Water Softener is it worth it?

[heatherscot]

I was thinking about getting a water softener, my hands are so dry as water ridiculously hard and all our nice new kitchen and bathroom appliances are furring up :( hate using anti limescsle stuff to clean all the time. However, they are big and fairly expensive and I have questions about whether they really work, how much they cost to maintain etc. Anyone done it;and wished they had installed years ago, or lived to regret it? Any tips?

Bumping this

I have one and adore it! Had it for about 7 years now, has required absolutely zero maintenance aside from the salt obviously. I use a lot less of every kind of detergent/soap/shampoo now. My only caution would be that until you learn to use less shampoo and conditioner, your water consumption for showers will go up as it takes longer to rinse the suds out of your hair!

It’s been good for the heating system too, a lot less crap building up although I know I had to check the boiler was compatible with softened water first as apparently some aren’t?

It does take up a chunk of space, so you’ll need to consider that, plus I had them install an additional hard water tap in the kitchen sink as I prefer the taste for drinking.

Mine is from Harvey’s, they’re fab

Also the difference in terms of limescale staining is astonishing. Bathroom gleams!

Really helpful thanks Candle anyone else had a different experience or tried to install themselves?