Water softeners

[tomdawg]

I recently moved and the water at my new house is terrible! I just replaced a dishwasher that was 2.5 years old. That being said. I knew hard water was the culprit.
I grew up on soft water and ready to buy it for my home.
Any one have a system they love? Looking at Kinetico, but they seem expensive.

 

[awooff]

Fleck brand softners

About 10 years ago my softner quit which started my research of online forums on various brands of softners. Fleck brand softners is what i would have chosen then and probably now. Fleck is moderately priced yet built for longevity over brands such that are sold at box stores. Imagine that..

At that time monies were short so the sears card came out for a kenmore which at the time was built by ecowater if memory serves. The kenmore has served me well but the resin beads within seem to be failing as the water should be a bit more soft. Have considered using iron out on the softner per youtube videos but have not as of yet..

A good action plan to keep a softner in good running order is to not over fill with salt and to vacuum out the salt reservior occasionally then adding new salt - reason being the remainder of the advertised morton brand salt states 99 percent pure salt. That 1 percent of grit or sand or whatever is what remains in the salt bin of the softner. After bag after bag of salt used that 1 percent adds up therby displacing the brine solution for regeneration cycles resulting in a shortage.

 

[chachp]

We have a RainSoft

 

<span style="font-family: 'courier new', courier; font-size: 12pt;">We have a RainSoft Water Softener EC5 and are very happy with it.  We had it put in a year ago December.  Ironically, they are coming out today to do the one year maintenance.  It connects to our WiFi and has an app we can use to control everything.  Ours is in a little hut type thing outside because we are on a slab and couldn't easily add one inside.  The app, for us, is nice because we don't have to go outside to monitor.</span>

 

<span style="font-family: 'courier new', courier; font-size: 12pt;">Ours has some kind of carbon filter next to it that additionally filters the water for taste, etc.  Very happy with it.</span>

 

<span style="font-family: 'courier new', courier; font-size: 12pt;">We've had only one issue with it and it wasn't really the softener.  We discovered the water softener was installed before the pressure regulator.  At some point our incoming pressure was topping out at over 130 PSI and was blowing the seals in the Water Softener.  They came out and added a PR before the Water Softener and all is well.  Had we been able to install in the house somewhere we likely wouldn't have had this issue.</span>

 

[askolover]

Rainsoft......EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEK

I got a Rainsoft silver system back in 2001.  It worked fine for almost 2 years.  Then it needed new valves.  Then the clock timer  stopped working correctly and would jam.  Numerous service calls and the idiot techs who didn't know their rear end from a hole in th ground and I got fed up.  I went to Lowes and bought a Whirlpool model and installed it myself.  I kept the Rainsoft salt and media tanks and 10 years later the WP setup failed internally.  I went to this site https://www.softenerparts.com/Default.asp and ordered a Fleck valve that would fit the Rainsoft tank along with replacement resin, re-fitted them onto the Rainsoft system and reinstalled it in my home.  I think it's been 7 years now (knock on wood) and I have not had any problems since.  As much as the Rainsoft cost me it should have lasted a lot longer.  I'm very pleased with my setup now and I can get parts easily. 

 

[bradfordwhite]

It isn't always so simple

Just adding a softner isn't THE only fix to get perfect water, unfortunately.

 

I learned this a while back when living in a house on a lake that had well water.  What was coming out of the well was awful.  I think the well casing was disintegrating.  The raw water was cloudy and rich with iron, in addition to being hard.  It also smelled.  When I moved into the home the water softner was an expensive softner system only a few years old but absolutely plugged with iron.  It was useless. 

 

Water softners are only designed to soften water.  They will handle a little bit of some types of iron. However

 bacterial iron or if you have a lot of Ferric iron in your water, you'll just ruin the softner.  Bacterial Iron will actually grow in the sand filter contaminating the water.

 

First step is to have your water thoroughly tested so you know what you're dealing with.

 

Also, know what your plumbing system is both from the outside up to the house, but more importantly what the condition of the piping is inside the home.  If you have old, rusting iron pipes in your walls,it won't matter how nice the water is at the softner, by the time the water gets to your sinks it will be crap.

 

You might need an iron filter, you might need an aerator, you might need to treat for sulfur, you might need a media filter.   You might need all of these BEFORE the water goes through the softner.  Softner should always be last in your treatment regimen. 

 

Spend your money on the pretreatment for iron and what not.  You can buy water softners at Lowes for about $300 that will work just fine.  

 

I built my own aerator tank a few years back that allowed the bacterial iron to oxidize.  The aerator tank was vented outside which allowed radon and the rotten eggs smell to escape.  The oxidized iron was easily filtered with a cheap media filter.  Then the water went to the softner.  Perfect water.

 

No water spots, very little detergent needed to get sudsing action. No radon or rotten egg smell. And no ruined clothing or linens with iron spots.

 

Just throwing money at water problems might work, and there's lots of guys out there that will sell you a $5000 water softner system, but there's no guarantee it will work or continue to work in the long run.

 

Iron Water Treatment Options | Air & Water Quality Maine

Discover effective iron water treatment options based on the type of iron and other contaminants. Ensure clean, safe water with solutions from Air & Water Quality Maine.

www.awqinc.com

 

[kb0nes]

Be sure to do a good water test to know what you are up against initially. My water is 22 grain with only a trace of iron so a standard softener does fine by me. I wouldn't consider not having one.

The name brand softeners like Kinetico are indeed extremely nice. I looked into buying a Kinetico a few years back but was really miffed I couldn't just buy one, it had to be installed. While these are great machines, there is likely WAY too much profit in them so I passed.

I ended up with a Whirlpool branded 30,000 grain softener from Lowe's for less then $400. They only regenerate on demand so compared to the previous one I had this one is FAR more frugal on salt and wasted water to needless regen cycles. I have had this one for about 8 years now without a moments issue. I'd unquestionably recommend one and would buy another.