Ask The Water Doctor

The Aftereffects. Unless you live under a rock, you are likely aware that a freight train derailed in a small town in Ohio near the Pennsylvania state line at about 9 PM on February 3rd. There were more than 100 cars on this train, about twenty of which were classified as carrying “Hazardous Materials.” It turns out some of those cars were carrying vinyl chloride. Vinyl ch...

NOTE: This is a 2023 update of a blog published in 2015. For over a decade, marketing companies have been selling customers on the idea of salt-free water softeners. It's unfortunate that salt-free water softeners don't really exist. The Encyclopaedia Britannica defines soft water as, “Water that is free from dissolved salts of such metals as calcium, iron, or magnesi...

In recent years, bottled water has become increasingly popular. However, there are many reasons why drinking bottled water is not a smart choice for your health or our planet. The top 5 reasons you should avoid bottled water. 1. Money - With prices for single bottles ranging from $1-$5, buying bottled water can get expensive very quickly. And if you're buying multiple bottles...

When we proposed adding this to our website, and adopting the phrase into our company lexicon, the words weren't just a gimmick for marketing, but a thoughtful expression spoken with conviction. At US Water Systems, we strive daily to be the “good guys of water.” We understand the importance of clean water and the impact it can have on individuals and communities. That's why we h...

I had a customer ask me this very question recently, and it is a worthy question, so I will attempt to answer it for them. When I say, "Third Party Websites," I mean sites like Amazon, E-Bay, Wal Mart, Lowes, Home Depot, etc. Some of our competitors sell on these sites and many wonder why we do not do the same. Before I do answer the question, I have to say that we do sell a little bit on Am...

Ever since Clack Corporation came out with their commercial water softener valves (and when I say "commercial," I mean 1.5", 2" and 3" valves), there has been constant discussion about which valve is the best in water conditioning circles - Clack or Fleck? Clack has made great inroads into Fleck's commercial business and it is difficult for me to say what is the most popular system today. ...

For the past several weeks, we have been getting calls from customers who need parts for their Pelican Water System. In case you don't know, Pelican Water Systems was founded in Deland, Florida in 2007 and went through Private Equity Financing before they were acquired and merged into Pentair Water Solutions in 2019. As of several weeks ago, I cannot find Pelican Water Systems anywhere, as they ...

How to know when to change your water filters and why you should. Before we can discuss changing water filters. First, what is a water filter? Wikipedia defines “water filter” like this: “A water filter removes impurities by lowering contamination of water using a fine physical barrier, a chemical process, or a biological process.” Simply put, a water filter is a method used to filt...

For about ten (10) years, I was on the Board of Directors for a non-profit that provided water purification systems for people in Haiti. In cities like Port-Au-Prince and surrounding areas, nearly 3,000,000 people live without a public water supply, a sewer system and rarely have their trash picked up. Of course, this is a very rainy country and when it rains, sewage and the like spread easily due...

The New (and Better) Alternative to the Fleck® 9000, 9100 and 9500 and Kinetico® It was over 35 years ago when Fleck Controls® (now owned by Pentair®) came out with a new type of metered water softener control. It wasn’t that many years prior to that when the first metered water softeners hit the market. Fleck® was one of the first companies to do this when they released the Fleck® 56...

If you are in the market for a water softener, water filter, salt-free conditioner, or a reverse osmosis system, it would seem logical to “Google” something like “Best Water Softener” or “Best Reverse Osmosis System.” That’s what many people do without really understanding what is happening. When you Google “Best Water Softener” the search will take you to a page where it says s...

NOTE:This is an update of a blog published back in 2013. Let me clarify one thing at the beginning - Fleck does not make water softeners. Fleck makes water softener control valves, like one below. Fleck Controls used be called L.W. FLECKENSTEIN, INC. and people would say they had a "Fleckenstein valve." They are now called "Fleck Controls" and are owned by Pentair Water, a world conglomerate o...