Water softeners are an essential appliance for your home if you have hard water. Hard water deposits can build up over time, causing troubles with your plumbing and ruining other appliances like washing machines and dishwashers. By softening your water, you end up prolonging the life of your investments. Plus, soft water is nicer for bathing and it makes washing clothes and cleaning house a lot easier. Let’s take a look at two of the best water softeners on the market to see which one is the best for you.
Fleck 5600SXT 48,000 Grain Water Softener Digital SXT Metered Whole House System
The Fleck 5600SXT is one of the best known water softeners you can buy. It’s reliable, uses very little power to operate, and is very easy to install and program. If you have 1.25-inch pipe, don’t need more than a 12-inch diameter resin tank, and you want a softener for the whole house, this is a great choice. It can remove clear, or ferrous iron, as well as calcium and magnesium ions from your water.
The 5600SXT has a Noryl polyglass valve body with a precision-machined piston seal spacer assembly. While it retains features of mechanical meters, it has been updated with electronic parts so it can be programmed digitally.
The 5600SXT is smaller than the Fleck 7000SXT, but it’s easier to maintain because the brine valve is on the outside. It has just one moving part in the water stream so it’s a lot less likely to break down.
The onboard computer lets you set up the 5600SXT in four ways: immediate meter regeneration, delayed meter regeneration, delayed time clock regeneration, or day of week regeneration. You can adjust the time cycles as you wish. Even better, the display will tell you how many gallons of soft water are available.
If the power goes out, the 5600SXT can remember your programming for up to 48 hours. It does not, however, have a low salt light. Fleck recommends sticking to a regular refill schedule. Contact them if you want assistance in determine the best programming and setup for your home.
More features of the Fleck 5600SXT water softener:
- Comes with a 5-year valve warranty and 10-year tank warranty
- Includes 15” x 34” brine tank with salt grid and safety float system, 3/4” plastic bypass valve with 3/4” MPT connector
- Height from the top of the tank is 7-inches
Fleck 7000SXT 64,000 Grain Water Softener
The Fleck 7000SXT has been discontinued by the manufacturer, but it’s an impressive piece of equipment. The Fleck 7000 control valve is sometimes seen in commercial buildings, not just in homes, because it has a lot of powerful features. It has a larger distributor tube design, a full-port bypass, and it’s good for high flow systems up to 28 gallons-per-minute. But it also requires a bit more maintenance than the 5600SXT.
The 7000SXT comes with the 7000 control valve, a bypass, a 2-cubic foot resin tank, and a brine tank as well as adapters to attach it to your plumbing at home. The control valve itself is made from fiber-reinforced polymer.
The LCD display is easy to use and program. The 7000SXT offers demand initiated regeneration which is very efficient. Instead of working on a schedule where it automatically cleans the resin and regenerates, it only does it when asked to do so. This saves quite a bit of water and salt over time. But if you program a schedule, don’t worry that it will be lost if the power goes out. It has a battery backup so it won’t lose its programming.
More features of the Fleck 7000SXT water softener:
- May come with a 5-year valve warranty and 10-year tank warranty, check before purchasing
- Drain line ¾-inch or 1-inch NPT quick connect
- Height from the top of the tank is 7.9-inches
Recommendation
If you want the most reliable, most popular water softener on the market, get the Fleck 5600SXT. It’s covered by a long warranty and Fleck offers very good customer support if you have questions about it.
If you need a higher flow system get the Fleck 7000SXT. The demand initiated regeneration feature is a money-saver.
Click here to purchase Fleck 5600SXT on Amazon.com!
Click here to purchase Fleck 7000SXT on Amazon.com!