dave_in_gva wrote:Hi everyone,

Resurrecting this classic thread as my first post. ... But what about this "replace at least once a year" business? In a setup where a user is really only conditioning their water for a low throughput situation like a home espresso machine is there any harm in running the same cartridge for 5 years as long as you are not exhausting its ability to condition the water?

No need to guess. Just test the output periodically.

Thanks Marshall,

I guess I was wondering if there might be some other reason for Everpure recommending changing out after one year. Microbial overgrowth or something like that. Clearly its in their interest that people buy more and more of their product so an annual change recommendation is a way of promoting that.

But if people here routinely just base their change out decision on how the cartridge is or is not continuing to affect pH, hardness etc. then I'd just buy the biggest cartridge possible as that should be the most economical in the long run.

So how do people make the decision of when they get a new cartridge? Does time of service come into it or do you just monitor water periodically and change out the cartridge when it no longer brings the hardness down?

Thanks all,

Dave

Beyond the marketing reasons, I think that is a resin requirement.

I change out my softening cartridge when it starts failing & I can no longer adjust my by pass valve to get the hardness level I want. With the cartridges I use this is typically every 6-8 months & yes I have seen some microbial growth when left in longer.

This thread has gotten seriously long, so I started a new thread with a note on using Claris (and other weak acid cation softeners) from Everpure: Warning: Chloride & sulfate levels with weak acid cation softeners (e.g., Claris). Interested readers may follow further discussion of the topic there.