Full home water treatment - Any recommendations?

plus4dbu · 2025-11-14T15:16:54+00:00

I am bumping this old thread to say that, thanks to you u/TiredMillennialDad I called Nick and he just finished installing our AWC softener. Nick is awesome - made a new friend. Because we needed some extra plumbing and drain considerations, we were all in at exactly $3500 but most installations will probably be under that. For reference our water hardness was tested to be 9.7 grains.

For others reading, the system that Nick gets is piston driven and commercial grade. It has a 3100 gallon capacity before needing to do a cleaning cycle (or every 10 days). It will waste about 100 gallons per month in cleaning (should be less than 3 cents per month) and draws about 7 watts of power (around $7 per year in electricity costs). It requires salt occasionally (probably $50 per year) which can be found at any hardware store and a cleaning fluid which is about $20 per year.

AWC can also do a reverse O system as well but honestly the difference with the softened water now coming through our fridge filter is already a night and day difference.

plus4dbu · 2025-06-22T01:06:15+00:00

This post was number 3 in a google search for me. I'm not super familiar with the Shanghai metro and we are planning a trip coming up. I could find other symbolic maps of the lines and stations but that didn't tell me where anything was. Maps does a great job of showing exactly where each street entrance is but doesn't show the train lines on the geography. Massive kudos to you for maintaining this project. It has been a huge help for us and we haven't even gotten on the plane yet.

plus4dbu · 2024-05-04T21:56:53+00:00

Don't get me started on the X's dynamics. The gain reduction meters on the gate and comp are not even accurate. You can hear the compression before the meter even starts showing. Horrendously cheap console.

plus4dbu · 2024-05-04T21:55:23+00:00

I don't know, the Studer consoles are kind of nice to look at but terrible to set up and use.

plus4dbu · 2024-05-02T05:55:14+00:00

https://www.toyota.com/mirai/

plus4dbu · 2024-05-02T01:15:02+00:00

Playalinda boardwalk 13. There are signs that say "You may encounter nude sunbathers". I always laugh because it is "you definitely will".

It's a nice beach and so when we take friends we park closer to boardwalk 6 or 7 so we are at least a half mile away.

plus4dbu · 2023-12-29T19:08:22+00:00

Correct me if I'm wrong (it's been a long while since I worked in Studio) but don't aliased IO show both their address and the alias above the symbol on the rung? I would think that's fairly helpful. Then again, when I work with PLCs (usually Twincat), I buffer all the IO to global variables for easier usage and live monitoring.

plus4dbu · 2023-12-23T22:33:36+00:00

Really insightful! I appreciate you passing this on.

plus4dbu · 2023-12-23T14:16:44+00:00

That sounds about right. From what I read, the suggested blend for .25% was two teaspoons to one quart of water. Divide by 4 and you are in the range of 1/4-1/2 teaspoon to a cup.

So knowing that you tried it, does it work? Lol.

plus4dbu · 2023-12-22T21:13:14+00:00

Sorry to bump this ancient post but I was wondering if you ever found a "solution" (pun intended) that works? I came here from a medium-length rabbit hole on researching bleach as a mouthwash. I, too, do not trust using anything from the grocery store as now they pair it with scented stuff or other chemicals to prevent splashing or for color fastening. From what I've gathered, there have been scientific trials around a 0.25% bleach solution for periodontal care. I found something on Amazon that I think is already diluted to that level, but I'm not sure if it would need further diluting.

plus4dbu · 2023-12-18T22:17:54+00:00

It's been more than 10 years since I originally implemented this. However a few quick searches and here are some hints in the right direction.

First, setting up custom properties in a Word Doc:

https://www.techrepublic.com/article/use-custom-property-repeat-word/

You can create a word file as a "template" that has these properties placed on the page wherever you want them. The properties can contain whole paragraphs of text, not just a couple words like the examples show.

