Water Softening

Elevated levels of iron (often called "rust") is a common water quality issue for many well owners. The fact that iron makes up five percent of the earth's crust and elementary iron readily dissolves in groundwater is one of the reasons it is so prevalent in wells. Iron is dissolved from the rocks and minerals that form aquifers. Generally, the longer the groundwater is underground and flowing through cracks, crevices, and pores, the higher the concentration of iron is likely to be.

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...

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. ...

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...

You Still Can’t Soften Water Without Salt

NOTE: This is an UPDATE to the Blog The Hard Truth About Salt-Free Water Softeners written on February 8, 2015.

For over a decade, marketing companies have been selling customers on the idea of salt-free water softeners. This is unfortunate because of the fact that salt-free water softeners don’t really exist. You heard that right.  There is no such thing.

Do you know that you are seven or eight time more likely to have flooding in your house than to have a burglary?

A study of how water treatment infrastructure compensates for growth in housing and industry.

The first eight years of my life, I lived in a city that had relatively soft (5-6 GPG) water, and I was a kid, so I really didn’t know what soft water was.  However, when I was nine, we moved to the country and I was introduced to very hard water that had a lot of iron. My father worked for Water Refining Company (Miracle Water, Servisoft, and Refin-A-Matic Brands) and shortly after we moved, he installed a water softener. Every Saturday, he would regenerate it, which involved taking off the cap, draining some water out and pouring salt into the top of the tank and then backwashing and rinsing through opening and closing valves.

Step-by-step instructions and a quick video on how to install a salt-based water softener

Many American families have a water softener in their homes. In fact, 85% of Americans have hard water, while only 25% of households report having a water softener installed. From mildly inconvenient to plumbing and appliance ruining, hard water can have a lasting impact on you and your home. If you have well water, then you know that almost every house with well water has hard water.What Is Hard ...