Most of the enquiries we get at Water Value Co. pertain to comparisons between the water conditioner systems we sell (Fleck, Clack and Autotrol) and the systems you can pick up at the local home improvement supply stores. The water treatment equipment we carry are all brand-name industry standard systems. Fleck, Clack and Autotrol water softener and auto-backwashing filters are the best you can buy. They are professional grade systems. Let's compare them to each other and also to some home improvement store models.

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The Fleck 9000 twin-tank 3/4-inch metered water softener system utilizes two resin tanks to process hard water insuring that you never run out of treated water even when one of the tanks automatically goes offline for regeneration. This design allows each tank to be regenerated with softened water from the other tank.	Autotrol does make a dual tank system but its cost is a bit higher than the Fleck 9000 and its performance is equally impressive. While Water Value does not list the Ready Soft available for online purchase, we can get them for you as a special order. Just contact us with your requirements.	The Fleck 9000 3/4-inch metered dual tank water softener control valve. Performance data for the Fleck 9000 control valve Service Manual for the Fleck 9000 control valve A review of the Fleck 9000 water softener system See the Fleck 9000 water softener system here
Cabinet style water softeners are attractive looking and often take up less floor space than the two tank models. The Fleck 5600 SE control valve is mounted on top of an internal resin tank and the face plate of the valve is connected to the top face of the softener cabinet to allow for convenient user control interface. Specifications: Capacity: 32,000 grains Warranty: 5-years parts on control valve, 10-years on tanks Type of regeneration: On Demand Controller type: Fleck 5600SE metered electronic Cost: $699 delivered	Above is an attractive cabinet style water softener that you can pick up from any of the home improvement stores. The basic shape and color may vary but the insides are all the same. Specifications: Capacity: 32,000 grains Warranty: 1-year parts/labor Type of regeneration: On Demand Controller type: Enhanced electronic Cost: $569.99 + tax/delivery	The Fleck 5600 SE (Simple Electronics) 3/4-inch control valve comes with a 5-year manufacturer's warranty and is designed to last much longer. Fleck has been in the business of water softener and auto-backwashing filter control valves for more than 40 years. They know what they're doing and they're doing it right. This valve will not let you down after only a year or two of service. Fleck 5600 SE Service Manual Fleck 5600 SE Specifications Fleck Warranty Installation Instructions
The Autotrol 268 Performa on-demand metered electronic water softener control valve is a 1-inch high flow-rate model pictured here with the new Logix controller. This model is a good choice for homes or businesses that have higher than normal flow rate requirements. The Logix control panel is easy to setup, program and use. Flow rates of 16 gallons per minute can be expected on a 13-inch diameter tank.	The Fleck model 7000 is a metered, on-demand electronic water softener control valve with up to 1-1/4" connections. The Fleck 7000 is designed for higher flow rates in residential and light commercial applications. The programmable electronic display and interface is easy to use yet is also capable of extensive program control. Another unique feature of the 7000 is the water connections. The yoke, bypass valve and pipe adapters all connect with heavy duty clips instead of threads. Flow rates of at least 23 gallons per minute can be expected on a 14-inch diameter tank.	The Fleck 7000 1-1/4-inch control valve is also available in a filter version which makes a typical carbon or birm filter a high-flow filter.
The Fleck 5600 Econominder. The Econominder is Fleck's metered or "on demand" version of the model 5600 water softener control valve. It has a meter that keeps track of your water usage and schedules resin bed regeneration only when required.	The Fleck 5600 with 12-day timer is the lowest cost method of softening your water. You can tell the softener how often to regenerate the resin media.	Metered "on demand" softeners vs. time clock models. If you plan on owning your softener for more than 1 year, it would make sense to pay the extra $30 - $60 now. You will save that much in salt or potassium chloride in that time.

Tanks. The mineral and brine tanks are pretty much the same as the home improvement systems. Our mineral tanks are made by Structural and brine tanks by Clack. They come with their 10 year warranties and are considered the industry standard in design and materials. The home improvement stores sometimes do use Structural and Clack tanks as well but they will also use other tank manufacturers which do not provide a 10 year warranty. This indicates a primary difference between the products we carry and the home improvement stores.

Control Valves. The control valve is the brain of all water softener systems. The control valve may only operate once per week but it's function is crucial to the proper operation of the water softener system. The control valve meters your water usage and determines when to regenerate the resin bed. The design of the control valve is the main consideration in choosing a water softener system.

Disk Valves. A rotary disk style control valve is the least expensive design you can buy. It advances to the proper backwashing stage through the rotation of a disk with holes in it that channel water passage. The position of a particular hole and alignment with a water flow channel determines the particular stage of regeneration in the water softener control valve (rinse, brining, rapid rinse, etc.). Rotary valves by design exert a great deal of force at the axis of the rotary disk. This leads to excessive wear and premature failure of the entire control mechanism. There is an excellent web site you can visit by clicking here that has messages and examples posted by current owners of rotary-style water softener control valves. This is a non-biased site and will explain the shortcomings of the rotary-style valves better than we can here.

Piston Valves. Fleck makes use of the piston style control valves in their models 5600, 2510, 9000, 7000 and others. The piston will advance through a chamber of spacers to determine the stage of regeneration. The piston and spacer design promotes very long life and durability because of its short travel length and low friction surfaces.

Cam Activated Valves. Autotrol designed and manufactures the cam-style control valve. It works with a series of "flapper valves" whose positions are determined by lobes in the central cam shaft. The only friction point in this design is at the lobe of the cam and the pivot point of the valves.

Both the Autotrol and Fleck control valves are designed for longevity and will far out-perform any rotary disk style valve.

Cation Exchange Resin. The resin bed inside the mineral tank is the element that does all of the work in a water softener system. The quality of the resin bed is important in the daily operation of your softener. Should the resin be of low grade, your water softener will need to regenerate more often which will require more salt or potassium chloride. While we do not know for sure what type of cation exchange resin comes with the home improvement brand of water softeners, we do know that our softeners come with HI-CAP resin manufactured by Nelsen Corp. which is commonly used for both residential and commercial applications.

Still not sure what water softener to shop for? Maybe you are not sure if you even need one? How do water softeners work and what do they do for your water? At WaterValue.com we spend every business day on the phone and through e-mail answering questions just like these and more. We take every question seriously and have compiled an extensive list of them along with straight-forward, easy to understand answers. A search for answers to your question(s) would not be complete without visiting our Frequently Asked Questions page or our Water Q&A archives where actual customer questions are thorougly answered. And don't forget to check out our latest feature: "What is a water softener and how does it work?"

You may also want to visit another site which contains another informative Water Softener Comparison, to help you make a better choice.

If you are still unable to find the answers you seek after all of this, we'd love to hear from you. Please contact us either by phone or e-mail.