I have made my decision to purchase one of these systems to soften water and remove Chlorine. The Hauge ($2,200) does it all in one unit and the Avantapure ($2,900) requires two. Hauge has only 1 Cu ft of Resin for softening and the Avantapure has 1.5 Cu ft. My water has a hardness of 13grains. Of course the Avantapure dealer is telling me the Hague will cost more money overtime to operate because it would need to regen more. The Hauge dealer is telling me they are more efficient then the Avantapure and they both would regen about the same amount over the course of a year, but the Hauge regen process is more efficient. From what I have read and learned is the Hauge uses 1lb of salt for every 5,500 grains and the Avantapure is 1ld to every 4,500 grains. Both use the about the same amount of H2O during regen and the Hauge is supposed to regen in 30 mins where the Avantapure takes 1.5 hours. My question is how do I cut through all this clutter? What I want is a reliable unit that is backed by a good manufacture and my dealer is customer oriented. As far as dealers go I know I am in good hands, so it's the other items I would like input on. Thanks, Dan

I do not know much about such systems. They have a holding tank the salt gets dumped in - with a little plastic water line that runs over to some other tank that looks like it can hold pressure. Newer such pressure tanks may be fiberglass rather than steel. And on this heavier duty tank is the digital timer control panel and various valves and such. Well, after I replaced a broken fitting in the salt holding tank, I wondered how a person can tell if salt water is even being drawn through that tube. ??? Even if you hear the machine run, how can you tell what is going through that milky white PEX tube, if anything? What if during such a repair you caused an air gap and some air bubble forms and the machine runs but does not pull any saltwater? As if in you caused it to lose it's prime? Or, can't that happen by the very nature of how they work? And how is it that both water can get into that salt holding tank, yet pull treated water out of it? I found the salt level way down near the bottom and yet water was up to the overflow hole. I threw in another bag of salt and saltwater spilled over(displaced) the overflow onto the floor. Figuring salt water was not good for the legs of the water heater and other mechanicals nearby, I flushed the spill with water heater hose drain water. How does the water know to get up near the top of that holding tank and no higher? Remember this tank is not an enclosed pressure tank. The lid comes off it. What establishes that water to be up there at the level I found it?