Anyone have experience installing one of these.

I'm not worried about the connections so much as the size. I am looking at a 44,000 grain Whirlpool unit from Lowes. It says it will take care of 5+ people, and we only have 4. Claims to remove 140 grains per gallon.

Any confirmation that this would be appropriate for use in the Fulshear, TX area (close to Katy). I have not been able to search to find the local water hardness. Any help?

Can't tell you about the water in Fulshear. But I installed a Whirlpool softener about that size. I know it was not smaller. We had a family of five at the time and it continues to work perfectly. It has been at least five years.

Our last house in San Antonio had a Kenmore and it was good up to the 8 years I owned it. I think they're made by Whirlpool. The thing handled the super hard San Antonio water without any problems.

Thanks

Fulshear water is not that hard. You can get a solid idea by using a fish tank lab test kit. They have hardness tests. Is this a single or double resin tank model? If double, then it doesn't matter much at all. If single, then you want to make sure its adequate because during regen, it will be hard water or no water depending on its setup.

Out of curiosity, why do people want softer water? To reduce gunk on appliances? Healthier to drink? The way it feels when you shower or wash your hands?

I grew up with hard water, so I don't get it.

Hard water, over time, can clog pipes, fixtures, appliances, and cause early failure of electric water heaters. It causes spotting on washed windows, spots washed cars, increases the amount of detergent required to clean clothes, requires more soap and shampoo, and leaves residue on saucepans. Not one of these results is a good thing.

What he said. I grew up in the Hill Country and water heaters lasted maybe 8 years if we were lucky. When they would go out it was always the bottom element, and it was always a solid rock from about that point down.

I didn't get to watch any of Saturday's finals. But there were some really good swims. Adams' 200 fly was an A cut and she beat Dorado.

It was really nice for the Ags to win both women and men. The women's win more meaningful of course considering they beat a very fast Stanford team.

After the football debacle Saturday night it is nice to talk about a strong team performance in swimming.

I think the Aggie MVP for the meet was Paige Miller over Ibanez.

Men's had to be Henrik who swam lights out.

Diving is really just OK at this point. Zoe looks solid.

Wat?