Best Home Water Softener?

[westtexman]

Hello Everyone!

I live in a hard-water area, and for the past 5 years or so I've used Culligan's system where they deliver the tanks to my house monthly. Between the water softening and the Reverse Osmosis system, I spend just under $80.00 monthly.

I am now in super-savings mode and want to eliminate as much waste as possible. I am reviewing all of my monthly expenses (cable, cell phone service, monthly subscriptions, security system fees, etc.) and making cuts in areas where the value I receive from a product does not justify the cost. I love having soft water, but I really don't want to spend $80.00 per month ($960.00/year) just for soft water. I think I'd rather make a one-time purchase of an in-home water softener and RO system and then only have to buy salt for the softener as needed and filters for the RO system annually.

The local companies (Culligan, Ecowater and Kinetico) offer these products, but they are fairly expensive ($2,500.00 and up). I am looking for something in the $600.00 or less range for the water softener, and maybe $300.00 for the RO system.

Does anyone here have experience with systems that meet the parameters mentioned above? Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Bryan

 

[appnut]

B, call, text, email, or send up smoke signals when you can.

 

[wayupnorth]

My softner is a Blake, works fine, chews a bag of salt every other week. Bought and installed from a dealer/friend that told me that when he did my water test, but my crappy well water is fine from the tap. I dont drink it as it tastes like the ocean.

 

[abcomatic]

I have a Culligan softener that I have had for years. I have replaced the timer and add salt once a month. Not bad for something 12 years old. Gary

 

[whirlykenmore78]

Don't waste your time with cheap softeners:

An Ecowater system will give you the most bang for your buck. I have one and the water quality and machine quality are off the charts. I would recommend one to anybody.
WK78

 

[gusherb]

My old neighbors moved to a town where the municipal water is from a well and very hard. They had a Culligan softener installed and now the water is very slimy. It's disgusting. I was looking for a way to tone down the softness of the water on the softener but didn't see anything in the control panel and saw a couple of black knobs. In the end I just opened up a bypass about halfway and that temporarily fixed the issue.
Is there actually a way to adjust these things so they don't over-soften?

 

[gansky1]

My GE Smartwater unit was $349 from Sam's Club, no problems for ten years now.  

 

My parents bought a Whirlpool from Lowes seven years ago, no problems either.  It was a bit higher priced at around $500 installed, but it has a few more lights/indicators and snazzy electronic features than mine. 

 

[washer111]

There is really no way to "over-soften" water, as the process is based on ion-exchange. The resins are releasing salt (sodium) ions, in exchange for calcium, and some magnesium being removed.

The "slick" feeling is a result of the salt ions reacting with the chemicals used in handsoaps and detergents. The more hardness removed, the more "slickness," since there is more salt in the water. It doesn't mean your hands aren't improperly rinsed, just dry them off and move on.

One can under-soften the water by reducing the salt setting. How this is done depends on the softener unit in question. By doing this, you also run the risk of the water going hard between regeneration cycles, as you may end up running out of sodium ions (more or less) which essentially defeats the purpose of having a softener.

Whatever system you settle on, make sure that YOU are adding the salt. Provided the system is installed properly, a softener does not need "regular maintenance," unless it breaks for some reason. Buying the salt and adding it yourself frees you from the CulliganMan and his stupid cost.
The only thing you might do from time to time is buy a "softener cleaner" and add it in with your salt, a cup of LCB does similar things - but too often and you'll ruin the resins!

The other thing I can suggest is to ensure the system you get has either a FLECK or AUTOTROL control unit fitted. These two are the "big names" in the industry, and have been proven over many decades.
They come in both fully-mechanical and digitised variants, the former being the more suitable choice as they're far more simple. The Fleck units, at least, will still only regenerate based on water usage, not number of days as the Autotrol will do. The Fleck is also a bit simpler in operation, too. The mode you're looking for here is the "Fleck Econominder 5600."

