water softeners - are they any good/expensive to install?

[bummer]

keep wondering, as we have had problems with the hard water and am fed up of scrubbing limescale in sinks etc.

i know - ditto here. go and have a look in good old google. i reckon about £500; probably demands on what you want.

i know - ditto here. go and have a look in good old google. i reckon about £500; probably demands on what you want. let me know what you find!

oops did not mean to do that. but meant to say they are good!

hmm

we have hard water and the house had a water softener when we moved in. But it was plumbed in wrong so it was softening the drinking water too (this is a v bad thing), so we took it out.

Eventually sold it on Ebay for £200 () and used the money to buy new bicycles ().

Waste of time if you ask me
but I do have to scrub the draining board.

do you think that it was because of bad plumbing or just useless altogether? i had read some good report so am now not sure what to think? how are you enjoying your bicycles?!

bicycles source of much joy!

afraid am probably biased against water softeners, but the 15 people who bid on ours seemed to think they were worth spending money on, so what do I know?

i say good old ebay!

hmmmm anyone else?

i have heard great reports on water softener and from people i know. However, considering that 1) i don't have one myself and that 2) Mrs Badger's was not plumbed in properly ; our advice does not account for much does it?!
it may be cheaper to have a cleaning lady?!

Hmmmm a cleaner, Nanou1, now there's a thought!

The Hotel I used to work in had a water softener, I washed my hair there once and my hair has never before or since looked so good.

I'm in the same position, as I too am thinking about splashing out on a water softener. I'm sick of the shower head being clogged up all the time. The limescale ruins washing machine, shower head, shower doors, taps, sinks, and I dread to think what the inside of my pipes are gonna look like. I've just moved into a brand new house and don't want it to end up in the same state as my old one.

there is a cheaper alternative (some say it is good - others disagree) - it wraps round the pipe and charges the limescale particles so that they do not stick on surfaces - so it does not change it chemically (the salt type water softeners actually change the chemical composition so that is why they should not be used for drinking water).

Try googling water imp.

We are going to try this when we redo the pluming as part of our extension, so can't tell you if it works or not.

throckenholt - my neighbour got one of those alternative ones. They are just a big magnet that fits around the pipe where the water enters your house. She reckoned it didn't make a blind bit of difference and was just a big con. Sorry to be the bearer of bad news.

We had a Twintec water softener fitted - it cost £1200 and that included a separate water spout being fitted to the kitchen sink for hard (drinking) water (the outside tap also stays as hard water as plants don't like softened!). The softened stuff is OK for tooth brushing, but not as drinking water - it wouldn't harm you if you had the odd glass by mistake, but it is higher in sodium I think. The running cost is about £4 every 4-5 weeks, as you need to add block salt (the company we use delivers to the door in packs of 10 and we keep them in the garage). The salt does not get added to the water - I forget the technical explanation but that's a popular misconception. We are in a v hard water area and we get hardly any build up of limescale/deposits so cleaning is a lot easier. However, I know what the other MNer meant about hotel hair-washing, and I haven't noticed that much difference with a home system - don't know why. BTW if you are by any chance in the Hampshire/Berkshire/Surrey area and decide to get a Twintec do let me know - Kevin gives out free salt blocks for recommendations! The other thing to bear in mind is that if you move, the softener can be taken with you and I think it's a couple of hundred pounds to re-install at a new house. The space it takes up is about 60cm deep, 60cm high and 20cm across (approx - I haven't measured as that would mean getting off my backside and going downstairs!!)