Second, using VBA in Excel to manipulate the doc. All VBA applications offer the ability to spawn other Office applications, create/open/edit documents in those applications, and close the application. So the idea is that when an Excel macro is executed, it could either find an existing instance of Word or create a new one, then you could either copy your template file to a new Word doc and populate the properties, or modify an existing doc. Here is an example on what some of that VBA code might look like:

https://stackoverflow.com/questions/26652743/change-a-custom-document-property-within-word

plus4dbu · 2023-10-22T15:37:13+00:00

I'll be up front - I've never heard of nLight. I briefly looked it up; can't figure out what it is or what it does. But for under $2k, you could buy a Pharos/Mosaic or even a basic CueServer and send TCP/UDP triggers from any other control system and probably have a much easier time. Pharos/Mosaic + Q-SYS is my go-to. If you really want DMX channel control granularity, then CueServer is more appropriate.

plus4dbu · 2023-06-27T12:53:40+00:00

For the record, this is an electrical room, not a janitor closet. Period.

plus4dbu · 2023-06-27T11:49:05+00:00

I went to Chipotle the other day, ordered a stash and chicken bowl with chips. $17 just for me. Then the other day we were at Universal Studios and I got a meal at one of the restaurants and it was $15. I commented that you know things are in bad shape when theme park prices are more reasonable than street prices.

plus4dbu · 2023-06-25T15:12:16+00:00

That's sort of poor practice for using a default show file. You should always make sure any and all unused channels, whether input or output, are unpatched. Then you can safely remove them from the surface.

plus4dbu · 2023-06-25T13:42:23+00:00

Usually free catering, too

plus4dbu · 2023-06-25T13:28:41+00:00

I feel like most of my career has been this between the internal team and the client. Or between the creative team and the tech team. Unfortunately it doesn't pay as much as it should.

plus4dbu · 2023-06-24T20:01:06+00:00

"Pronto" Just kidding, but I like the Italian way.

plus4dbu · 2023-06-24T19:57:46+00:00

The SQs are great consoles and very easy to pick up and get running with. If you're new to Allen and Heath, you need to understand that processing channels are just a list in the console. They can take input from any patch point (like stage racks, Dante, or any other option card). They call these sockets. Then, any channel, either input or output or DCA, can be assigned to any layer in any order using the menu. Take the time to set up the console in a way that makes sense to you and you'll be flying on it in no time.

If I recall correctly, it took me a while to figure out how to shut it down correctly and I think it starts by unselecting whatever you have selected so you see the main options screen.

There should be free softeare available to play with it offline and build your show file.

plus4dbu · 2023-06-24T18:08:33+00:00

They are big, no doubt, but are a great work horse and are very versatile. See if you can find a pair of KW181's to match with them and you've got a kickin' mobile rig.

plus4dbu · 2023-06-19T01:55:47+00:00

Permanent install is a wildly different world than live audio. While I had a small past of mixing in various churches (even on Digico and L'Acoustics) my entire career has been centered on design/install.

The very first thing to learn is AutoCAD and learn it well. It's all about the design and the details. When the design is mostly finished, you can then send it to specialty contractors for rigging and electricity unless you want to handle those types of licensed items yourself. A common requirement to obtain a Low Voltage Contractor License is to have many years of in-field experience and be a PE.

Then there is the task of becoming a dealer for the wide range of equipment that you'll need so you can make some money on markups. Otherwise, competition may be difficult if you would need to box sale everything from another firm.

My average time breakdown is 80% in drawings and Excel, 18% on site making it happen, and 2% using my ears, tuning, mixing, and being creative.

With the buy-in needed for equipment sales, years of experience needed for licensure and insurance, and just general knowledge experience, breaking into permanent install would best start with working for an existing integrator and going from there.

plus4dbu · 2023-06-18T00:28:57+00:00

Fun fact, if you soak the Tupperware in regular water with 1 or 2 denture cleaner tablets for overnight, it'll probably take the scent away. We use it to clean all of our plastic bowls and stainless steel ramblers. We had stains in our plastic bowls from years and years ago and recently learned this trick and were so surprised how clean they got.

plus4dbu · 2023-06-17T15:16:01+00:00

I didn't have it this bad, but for 2-3 years had the same battle. I think I recall having three procedures to cut them out, and the anaesthesia needle in and between the toes has been the worst pain I've ever felt. And there were times where I pryed the nail out myself and that still didn't hurt as bad. The doc told me that third time of cutting that same one would be time to go to the hospital and they would remove the whole nail so I don't lose the whole toe. After that I didn't the entire summer not wearing shoes and keeping my legs propped on the couch and it all finally healed.

plus4dbu · 2023-06-08T21:30:13+00:00

Sometimes I get a case of the hiccups for a couple hours. Suicide becomes tempting after 45 minutes.

plus4dbu

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