Amtrol Water Soft Water Softener – Out with the White Spots!
Written: Oct 10 '03 (Updated May 20 '04)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Easy to use, it works well, bypass valve, compact, reliable
Cons: None yet
The Bottom Line: I highly recommend the Amtrol Water Soft Water Softener for its easy usage and proven reliability.
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| mountainhigh's Full Review: Amtrol Water Soft 2-Tank Water Softener Model AS-2... |
After moving into our new home 3 years ago that we had our own water well drilled, we began to notice white water spots all over our chrome fixtures and our glass shower doors. Then our brand new electric water heater element went out within 6 months after initial use. When the plumber showed us the old electric element covered with white spots, we knew we had a serious problem. Let's face it, we had never experience white water spots before and certainly did not realize that this was a sign of "hard water" as they call it and all the many problems associated with having hard water.
We proceeded to have the water tested and it was tested at 16.5 hard grains meaning "extremely hard".
Hardness Scale of Water
0 – 1.0 = soft water
1.1 – 3.5 = slightly hard water
3.6 – 7.0 = moderately hard water
7.1 – 10.5 = hard water
10.6+ = extremely hard water
How a Water Softener Works
After we discovered our hardness level, we researched a lot to learn how a water softener works and if it would really solve our problems.
This is what we learned:
Water hardness is derived from Calcium and Magnesium minerals that have been dissolved into water under the earth’s surface. These minerals are found in limestone deposits and are the source of hard water. The amount of hardness in a given water supply is dependent upon the quantity of Calcium and Magnesium present and the length of time water has been in contact with them. The degree of hardness increases as the concentration of Calcium and Magnesium "ions" increase and is measured in Grains per Gallon.
The water softener is designed to reduce hardness ions and their unpleasant side effects. Special resin beads in the softener mineral tank are used to change hard water into soft water. The surfaces of these beads are covered with sodium ions. As hard water enters the mineral tank and comes into contact with the resin, an exchange of ions takes place as dissolved Calcium and Magnesium ions cling to the resin surface and sodium ions take their place, thus softening the water. This process is called "Ion Exchange". Over time, the sodium ions used for the exchange process become depleted and must be replenished.
The water softener provides what is called a "Regeneration" process whereby brine solution enters the mineral tank driving-off the collected hardness ions and replenishing the surface of the resin beads with more sodium ions. The control valve on the mineral tank automatically controls this process.
What We Bought
Our space to install a water softener is somewhat limited since we did not design our home with this in mine. We found the right size that we needed that was compact in design and had proven reliability by buying the Amtrol Water Soft Water Softener Model AS-24TP.
This is a 2-tank model. As you can see in the picture above, the "brine tank" is the round shorter one. This tank holds the salt tabs. The salt is dissolved with water to form a brine solution used in the regeneration process. The tank measures 18 inches in diameter by 33 inches in height. It is made out of heavy vinyl plastic type material.
The "resin tank" is the taller one that has the control valve atop it. This tank contains the ion exchange resin material. Water flows through the resin tank under pressure to come into contact with the resin for water softening. The "control valve" directs water through the resin tank for water softening and controls the flow of water/brine for the regeneration process. The pressurized resin tank measures 52 inches in height including the control valve by 8 inches around.
The system comes with a manual "Bypass Valve" that you can use when you want to water your lawn or fill up your pool or whenever you do not want to use or waste the soft water.
The control valve has a 24-hour clock, a gear that shows where you are at in your regeneration process and a slider wheel where you choose how soft and how often you want to regenerate your water.
The model of your water softener depends on the hardness of your water and how many people reside in your household.
Ours offers 24,000 grains of capacity with the offer of 12 on our slider as being the lowest amount of time to regenerate. 12 means it regenerates every 12 days and uses 12 pounds of salt each time.
If you take 24,000 divided by our hardness grains of 16.5, it equals to 1,454 gallons used before regeneration. The average person uses 75 gallons of water per day. Then you figure 75 gallons x number of people, for instance 4 people which equals 300 gallons usage each day. 1,454 divided by 300 gallons equals 4.8 days which equivalents that we should regenerate every 5 days.
This is the purpose of the sliders in the control valve. For the number of tabs to pull for our household would be 3.
However, we found we were going through a lot of salt bags, about 5 bags per month this way, so we decided to reduce the amount of tabs pulled and have now lowered it to one tab pulled whereas we only go through 5 bags of salt tabs every 3 months. By doing so, we have noticed that the water is not as soft, but it still is enough to control the white water spots.
You do have the option to enact a manual regeneration to produce more soft water if you find that you have gone through a lot of water and it isn’t time yet to regenerate.
Installation
Knowing nothing about water softeners, we had our plumber install this and it had to be installed where the water comes into your home. The water comes into our home in our daylight basement in our utility room and this is where it sits. The control valve requires the usage of a standard 115-volt outlet.
Noticeable Differences with a Water Softener
The white spots do not appear anymore however it has been an endless task to try to get rid of ones that were there before the softener.
Your skin and hair are very soft and you no longer have to use as much moisturizers.
You use less laundry detergent and dishwashing detergent.
Do not ever make the same mistake as I and use a product like "Jet Dry" in your dishwasher with a water softener as all of my glassware became etched and had to be replaced.
Annual Maintenance
Each year in the fall, I turn on the bypass valve, open the control valve and turn it to “Backwash” to depressurize the softener.
Then I remove the salt from the brine tank and disconnect the brine tank and clean it thoroughly. I use a bit of bleach for disinfection. Then I reconnect and turn it back to the service position and choose "brine refill", then "brine rinse", then "brine refill" and then proceed to load the tank with salt and then turn it for regeneration.
All of this does take some time and I would allow a good 2-3 hours.
Other than the annual maintenance, you just need to lift off the lid of your brine tank to ensure you still have salt tabs in there.
Tablets
A 40-pound bag of salt tabs generally cost us $3.95 whereas potassium tabs cost about $7. The product we use is Morton System Saver Pellets which after using for 4 years, we will never try another brand.
Why Did We Buy this Brand?
Our plumber who plumbed our house recommended this brand over others since in his 20 years of experience, this brand had suffered no repairs.
Warranty
The control valve is 3 years and the tank is 10 years.
Recommended:
Yes
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