The Sand Cat Package

For wells with sand, silt or grit and hard water: a sediment filter first, then a water softener.

• Grit shows up in faucet screens, toilet tanks or appliance filters, or your well pushes sand.
• Your well water is also hard.

• Remove anything dissolved, such as arsenic, nitrate or PFAS: sediment filters catch particles (University of Nebraska). The softener in it takes up to about 2 ppm of clear-water iron (Charger); more than that needs the Panther.
• Remove or kill bacteria. Charger says its cartridges must not be used on microbiologically unsafe water.

Sediment filter

One of three, all from Charger, chosen for your well and written on your estimate:

• a Friesian whole-house cartridge housing, up to 30 gpm, for graded melt-blown cartridges (25 to 1, 25 to 5 or 50 to 5 microns) or pleated 1–50 micron ones;
• a HYDRA self-cleaning screen (90 microns, 28 gpm) that rinses itself when you open its drain valve;
• or a backwashing media filter: 5–9 gpm of steady flow by tank size, draining 5.3–9 gpm while it backwashes.

Water softener

A Charger CWWS1 softener sized to your water — the sizes are on the Bobcat page.

Valves

A Clack WS1 valve and bypass on the softener.

• The HYDRA screen filter is certified by IAPMO R&T to NSF/ANSI 42, 61 and 372 (its brochure).
• We found no NSF listing for a Charger softener as a system; the Clack valve is certified to NSF/ANSI 44, 61 and 372 (valve only).

• Micron rating: smaller catches more but clogs sooner. The University of Nebraska: “nominal” filters trap about 85% of particles at their rating; “absolute” about 99.9%.
• The softener by hardness (Charger’s worksheet) — see the Bobcat.

• Friesian housing up to 30 gpm; HYDRA 28 gpm; backwashing filter 5–9 gpm by size; softener: see the Bobcat.
• For scale: a shower head uses up to 2.5 gallons a minute (gpm) and a kitchen faucet up to 2.2 gpm (federal limits, EPA).

• Friesian housing 20–125 psi (Charger). HYDRA screen: up to 125 psi and 39–113°F (its brochure).
• Sand, silt, grit and rust particles.

• Salt: the softener only — about 8–10 fifty-pound bags a year for 2 people on a 20-grain well (our arithmetic); the Bobcat gives other households.
• Water, sediment filter: a little each time a screen is flushed; a backwashing filter sends 5.3–9 gpm to the drain while it cleans (Charger).
• Water, softener: about 41–96 gallons each time it regenerates, by size — about 1,980–2,470 gallons a year for 2 people on a 20-grain well with a 48K (our arithmetic; see the Bobcat).
• Electricity: the softener valve (and a backwashing filter’s valve, if chosen).

• Room for the filter, the softener and the salt tank at your loop.
• A drain and an always-on outlet for the softener, and a second one if the sediment filter backwashes (Charger).
• At least 10 feet of pipe from where treated water leaves the system to the water heater’s cold-water inlet (Charger’s manual). If yours is closer, the extra pipe is quoted before any work.
• Indoors, or a sheltered spot where the tanks and their drain and overflow lines never drop below 34°F, out of direct sunlight, with the valve’s plug-in transformer in a dry spot (Charger’s manual).
• Where an overflow could do damage, an overflow line from the salt tank to the drain (Charger’s manual recommends one there).
• Septic: softener and any backwash water go to the septic system.

• Softening adds about 8 mg of sodium per liter for every grain of hardness it removes (University of Nebraska).
• On Prescott city water (4.3–7.6 grains per gallon) that is about 34–61 mg per liter. On a 20-grain well it is about 160 mg per liter. (Our arithmetic.)
• EPA advises no more than 20 mg per liter for people on a very-low-sodium diet (500 mg a day), and says older people may be more sensitive to sodium.
• Lower-sodium choices: leave the kitchen cold tap unsoftened (extra plumbing, quoted flat); add an under-sink reverse osmosis system, which removes sodium (CDC) — the Kitten; or use potassium chloride instead of salt, which Charger allows. Ask your doctor about potassium first if you have kidney or heart disease, diabetes or high blood pressure, or take medicines that affect potassium (Virginia Tech Extension).

$3,075 installed, flat, anywhere in Yavapai County. Arizona sales tax on the parts is already in that price (CreekWell’s invoice terms). What is not included is listed below.

