Pelican Systems

[Andy CWS]

GAC, Sorry, I was rep-lying to your post and accidentally deleted it while I was editing my reply. {Please re-post it}

Andy Christensen

[gac]

Andy:

My original question was whether anyone had any experience with the Pelican Salt Free water systems. I am using well water. Hardness is ok, but manganese and calcium are high which leaves spotting on sinks and fixtures. The manganese also gives the water a very earthy aroma when you first get into the shower in the enclosed space. I have been looking at the Pelican whole house salt-free water softener system, but can't seem to find anythng about it except the manufacturers own site. Any experience out there with it?

[Andy CWS]

Ok. You had mentioned something about your neighbor's negative experience with a softener, too.

I am a little confused when you say your hardness is OK but calcium is high. This is contradictory as calcium is hardness and creates the visible symptoms you describe. Pelican will do nothing for these problems. It's claims to be a 'salt-free' softener are false and have been long proven a marketing ploy to attract customers into believing they are getting something they will not. It is NOT a softener and won't provide the results that softeners do. Fullstop.

Actually, there innumerable accounts of Pelican system if you do a search for them. Use 'Pelican' and words like 'scam, complaint, or rip off', etc.

Andy Christensen

[gac]

Thanks for the reply. I guess I should have been a little more specific. My neighbor used the Kenetico system and it backwashed so much into his septic tank that he disconnected it. I had my water analyzed at a licensed lab in town and hardness measured 7.06, Manganese was 0.084 mg/L, Iron: 0.128 mg/L, Calcium: 33.2 mg/L, Magnesium: 10.3 mg/L, Total Hardness (as CaCO3) 7.33 GPG. We were looking to see if there were any salt free softeners as we didn't want to introduce any more salt into my wife's diet. I did a search for salt free softeners and ran across the Pelican. I now know about it and will steer clear. Any suggestions on salt-free softeners. If nothing else to reduce the effects of the Calcium and Mangesium.

GAC

[Andy CWS]

His Kinetico may not have been set up properly. If he doesn't want it, I would suggest seeing if you can get it from him and install it in your house with proper adjustments to your water conditions.

A water softener, properly set up, will not introduce more salt into your diet. Salt is used during its regeneration stage and does not go into your drinking water. Not sure where you got that idea but it is a common misunderstanding.

It reduce hardness without a softener you would need a whole house RO, which could have starting costs of around $7000.00 for a cheap one. Get a softener and an RO for the kitchen sink. ---Problems solved!!!

[pawaterguy]

To affirm what Andy said, a softener introduces very little salt into your system. It will introduce a minute amount based on your hardness and setup of the softener but it's really very insignificant. A piece of white bread or a glass of milk has more sodium in it than a glass of soft water. Unfortunately, there really are no good salt free solutions yet. None that give you the benefits of soft water, anyway. Sure, a few may limit the amount of scale you SEE but they aren't doing squat for the hot water heater or other hot water devices...and they aren't giving you the benefit of using less soap, etc. Sorry to come out of nowhere...I just saw the Pelican thread and had to toss my 2 cents in. As a water guy I get "worked up" when people talk about throwing their money away on any of the current salt free gimmicks. Why do I say gimmick? Because we've done testing on these things and found they work very poorly or not at all. We've set up instant hots with soft water, and water treated from a unit comparable to the Pelican and then with a scale ban type of electronic unit and then used them for a few months...then cut them in half to look at the insides (mainly the elements) to see how clean or not they were. The soft water one was clean as the day it was installed. No buildup. The other 2 were scaled up and coated with calcium buildup as if there were no treatment on them at all. There are also colleges and third party labs that do these types of experiments. You can google some of them. Good luck on your search for a system. I'd recommend a Kinetico if there is a dealer in your area. It's the most efficient salt based softener you're going to find and you'll enjoy soft water 24/7 with the twin tank design. Follow it with a K5 RO and you're golden.
Have a great day!