Clack Water Softener Review: Features, Models & Is It Worth It?

If you searched for a Clack water softener, here is the straight answer from someone who sold both brands for years: the Clack WS1 is a good valve, and we still don't sell a Clack softener, because Clack doesn't let its electronic valves ship to homeowners. Below is what the WS1 is, what people who call me get quoted for one, how to set it from Clack's own manual, and the Fleck I recommend instead.

Caller "Do you still sell Clack WS1 valve?"

Aidan "No, we can't sell the Clack water softeners. They don't want to drop ship anymore."

A Florida caller asked me that in March, and this page is the long answer. Left, Clack's own photo of the WS1. Right, the Fleck 5600SXT valve we ship.

What the Clack WS1 is

The WS1 is Clack's electronic control valve: the head on top of the softener tank that meters your water and runs the backwash, brining and rinse when the resin needs it. Clack does not sell complete water softener systems directly to consumers. They manufacture the valve (the WS1) and tanks, then dealers and OEMs build complete systems using Clack components. OEM here means the company that assembles the finished system; Clack's manuals and its warranty are written to that company, not to the homeowner.

Clack introduced the WS1 in 2000. It fits softener tanks from 6 to 21 inches across, and it can start a regeneration (the backwash and salt rinse that recharges the resin) by the gallons you use, by the gallons with a wait until the set time, or by the calendar alone.

Clack and Fleck are the two top brands in the industry, and the WS1 is a good, solid valve. The two are both digital, both backwash based on the water you use, and they're pretty close as far as performance. Where they differ day to day is noise, parts and how you buy one, and that is the rest of this page.

Why we don't sell a Clack softener

We don't sell a Clack softener because Clack won't let its electronic valves be shipped to homeowners, and Fleck will. I put it this way to a caller in Michigan this summer: "Fleck allows their equipment to be shipped to the homeowners. Clack doesn't. They go back and forth. One year they'll let it be shipped, the next year, 'No, we don't wanna ship anymore.'"

The company that builds our systems told us the same thing in writing in 2023: Clack can't be sold on the web. As I understand it, the family that owns Clack wants its valves installed by plumbers or technicians, so they go through local dealers.

We did sell them. In 32 years in this business, Fleck was our number one and Clack our number two, and I had a Clack in my own house for about 16 years. We sold Clack for a while, but a lot of people complained the backwash was too loud.

We still use one Clack valve: the non-electric head on our non-backwashing acid neutralizers and carbon filters, which Clack does let us ship. The Clack 2.5 non-backwashing acid neutralizer is built on it.

What a Clack softener costs

People who call me this year have been quoted $2,000 to $2,200 for a Clack softener from a local dealer. You might pay more for a Clack than a Fleck, because Fleck is a very large company. These are the numbers I have, and where each one came from:

Check the size on any quote before you compare prices. The Connecticut caller had 32 grains of hardness and was quoted a 48,000 grain Clack. I told him, "It's too little. You need more like a 64,000 grain electronic demand softener." My best-of list covers which softener to buy, sized for a well.

Holding a quote for a Clack?

Send me the quote before you sign

Text a photo of the quote and your hardness number. I'll tell you if the size is right and what the same softener costs with a Fleck.

Text Aidan443-277-2204 Call800-460-5810Aidan

Call 800-460-5810 or text Aidan at 443-277-2204.

Clack WS1 specs from Clack's sheet

The WS1 handles 27 gallons per minute and fits softener tanks 6 to 21 inches across. These numbers are from Clack's own WS1 spec sheet and manuals, not from sellers' listings:

Clack valve models

The WS1 and WS1.25 share one manual, form V3115. The WS1.5 and WS2 are brass valves with far higher flow.

How to program a Clack WS1

Hardness, day override and regeneration time are the WS1 settings you can change yourself, and they open when you hold NEXT and the up arrow together for 3 seconds. Clack calls them the installer settings, and they stay open even when the builder locks the valve. Everything below comes from Clack's manual, form V3115, which is a free PDF on Clack's site.

Leave the builder's menu alone

A second menu, opened by holding NEXT and the down arrow, holds the numbers the system builder set for your tank: the capacity in grains and the pounds of salt per regeneration. The salt setting also sets how long the backwash and rinse run, so no single backwash time is right for every tank. If the builder locked that menu, the unlock is the down arrow, NEXT, the up arrow, then SET CLOCK, but those numbers were matched to your resin and tank, so call the builder before you change one. If your water tastes salty after it regenerates, start with why softened water tastes salty.

What I recommend instead of a Clack

I recommend the Fleck 5600SXT, the valve on the softeners we ship. We've sold both, I've had both in my house, and we always seem to choose the Fleck. The backwash isn't as loud as the Clack, parts are more available, and any plumber or water treatment guy can work on one. The Clack is a little more difficult to work on.

Where the Clack comes out ahead: the WS1 is rated for more flow, 27 gallons per minute to the 5600SXT's 20. And if a local dealer you trust installs and services Clack, his Clack is a solid valve; every dealer has their own preference.

In that video I show the Fleck 5600SXT I have at home. For the full head-to-head, read Clack vs Fleck: which is better for your home.

Like every tank we sell, the Fleck ships empty: the resin comes in separate bags and is loaded at install, drain tubing isn't included, and we recommend a licensed plumber. If your well water is acidic as well as hard, read whether you need an acid neutralizer and a softener; we sell the pair as one package for $3,295. Every size we ship is on the water softeners page.

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