Not bookable yet. This work costs more than $1,000, which puts it outside what CreekWell can take on until its Arizona contractor licenses are issued. The details here are accurate so you can plan and compare. Why not yet?

Included

• Installation on your loop; any new loop plumbing is quoted up front
• Programming the softener
• Testing before Neil leaves
• CreekWell’s two-year workmanship warranty

Not included

• Lab water testing (see Testing)
• Salt
• Replacement cartridges, if you have the cartridge type
• A drain if none is close enough — quoted first. A new outlet is electrical work, arranged separately
• Extra pipe if there is less than 10 feet of pipe between the system and the water heater (Charger’s manual) — quoted first

Running costs

• Salt: about 8–10 fifty-pound bags a year for 2 people on a 20-grain well (our arithmetic; the Bobcat sheet gives other households).
• Water: about 1,980–2,470 gallons a year for the softener (2 people on a 20-grain well with a 48K; our arithmetic), plus a little for each screen flush, or a backwashing filter’s rinse (5.3–9 gpm while it cleans; Charger).
• Power: the softener’s valve, and a backwashing filter’s valve if you have that type.
• Parts: sediment cartridges if you have the cartridge type, and in time softening resin.
• Neil has not published prices for this package’s replacement parts yet; your written estimate lists today’s prices before you approve anything.

Paying

• A 50% deposit sets the install date; the rest is due when it is in and tested.
• The written estimate is good for 30 days. If you cancel after the three business days the FTC’s Cooling-Off Rule gives when you sign at home, what happens to the deposit (for example, parts already ordered for you) is written on the estimate before you sign.
• Zelle, cash or check: no fee. A card fee, if you pay by card, is shown as its own line on the estimate (payment terms).

• Charger’s is a limited warranty to the original buyer. Charger repairs or replaces a defective part without charging for its own factory work; you pay the shipping to send the part back.
• The 10 years are written for “any residential Pentair mineral tank”. The tank brand is on your written estimate.
• Charger does not cover: freezing, water above 120°F or pressure above 120 psi; a vacuum on the water line; damage from improper installation or maintenance, or any change from the original design; or damage from any circumstance beyond Charger’s control.
• The tank years apply only where the tanks were first installed, and the warranty does not cover consequential damages (other losses a failed part causes, beyond the part itself).
• Charger does not pay for the labor to take the old part out and fit the new one. Who pays that, in the first two years and after, is written on your estimate.
• To claim: call Neil, the installer, or Charger directly.
• Read the full warranty before you buy — it is linked under Documents.

• Before: a certified lab test (SimpleLab’s Level 1 + Bacteria, $185 at SimpleLab’s price, covers arsenic and bacteria). For iron and sulfur, Penn State says to know the iron and manganese level and form, the pH, the oxygen in the water and whether iron bacteria are present. SimpleLab’s Biofilm Bacteria test ($321 at its price) checks for iron and sulfur bacteria; it is optional, for when your report or Neil’s reading of it points to them.
• After: tested before Neil leaves — included.

• Installs on your loop, sediment filter first.
• Drain lines run to code with air gaps.
• Charger’s softener manual: connect it to a supply line downstream of the outdoor spigots — past the point where the pipes to the outdoor taps branch off, so those taps are not fed softened water.
• The City of Prescott has adopted the 2024 International Plumbing Code; the county and other towns set their own.
• If a particular job turns out to need a permit, you are told before any work starts.

From the manufacturers

• Charger Friesian whole-house cartridge housing spec sheet
• Charger whole-house sediment cartridges (micron ratings)
• HYDRA self-cleaning sediment filter brochure (on Charger’s site)
• Charger backwashing sediment filter spec sheet
• Charger CWWS1 Hi-Flow softener brochure (2023)
• Charger softener installation manual and warranty
• Charger limited warranty (the version linked from chargerwater.com)
• Clack WS1 control valve specifications (Form 2572)

Independent guidance and listings

• University of Nebraska: sediment filters (nominal and absolute ratings)
• University of Nebraska: water softening (sodium, water per regeneration)
• EPA drinking-water advisory for sodium
• City of Prescott code: 2024 International Plumbing Code adopted
• EPA WaterSense: showerhead flow limits
• EPA WaterSense: kitchen faucets (federal limit 2.2 gpm at 60 psi)

These are the manufacturers’ and agencies’ own documents. Links go to their sites and can change without notice.