water softener recommendation

I have a Whirpool brand that I bought at Lowe's. I installed it myself when I was building my house, which made things easy. Regardless, pretty simple installation IMO, especially if you are mechanically inclined.

 

My father actually sells them along with reverse osmosis systems. I'll try and get a hold of him to get some details and I'll pm you through the board.

 

I've got a Kenmore (Sears) in my home now. It was there when I purchased the home (2009)...home was built in 2006. So it's probably about 5 years old. I've had no problems with it at all. Performs quite well as the water here in Vegas is extremely hard.

The high-end systems that RocketDonut is referring to...had one of those in my last rental house and it seemed to work quite well. The RO system for drinking water sucked...made the water taste/feel "slimey". I think these systems might be a bit of overkill (a few thousand vs. Sears' $400 jobber). Either should work pretty good with minimal/no maintenance. Just make sure that if you start with salt, keep using salt. Or if you start with potassium (better for pipes), keep using potassium. Have been told by plumbers to not change your additive on-the-fly as it might damage the unit.

 

I bought one from a local company, Advanced Water Solutions.
http://www.loveourwater.com/

It cost me $1800 I think. It was my first water softener so I don't know how it compares to anything else but I really like it.

 

We have a reverse osmosis system in the house and it's pretty awesome. It's difficult to go drink anything else. The water tastes just as good as any bottled water you get from the store.

As for the slimy-ness, it may have been dirty filters. My dad has shown me some of the dirty filters people leave and they look pretty bad, like fish tank filter bad. New filters make a world of difference.

 

The brand does not matter. Just maintain it well and it will perform.

 

The expensive water softeners, such as Rainsoft or Kinetico, are a great example of the law of diminishing returns. I would recommend purchasing a <$500 unit from Sears or Home Depot, for maximum value. You will not notice the difference.

Also, if you have already scheduled an in home consultation with one of the pricey companies, I would cancel ASAP. I had to raise my voice several times to get the Rainsoft salesman to exit my home. He was a first class d******d.

 

hehe...now that you mention that, we did have the filter replaced about a year and a half through our two year rental period. The filter was in pretty bad shape. At that point, we had abandoned using the RO system...so I'd rule my statement as incomplete. So...to the OP, if you go with a system that also has RO, make sure to change the filter as suggested by the manufacturer.

 

I got a quote from that guy but decided to wait and do some energy efficiency updates to my home instead. Here is the info I got from what I can remember:

I briefly looked at softeners last year.

I got a few emails from this guy and he seemed like a good option. He provided some information on how to size a system without getting the biggest and most expensive some others tend to push. I don't remember the cost as it was last year but I believe they were around $1500. Their tanks all have the Vortech lower distributer plate: http://www.uswatersystems.com/shop/p...tech-Tank.html:
Richard De Young richard@loveourwater.com
281-469-9227 www.loveourwater.com

On some other site someone recommended this place for a unit around $1500 as well: http://www.affordablequalitywatersystems.com/

At work, and an employee posted this guy as a recommended installer:
"If you're looking for knowledgeable and reliable water softener/conditioner installation without bias by manufacturer's claims, I highly recommend Wayne Medina, 10 years experience, affordable prices. Call 832-208-2006 for free estimates."

I don't have a softwater system at this point since I decided to do some energy efficient updates to my home instead, but figure I would provide the two contacts I kept for when I decide to go through with it.

If you do get some quotes from these places, as well as information and get it done, I'd appreciate your comments in case I decide to follow up on this.

 

I went over to my dad's this morning and he said you can get the water softener and the reverse osmosis system as a package for $2900. That includes installation and a five year warranty.

Here are some pics of the system.

Spoiler

This is the water softening unit:



The salt basin, notice you don't have to fill it up to the top:



Reverse osmosis that goes under your kitchen sink:



Reverse osmosis faucet:

 

There's a distinction between just a stand alone water softener and running the water through a filtration + water softening system.

 

Depends on the filtration. Mostly you just need a sediment filter before the softener then put charcoal at point of use for fridge and sinks. If you get the standard size generic filters the cost of upkeep is reasonable.

 

I called my dad up again after I saw that you only needed the softener and he said it normally goes for $1500 but can do $1400. It's a Watts system.

 

The best is KINETICO. I just bought one in February with the reverse osmosis filtering system. It uses water pressure to operate so it doesn't need or waste electricity. It works 24 hours a day as it brines over 2 chambers. The reviews from show that people have their systems installed without any problems and last for over 20 years. You can't say that about 90% of the brands out there.

EDIT: My neighbor bought the cheapy Sears one - it broke after 6 mo. then he bought one at home depot - it uses to much salt and it doesn't distribute well. I suggest that you read the reviews.

 

I did a quick search and homedepot/lowes only carry whirlpool and ge. From the post above me, it seems like the ge isn't good.

What grain should I get? I see 20k, 30k, 40k and 48k. Does the grain really make that much of a difference?