Water softeners like GE or Kenmore are made to be sold nationally where the water hardness
is between 2 To 7 grains of hardness. If you read their instruction manual it will normally
state that they are designed for moderately hard water, but Arizona has extremely hard water.
Arizona's hardness is normally in the very hard category of 18 to 25 grains of hardness or more.
The average life of these units is less than 5 years and for much of that time they will not
totally soften the water. To have a water softener that will last in Arizona it is necessary to
use high quality resins which will last 20 to 30 years and do a far superior job of softening the
water. Both the
Patriot
and the
President
systems use the highest quality resins available and are designed to last 20 to 30 years.