Please tell me about water softeners

[tenrillingtonplace]

I live in the UK in an area where the water is very hard. I’m currently staying in a country where water softeners are - apparently - standard. The water is so different and it’s making me think about possibly installing one. Has anyone got any advice please? Is this a DIY job? Where do they normally go? Can they go in a kitchen cupboard under the sink? Thanks.

They can usually put whatever taps you like anywhere - we have an “original” hard water tap and then the softened water taps at the sink. It’s not a problem.
Though it it was miles away that might be more inconvenient I suppose. Our plumber put ours near the point where all the pipes head off all over the house upstairs etc.

Best to ask a water softener fitter what the possible arrangements might be.

I've just posted on another thread about limescale. When I had a new boiler fitted at the weekend, the plumber also installed an AQUABION limescale converter on the pipes. It's small, like a cartridge, and treats all the incoming water. I'm already seeing a massive difference. They're not cheap. Mine was £500 + vat, but it lasts 5 years. Previously I had a water softener but the box was really large and I had to regularly buy aqua salt to put in it.

Ours is in the boiler cupboard nowhere near the kitchen sink. Our kitchen tap bypasses the softener though and delivers hard local water.