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Who makes the best water softeners?

M

mshan

Diamond Member
In absolute terms, who makes the best water softeners?

What about if price (value), reliability, and quality are also factored in?

What is competitive price and where are best places to purchase?
 
I just installed one in my home in January and did a lot of research, The only important part is the head or the electronic control.
Autotrol and fleck seem to be the favorite of the people in the industry. I found a plumbing forum with a rather large thread on water softeners.
I purchased my system on Ebay from Aplus water http://www.apluswater.net/New%...0Water%20Softeners.htm
There is a lot of info and manuals on there web site, but he puts about 12-20 systems on Ebay every weekend 100 cheaper then the online store.
You do have to assemble it when it arrives, which is put the beads in and screw the head on. but for under $500 I got a system that a local company wanted $3,499 to put in

 
A coworker just put in a kenmore water softner and loves it. We live in an area where the water is extremely hard (SE New Mexico). He just put it in, so i cannot comment on how long/reliable it is.
 
I don't need one, so I don't have any personal experience, but my best friend just replaced an old softener with a kenmore. He says it is much easier loading salt into the thing, and loves it.
 
Originally posted by: Rike
You should check out ScaleBan . A friend mine had one installed a while ago and he can't stop raving about it.
Click to expand...

There's a company here in Indy that's been advertising the same sort of thing on TV a lot for the last year or so. They interviewed the owner of the company on the news one morning - I couldn't stop laughing, it was the most ridiculous thing I had heard. The system is basically a box that you hang on the wall next to your main water pipe, and there's a wire that wraps around the pipe. According to the guy they interviewed it works by sending radio frequency signals into the pipe (never mind the fact that the copper pipe would most likely block the signals). The "magic" radio signals don't actually remove the minerals from the water, but instead change the shape of the molecules from "little tree shapes" to "little discs" so that they don't stick to stuff.

I'm guessing it works about as well as the magnets you put on your car's fuel line to improve your mileage.
 
I didn't do much research, but bought a kenmore when the local Sears was going out of business. Got a good deal. We've been very satisfied. Our water was horrible - 30 minutes of running an oscillating sprinkler on a new flower bed (and getting one side of our house wet in the process) resulted in turning our siding from white to very orange (a lot of rust in our water too.) We added a whole house water filter (about $40) and the softener and no longer go through a bottle of mineral and rust remover every week. (I don't think my wife buys it any more.)

Also, fwiw, if you have a lot of mineral/rust stains in your toilet, tub, etc. (or the white siding on your house 😛 ), Kaboom does a great job. They used to sell it dirt cheap in the dollar store, but suddenly what's his name (the oxy-clean guy) started advertising it on tv, and the price about tripled.
 
How much should a new water heat cost?

My parents have a 10 year old Kenmore and it just started giving this err03 message and seems to get stuck in the recharging phase (can you water continuously flowing through it). I cleaned the nozzle and gently punched holes in a salt bridge that developed inside the tank. I am wondering if the motor has burned out (err03 supposedly means motor inoperative), and how much replacement should cost (looks like it is a very easy diy repair).
 
Originally posted by: shekondar
Originally posted by: Rike
You should check out ScaleBan . A friend mine had one installed a while ago and he can't stop raving about it.
Click to expand...

There's a company here in Indy that's been advertising the same sort of thing on TV a lot for the last year or so. They interviewed the owner of the company on the news one morning - I couldn't stop laughing, it was the most ridiculous thing I had heard. The system is basically a box that you hang on the wall next to your main water pipe, and there's a wire that wraps around the pipe. According to the guy they interviewed it works by sending radio frequency signals into the pipe (never mind the fact that the copper pipe would most likely block the signals). The "magic" radio signals don't actually remove the minerals from the water, but instead change the shape of the molecules from "little tree shapes" to "little discs" so that they don't stick to stuff.

I'm guessing it works about as well as the magnets you put on your car's fuel line to improve your mileage.
Click to expand...

Interesting. The guy they interviewed may have been an idiot and had no idea how it works, but my friend is not. He says it works; I believe him. He has no reason to lie.
 
Originally posted by: Rike
Originally posted by: shekondar
Originally posted by: Rike
You should check out ScaleBan . A friend mine had one installed a while ago and he can't stop raving about it.
Click to expand...

There's a company here in Indy that's been advertising the same sort of thing on TV a lot for the last year or so. They interviewed the owner of the company on the news one morning - I couldn't stop laughing, it was the most ridiculous thing I had heard. The system is basically a box that you hang on the wall next to your main water pipe, and there's a wire that wraps around the pipe. According to the guy they interviewed it works by sending radio frequency signals into the pipe (never mind the fact that the copper pipe would most likely block the signals). The "magic" radio signals don't actually remove the minerals from the water, but instead change the shape of the molecules from "little tree shapes" to "little discs" so that they don't stick to stuff.

I'm guessing it works about as well as the magnets you put on your car's fuel line to improve your mileage.
Click to expand...

Interesting. The guy they interviewed may have been an idiot and had no idea how it works, but my friend is not. He says it works; I believe him. He has no reason to lie.
Click to expand...

Your friend is gullible if he think that device actually works. You are too for believing your friend.
 
I replaced mine last spring with one I bought from http://www.ohiopurewater.com/shop/customer/home.php

Fleck Control Valve. I got a dual tank model that regenerates based on water usage. No timer to set or maintain the time on.

Installed it myself. As was said earlier, the control valve is what's important.

Price one out online and you'll realize what the markup is on these things.

Get a water test kit. You can find them online if you can't find them locally. You'll need the results from the tests to determine what you need. Test Kit I wouldn't pay that much, shop around for the kit.

 
If you go to home depot where they have Water Boss softeners with the brochures they have free test strips for PH and Hardness.

I also put 3 20" pre filters 30 and 15 woven and a 10 micron carbon before the softener and a large whole house activated carbon after the softener plus an RO unit uder the sink. Using E Bay I got everything for under a grand including 3 spares for each size filter. Culligan and rain soft wanted over 5 grand for a similar set up with 10 inch pre filters

Picture of my system
 
Originally posted by: Gerardjg
If you go to home depot where they have Water Boss softeners with the brochures they have free test strips for PH and Hardness.

I also put 3 20" pre filters 30 and 15 woven and a 10 micron carbon before the softener and a large whole house activated carbon after the softener plus an RO unit uder the sink. Using E Bay I got everything for under a grand including 3 spares for each size filter. Culligan and rain soft wanted over 5 grand for a similar set up with 10 inch pre filters

Picture of my system
Click to expand...
Have you changed the filters yet? I put a single filter in ahead of the softener. I've changed it twice. Once after a month just to see what I could see (actually I just cleaned it) and once again after about 9 months or so.

Those things were nasty beyond belief. I was absolutely shocked that we are still alive after drinking that water. Words can't describe how utterly filthy they were. I guess I should say that I'm on well water.
 
Yes and after 3 months it was brown with slimy goo:disgust: on the first one, tan colored on the second the third was clean. If people only knew what was in the city water
 
LOL there's a huge difference between a descaling system and snake oil thing that hangs next to your pipe.

Originally posted by: BoomerD
"HEY CULLIGAN MAN!"
Click to expand...

:laugh:

Water softeners make me think of those silly ads. 🙂
 
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