Grains and resin and regen rate

Still trying to decide on whether to by the Kinetico 4040 or going with another company.

One thing that I have on my mind is the resin grains and the regen

The 4040 has about 5k grain, uses 1lb of salt per regen. 13 gallons of water per regen

The system that I have now has 38,000 grains and uses 6-8 lbs per regen and 18-30 gallons per regen. Lets call it 30.

It has 7x more resin in it. Does that mean that it will take 7x more water going through the machine before it regens?

 

The formula is capacity/hardness= total water that can be treated. I you are mistaken about the amount of resin in the 4040. What they are saying is the efficiency is 5k using 1 lb of salt. The spec sheet I have says the 4040 has .4 cu ft of resin which is about 12k. You are correct about the regens. The more resin, the longer between regens.

 

Ok, I see the same resin amount. I guess what I am looking at is the regeneration rate. At 1lb of salt for the 4040 it only regens 4921 grains from what I read on Kinetico's tech sheet. If the unit has around 12k grains in it, why only regen 1/3 of it?

The reason I ask is that, I was told that they set it to regen every 600 gallons. Our water has 20g per gallon. Isn't that 12000 grains of hardness going through but the unit only will regen 5k of resin?

 

Not sure where you got the 600 gallons from. On a disc #1 it would be 650 gallons. But with your hardness, you would be on a disc #3 and that would be 216 gallons between regens. You would not be taking out 12,000 grains.

 

Now what is the benefit of not buying a softener that has the most grain capacity, ex a 45,000 and have that set to regen after 30,000? With my house using less than 200 gallons of water per day * 20 grains of hardness it should regen about every 7 or 8 days.

With the Kinetico 4040 it seems it would regen every 1.5 days or so.

Is having a unit that regens more often more beneficial to achieve the ultimate goal for me??? Consistent soft water

Also why do some machines use more salt per regen and get nicknamed "salt hogs". What is actually happening to make use so much salt?

 

Resin is a funny thing. The less capacity you use, the more efficent it is. An example is: 30k requires 15 lb of salt, but you get 20k only using 6 lbs of salt. The 4040 will not regen 4921 using 1 lb of salt. It will regen based on the number disc that is installed.

 

The disc determines how many gallons it goes between regenerations. Each regeneration should be at the same level of exchange, which rated at 4921 by NSF testing. So, no matter which disc it is, it should take out the same amount at teh same salt setting.

 

You're right if it only regens 4921. But doesn't it regen the entire bed? I saw it as the OP thinks he will use only 1 lb per regen.

 

That is the way the salesman explained it to me. Seems accurate to me as they set the dial to regen when 5000 grains of hardness passes through the system. For me that would be 250 gallons of water and Andy said they would set it to regen every 216 gallons. If I am understanding it correctly, that regen would use 1lb of salt.

 

I am still trying to get my mind around Why You would use Just 1 lbs of salt....

You have yet to say just what the hardness is for your water and just how many people are in the house in question.

 

A few posts ago I posted my hardness is 20 grains and my water use around 160 gallons per day.

I am looking at the 4040 tech sheet. It says

Setting Capacity Efficiency Dosing

*1.0 lbs. 4921 4921 grains/lb 2.5 lbs./ft3

*Certified by NSF and/or WQA

 

The 4040 has only one salt setting and that is 1lb.