And FWIW, most breakdowns on water softeners can be completely DIY'd with just a set of screw drivers and a bit of your time. When fixing our system from about 1984 or thereabouts, I used www.softenerparts.com - a wealth of expertise. Eventually we needed a new control head, as the old one was leaking, but all was well after that in 2011 and the system still works today.

 

[askolover]

Ditto that

softenerparts.com. My Whirlpool from Lowes died after 10 years. I previously had a Rainsoft that had problems from day one, but I kept it as a spare. I bought new Fleck valve from the above website along with new resin and refurbished it...no problems since and cheaper than Lowes for another Whirlpool (ecowater). They sell complete systems too. My control valve has a screw inside the back cover where I can turn down or up the amount of salt it uses to regenerate.

 

[gusherb]

I was feeling the sliminess without using any soap, just running my hand under the faucet. Does naturally soft water ever react like that with soap and detergent?

 

[iheartmaytag]

I may be wrong, probably am

But the Culligan man told me the "silkiness" of the water you feel with no soap or detergent is actually left over oils from your skin. 

 

This could be wrong, but has some element of validity.

 

[revvinkevin]

the water is very slimy. It's disgusting.

 

 

It's a matter of getting used to it.  

 

My parental units have had a water softener in the house for as long as I can remember, so I was used to it.   I lived in 2 different condos a total of 4 years without soft water, before buying a house.  

 

After a year or two I bought softener from Sears and installed it myself (about 15 years ago).   As I recall it was around $350-ish and on sale.   My parents softener had a mechanical timer and was set to regenerate every Tuesday morning between 2 and 3 am.   This Sears softener has a flow meter and regenerates based on usage and need (they all may be like this now, I don't know), this was a big selling point for me. 

 

Bryan, one thing that may be of importance is: Your Culligan system with the tanks they swap each month, probably doesn't use salt, does it?   Regular water softeners do and add trace amounts (I'm not sure how much really) of salt to the water.   One option is buy the potassium tablets for the re-gen tank instead of salt, but the cost is higher.

 

My softer started leaking about 6 months ago, from what looks to be the plastic manifold (water in/out) assembly.   When I installed it, I also included bypass valve assemblies, in case the softener needed to by bypassed (like now). 

 

I will leave you with this story: Before buying and installing the Sears softener, I considered other options, including Culligan.   I decided against it due to the extreme cost.    However, one thing done during the Culligan sales pitch/demo, has really stuck in my mind.   She had a mini filter thing that attached to my kitchen faucet and with the turn of a lever, changed the output from hard to soft water.  

 

Part of the demo included washing my hands with soap, then rinsing, once under the hard water, then washing and rinsing again with the softened water.   Of course the difference in the feel was dramatic (but I already knew this).   After washing and rinsing a second time with the soft water, we were talking about the feel (slimy) and how it felt like there may be soap residue left on my hands.   The saleswoman then said "OK lick your hand"... I looked at her for a second and then I licked my hand!   She was surprised because she said most people won't do it.   Anyway, my hand tasted like nothing, just very clean, like clean fresh water.   She moved the lever to hard water and I again washed my hands, then rinsed, then rinsed a 2nd time to be sure and licked my hand again.   This time, <span style="text-decoration: underline;">even though I rinsed my hands two times</span> and my hands <span style="text-decoration: underline;">felt clean</span>, I could taste soap on my hand!!   WOW!  

 

So even though you may not like that "slimy feel" it means there is no soap residue left on your skin!   To me that "slimy feel" means I am clean!

 

Jonathan, if you ever have the chance to do this "wash your hands with & without soft water" test, try it (and lick it), I'm sure you'll be surprised.

 

Kevin

 

[whirlcool]

At school the town of Ruston, LA has very, very soft slimy water direct out of the water system. It seemed like it took forever to wash soap out of your hair and off your body when showering. No matter where you were in town, on campus or in a private home the water was the same, slimy feeling.

 

[gusherb]

Interesting points Kevin.

