In an effort to avoid the hard water in our little village, I've called upon Culligan's tank exchange service. Having increased the tank changeover from monthly to bi-weekly, I still found the water went hard at about day nine or ten. Called again and arranged for weekly service. They come here once a week from a town about eighteen miles away. So, no problem. No more hard water.
I've found this particular store's pricing to be rather...arbitrary. The two times I've called to increase the frequency of service, the woman at the other end says, "Let me ask Phil how much he'll do it for." She yells to Phil, who responds, then comes back to me and says, "Phil said he'll do it for $_______.
Here's where things get a bit creative: Basic, once-a-month service is $25 plus tax and some small fee. This increased to $33 per month for a two-week exchange. Weekly service is only $36 per month. Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining by any means...but doesn't this pricing structure seem a bit odd?
Received my first month's electric and water bill: 2,450 gallons of water used. Phil from Culligan estimated each tank would soften 600-800 gallons of water before losing efficacy.
I was using 2,800-3,150 gallons monthly at the house. (Note: Somewhere I mistakenly posted a use of 1,000-1,300 gallons per month at the house.)
Anyway, 2,450 seems about right considering my water softener at the house regenerated weekly, using quite a bit of water. Taking advantage of the much-feared Normal Eco cycle when feasible on the SQ saves a fair amount of water.
Here's The Rub: When Phil exchanges the softener tank anywhere between 9:00-10:30 a.m. every Thursday, he makes quite a racket. He hits these heavy metal connectors with a big wrench to get them firmly in place. This translates to a full 45-60 seconds of very loud clanking to remove a tank and another 45-60 seconds to get the new one in place. Might not seem like much on paper, but when you're listening to it reverberate loudly throughout the building, it's an eternity. The softener is installed downstairs in the laundry/pass-through hallway. The barrage is loud upstairs in my apartment; I can't imagine how loud it must be for the four apartments downstairs.
Methinks I'll be making a lot of Damn Good Cinnamon Rolls as peace offerings to the neighbors, LOL.
But I have soft water, by God.
I've found this particular store's pricing to be rather...arbitrary. The two times I've called to increase the frequency of service, the woman at the other end says, "Let me ask Phil how much he'll do it for." She yells to Phil, who responds, then comes back to me and says, "Phil said he'll do it for $_______.
Here's where things get a bit creative: Basic, once-a-month service is $25 plus tax and some small fee. This increased to $33 per month for a two-week exchange. Weekly service is only $36 per month. Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining by any means...but doesn't this pricing structure seem a bit odd?
Received my first month's electric and water bill: 2,450 gallons of water used. Phil from Culligan estimated each tank would soften 600-800 gallons of water before losing efficacy.
I was using 2,800-3,150 gallons monthly at the house. (Note: Somewhere I mistakenly posted a use of 1,000-1,300 gallons per month at the house.)
Anyway, 2,450 seems about right considering my water softener at the house regenerated weekly, using quite a bit of water. Taking advantage of the much-feared Normal Eco cycle when feasible on the SQ saves a fair amount of water.
Here's The Rub: When Phil exchanges the softener tank anywhere between 9:00-10:30 a.m. every Thursday, he makes quite a racket. He hits these heavy metal connectors with a big wrench to get them firmly in place. This translates to a full 45-60 seconds of very loud clanking to remove a tank and another 45-60 seconds to get the new one in place. Might not seem like much on paper, but when you're listening to it reverberate loudly throughout the building, it's an eternity. The softener is installed downstairs in the laundry/pass-through hallway. The barrage is loud upstairs in my apartment; I can't imagine how loud it must be for the four apartments downstairs.
Methinks I'll be making a lot of Damn Good Cinnamon Rolls as peace offerings to the neighbors, LOL.
But I have soft water, by God.
