My long lasting, trusty water softener, brand name Artesian, has out lived it's competition but is ready for a rest. I bought it "used" 24 years ago for $100 dollars to replace a rental unit. I believe it is actually 39 years old!

I price out couple models. The Kinetico twin tank system sounds great; boy it should be for $2300! A Culligan would run me about $1200. I couldn't find anything about softeners in Consumers Reports.

Any suggestions?

 

What exactly does a water softener do? I've never had one.

I should've asked "why" instead of "what". Why do you need a water softener?

 

Sears has some nice ones. You can get one of their top-of-the-line models for around $600. The markup on the Kinetcos and other "boutique" labels is absurdly high.

 

I have a Kinetico twin tank (came with the house) and it works great, no electricity and a "low flow detecting meter" I was just reading up on them, they have several models of different sizes available, maybe one of the smaller/cheaper ones would do the trick for you?
On a side note- I just installed a 4 stage Kenmore reverse osmosis system (ebay New in Box /$80) which makes really great tasting water. Tests out better than the store bought bottled stuff. If you have taste issues witrh well water and are sick of buying bottled, I highly recommend one.

 

I'm also in the market for a water softener.

During my search I found this link to a company that seems to have pretty good products at a good price.

http://www.qualitywatertreatment.com/contact.htm

they even have one model that doesn't use salt, you just change a filter every year or two. the filter goes for 30 bucks.

Maybe one of you with a scientific backround could look at it and express an opinion. If it works it would be great.

Willinathen

 

I've been looking at Home Depot and Lowes models. Less than $600 for their best.

I am not sure how big to buy tho. Is 40,000 grain big enough?

 

We have a Sears "Deluxe on-demand" 40K grain softener with an Ametek pre-filter (rust & sediment) that I installed ten years ago when we had our house built... it's still going. I think it was about $360; the Kenetco was just too much.

 

It depends - how many people are in your household, how hard is your water, how often do you feel like filling the salt reservoir, how? The higher the capacity, the better.
I wouldn't use anything smaller than a 45k grain in my own house.

 

Their standard (salt type) softeners look to be very good bargains. But I would be leery of any water softener that doesn't require the use of salt, either Sodium chloride or Potassium chloride, or isn't a reverse osmosis type.
Ion substitution softeners (those that use a combination of deionizing resins and salt) are the most effective and most efficient type for consumer use. Essentially what they do is to replace the minerals that are present in the water with sodium or potassium ions. If you are going to be drinking the water, use Potassium chloride in the softener rather than Sodium chloride. It's much healthier, as you will not be consuming sodium laden water.
As for reverse osmosis units, I could write a dissertation on them. Which type do you want to know about, those with cellulose tri-acetate (CTA) membranes or thin film composite (TFC) membranes ?

 

[QUOTE=Lt_Colonel_Special_Forces,Feb 10 2007, 08:39 PM] What exactly does a water softener do?