Thanks for the reply and photo.

If my understanding is correct, in your photo (nice+clean set-up, btw) the unit on the left is the softener, the unit in the middle holds the salt, and the unit on the right is the charcoal filter?

I don't have a report of our faucet water results, but from our city they indicate:

Would anything above seem to indicate a need for RO?

How does one determine what size softener and filter unit is needed? (we have 2adults/2children... house is 3500sq ft)

I know it differs greatly, but any idea of a range to have the parts above installed? (i assume a plumber or would a local water softening company install a unit that was not their own?)

Thanks again!

You are correct - the unit on the left is the softener, the middle is the salt and the blue filter housing on the right holds the KDF-Carbon filter (or any standard filter you choose). The KDF-carbon filter is only used for drinking water / ice maker and is good for a year (probably longer, but it's good to replace carbon filters after a year).

In addition to chlorine and VOC's, taste and odor (what you would expect of a carbon filter), the KDF-55 will, in theory, reduce heavy metals as well. That size filter has a service rate of 3gpm and 95,000 gallons. The size I have is overkill, and A 10" version of that would be fine if you had a separate drinking water faucet. Again, keep in mind that the beauty of the big blue filter housing is that it's a standard filter holder and you may use any type of filter you wish in it.

There is nothing on your water report that would indicate the need for R/O.

To size your softener:

4 people x 75gal per day =300 gal per day

300 gpd x 12 grains per gal = 3600 grains per day.

A 2 cubic foot resin softener (will be advertised as 60,000 grain @15 lbs of salt per cf) will have an actual capacity of 50k grains at a more reasonable salt dosage of 10lbs of salt per cf.

So, a 2 cubic foot unit at 10 lbs salt would go about 13 days between regens with a small buffer.

A 1.5 cubic foot unit (advertised as a 45,000-48,000 grain) at 10 lbs of salt would go about 10 days and would be $570.

If you plan on adding to the number of people in your household, then I would go with a 2 cf. Otherwise a 1.5 cf is fine. Keep in mind that actual use will determine when it regenerates.

A water softener company will not install a softener you provide. A plumber would. Amazon is quoting installation cost of about $470.

A note about the water softeners: The Fleck 5600Sxt is a great control valve. Getting a softener with an industry standard control valve and 10% cross linked resin for $550-600 is a great deal. The resin should last 10-15 years before needing to replace the resin. There's no reason to believe it would go bad - but the truth is that you could completely replace it a few times and still not be at the $2,700 for the Culligan.

Soft water is soft water. It doesn't somehow get any better by spending a lot more money.

I have no argument with folks who want a carbon filter on their drinking water - or maybe even a KDF-Carbon filter for taste, odor, chlorine and VOC's.

In general though, I think the water filtering business is pretty shady.

Installing RO when there is no identified issue seems unreasonable to me - as does whole house carbon filtering.

Thanks for the comments and advice.

We are 'on board' with the set-up you have listed above but the issue i'm currently having is finding somebody to install (would rather not depend upon a random Amazon 'installer' and would like to verify with the installer what i'm buying before i purchase)... it seems that most plumbers don't work on water softeners and most water companies only install their own products.

Any suggestions on where to find reputable installers for a system similar to what you have above that would also not have an issue with me buying the system on my own?

Thanks again!

Jake - I like the set up in the picture you posted i.e. Big Blue carbon filter 20 inch + Water softner with brine tank. I am very curious to find out how would you make the big blue feed only to the kitchen, refrigerator and bathroom sinks only (and bypass everything else) but make the water softner feed to entire house? Can you please also throw some light on which brand/manufacturer's 10% cross linked resin you recommend? Your advise will be helpful as I am in advance stage of searching for softner system install. Thanks.

I'm late to this conversation but can anyone explain the difference between softener resin versus water softener salt? Thank you