Water Softener Grain Capacity
What does this mean.
Water softener grain capacity. Calculating your required total grain capacity. Water softeners are a type of ion exchange technology. This is where widespread incorrect information found on the internet and elsewhere can hide the real answer. There are however.
How is the hardness of water measured. Maintenance this is a commitment from you. The grains capacity of a softener is the weight of calcium and magnesium hardness compounds that can be removed from the water before the softener is saturated and must be regenerated. As mentioned above the capacity of a water softener describes how much hardness it can remove before it needs to regenerate.
Commercial units would usually have a minimum of 15 000 grain capacity so don t settle for less. Usually softeners with a bigger capacity are also able to handle those daily spikes in water usage but just be sure to check it with the manufacturer. The grain capacity dictates how much contaminants and impurities it can get rid of. Number of people in your house.
One gpg is equal to 17 1 mg l or 17 1 ppm. One grain of hardness is equal to 1 7 000 pound of rock. At some point in time all the resin beads inside the softener s tank will get saturated and this makes them unable to bind with calcium and magnesium ions anymore. Ions of calcium and magnesium aka hardness are grabbed onto by the water softener and exchanged for ions of sodium.
The hardness of water is measured in grains per gallon gpg. What this means is a 32 000 grain capacity water softener will probably only deal with about 28 000 30 000 grains before regeneration is required. Best water softeners 2020. This page will help you determine the right size water softener for you.
Grains capacity is simply the amount of hardness that can be removed by a water softener before it must regenerated. What does the grain capacity of a water softener mean. So what size of water softener offers 21 000 grains of total softening capacity. The internet is littered with websites selling 24 000 32 000 48 000 64 000 grain water softeners.
The rated capacity of a softener is the maximum number of grains of water hardness the unit can remove prior to regeneration. A quick look online and in many stores will reveal an abundance of 24 000 32 000 48 000 and 64 000 grain capacity water softeners. At first glance it would appear that the 24 000 grain system would be ideal using our example above where we re looking for 21 000 grains of total softening capacity. A water softener can only work to remove so much hardness grains before it has to regenerate and this is got something to do with how the softening process works.
Your municipal water supply may measure water hardness in milligrams mg liters l or parts per million ppm. Determine the proper water softener based on your hardness and number of people in your house. High grain water softeners cost more money and on over sized softener means wasted money. A grain of hardness is 1 7000th of a pound of dissolved calcium and magnesium.
Every household is different and if you use a water softener when you re on a trip the water conditions are even more precarious. You also must note your system s preservation needs and the frequency required. Fleck 5600sxt 48 000 grain water softener best overall 2. A water softener advertised as a 32 000 grain system should be able to remove 32 000 grains of hardness before it requires regeneration right.
List of top water softeners of 2020. Because most softeners available on the market have standardized sizes our family will be looking for softener with a capacity of 48 000 grains.