I'm talking to them now and she said she took the water to be tested today and it was at 14 gpg hardness with the bypass at half open. That's incredibly hard! They apparently said the well in that town pumps water at 28 gpg hardness! That's insane to me.
I mentioned your story about the lick your hand test. She said she still hates the sliminess and they're just gonna fiddle with the bypass to tune it in to something acceptable.

This is my first ever experience with a softener system so it's all new to me. Where I live we get our water from Lake Michigan which is pretty consistently around 8 gpg, right at the bottom of being considered "hard". Nobody uses a softener on that water. Back in the day most suburban municipalities more than 5 miles or so from the lake were using well water so softeners were actually alot more common back then. But in the early-mid 90s many towns started connecting to the lake water system so they disappeared.

 

[wayupnorth]

Without a softener from my well, you can coat soap to wash even your hands and it feels like just rubbing them together. There is no slime feel from my Blake. But there is a salt taste in the water. I'll take the salt taste, even though I dont drink it, for not having the iron stains.

 

[washer111]

Where I lived previously, water was at 25GPG hardness, which is in excess of 350ppm hardness. That was per Water Corporation documents I obtained at the time, not a testing kit.

With water like that - you can basically expect a new kettle up to twice annually, water heaters every few years (especially when no one changes the anode or drains/refills) and hell for almost any automatic dishwasher in this sans-phosphates world. Thankfully, Finish and Fairy tablets retain their high dosage (>30%) for now.

 

[askolover]

our water is around 7-8 grains here from the Duck river.  It's enough to cause hard minerals to build up on faucets weekly between descaling.  I had to replace all the faucets when I bought the house they were so badly crusted.  Love my softener.  Apparently they are pretty popular in my area.

 

[kb0nes]

I live in an area that has 20-25 grain hardness. About 6 years ago I installed a Whirlpool branded softener from Lowes. I remain floored at how little salt it uses and how great the price was. I simply swapped it for an older softener that was there that had seen better days.

The Kinetico softeners are the "Bees Knees" and I would love one, but they are WAY expensive. Also they won't sell me one, without installing it, I am a DIY person, nobody needs to install a water softener for me.

I'd not do a service like Culligan even if someone else paid the bills for me. It is trouble free yes, but VERY expensive in comparison

 

[nurdlinger]

Agree with washer111 re. "Fleck Econominder 5600"

I've had three water softeners over the nearly 40 years I have owned my hours. First one, purchased in 1979, was a J.C. Penney brand which was actually made by Lane if I recall correctly. That one lasted 10-20 years (don't really remember). What finally killed it was the rubber O-rings inside the control head leaked. I took it apart and replaced the seals, and that killed it. Went without for several years, then bought a replacement at Sears. That one lasted less than 10 years. All of these things took place before I really learned about researching on the internet. When the time came to replace the Sears softener, I read all I could about all kinds of units. The branded ones mentioned here (Culligan, Ecowater & Kinetico) will no doubt work fine but will be expensive. I found that I was persuaded by reading about the various control heads that Fleck and Autotrol were the ones to get. For a time I toyed with the idea of buying all the components (tank, resin, control head, etc.) and rolling my own. I got over that pretty fast. Although it isn't rocket science, it isn't Ikea either. The risk was too great. What finally happened was that I found a local water conditioning company who did assemble their own units from parts, including a Fleck Econominder 5600 control. That's what I did and I am still very satisfied with the results. I don't remember what I paid for the unit with installation but I don't think it exceeded $600.00. I would recommend that approach (local business) if it's at all possible where you live.

I re-read the thread and decided to add another opinion. When last I was researching these things I came to the conclusion that all the units you find at Home Depot or Lowe's or Sears or places like that really use the same control units, and that the quality and/or durability of them is low. If you really need an inexpensive unit, those will function. However they will stop functioning due to the failure of some part within five years. If that's OK, don't be deterred. I do recommend reading as many user comments as it is possible to find. After a while you can separate the wheat from the chaff, and come up with some valid conclusions regarding those mass market consumer items.