containers

Empty:

Do you have an email? Would love to shoot you some questions about my water set up.

Thanks,

Tikka

mike @ aqua pure tx com

Got it. Thank you!

I highly recommend Garrett Waller of Lone Star Water Services in the San Marcos area. They installed a couple of water softeners for me in Round Rock in the past 10-15 years and do great work. His phone number is (FIVE ONE TWO) 801-one seven nine six. Best of luck with your project!

We went with Rainsoft. We like it just fine, but it was too expensive incrementally over the next best option given the incremental purity - if the that can even be trusted.

Another thing I don't like is the maintenance costs. They call us yearly wanting to replace filters, etc. to the tune of $400-$500.

Not much to add if empty is in the bidness. Just replaced one and got resin tank and carbon filter, clack valves. My guy said he had a tank for me but told me to keep my old one, it was bigger and had a better handle on the top lid. It's just the two of us with occasional visitors and I put 3 bags in and will see how long that lasts, but it looks like it will be quite some time.

I chose to add the carbon filter to help the life of the resin based on SAWS water quality. I used H2O pros in SA and talked with a couple of others but not Kinetico.

If you get it 3rd party installed, ask what the control valve type is. Stick with Clack, Fleck or Autotrol. Basically if you hear any other name, you're hearing the distributor, not the original manufacturer.

I happen to like Clack, because they're so easy to repair if you have a problem.

The cost to the dealer for a 10x54" tank softener (1.5 cu. ft. and 45-48k grains) is in the 650-750 range, so know that when you get pricing.

mtngoat3006 said:

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I highly recommend Garrett Waller of Lone Star Water Services in the San Marcos area. They installed a couple of water softeners for me in Round Rock in the past 10-15 years and do great work. His phone number is (FIVE ONE TWO) 801-one seven nine six. Best of luck with your project!

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I think this is who we went with to replace our system. We did not have a good experience with Wimberley Water Supply prior to that

aggiegolfer03 said:

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I happen to like Clack, because they're so easy to repair if you have a problem.

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Exactly what my guy said and he added, they don't usually have problems.

Rainwater collection!!

You are welcome

I can help with rainwater collection also

As usual, the OB delivers. Thanks for all the recommendations and feedback y'all.

Empty - Can't PM because I'm a lolpoor, but I'll shoot you an email.




The end goal:

The email is also my website so you can contact me through the website also