What a timely coincidence...All these different units have m
I'm in the process of having my Kinetico water softener evaluated and serviced. First inspection by short stocky burly bachelor Jutzi Service Rep Tom showed the Kinetico to be softening all right but not as well as it should. After running the cycles water testing Tom pointed out that the advance cam is not turning and suspects something is jamming one of the motor turbine wheels abnd it is recharging only one of the tanks alternately, mixing hard and soft in the pipes.
Tomorrow, Wednesday, the Kinetico tech is coming by to remove the head and replace whatever is necessary and since the softener has been performing like this since installation 5 years ago is is a defect covered by the lifetime warranty.
I chose this non-electric on demand softener because Stratford's water is known to be so hard and I didn't want to degrade the investment in new plumbing and fixtures associated with the bathroom renovation, as well as preserve the laundry machines and my 'maturing' skin.
I'm sure many of you know about the Kinetico but for those thgat don't, the Kinetico has no electric motor and thus no connection whatever to household current. It is a passive on-demand two tank system that uses water pressure entering the house - when called for by usage - to spin turbines that runs the cycle mechanically on alternate tanks so that one tank is always available for household use while the other recharges. Initial investment is 3-4 times the cost of a standard electric softener but with a much much longer service life of 20+ years? (because re-charging is dependent only on actual water use rather than a user programmable cycle and no added electricity costs) it is less expensive over the long run. Another plus is that a Kinetico can be simply disconnected from the house system and taken with the original owner should they move, with no loss of warranty.
The standard electromechanical softeners have a nasty habit around this town of breaking down within a year or two, particularly those that use circuit boards instead of a motor driven gearbox & timer cam to control functions in a high humidity environment aka The Basement/Laundry Room of most homes.
I know the Kinetico is working because there are no stains on my fixtures and soap lathers nicely in the washer or the shower.
But I never felt that silky/slimey feeling the the shower and I missed that. At the time I was told This was not necessary to adjust the softener for slimey-ness and I accepted that as these guys at Jutzi are the experts.
But, I noticed I was only adding a bag of salt every 6-8 months and that just didn't seem right after all these years.
The point of all this backstory is that I found this thread's discussion of grains and ppm's fascinating and went looking for Stratford's readings in relation to this area of Ontario.
Here's what I found out:
"Toronto gets its water from Lake Ontario, which has a hardness level of about 120 parts per million of calcium and magnesium," says Steve Renon, manager of technical services for Milacron Canada Inc. in Burlington, ON. "That's almost a perfect environment for metalworking fluids. But then if you go to Stratford you might hit 550 parts per million–that's a huge difference."
Btw, when Hunky Tom came into my kitchen and saw the Appliance Towers we chatted for a good 20 minutes before heading to the basement. I had a stack of Foxtrot 78's playing on the GE changer. Tom asked what radio station did I have one and when I told him it was a 78 record changer his eyes lit up like a billboard. after the basement I brought him to the front room to see the changer and of course it's hard to miss the towers of vacuum cleaners.
I am looking forward to Tom's next follow-up visit to inspect the water softener...yeah, that's it...
Seriously now, I am looking forward to that silky/slimey shower soon. Tom says Ladies call it silky and guys always call it slimey. Whatever...
Dave
