Water softeners - tell me all about then please

[MrsDinky]

Am sick of crunchy towels and limescale all over the bathroom, so considering getting a water softener, but don't know much about them except that you put salt in them and shouldn't drink the water. We often get leaflets through the door, but would like some "proper" information rather than just a hard sell.

So, those of you who have got one, is it good, where did you get it, how much did it cost, etc etc? Also how big are they? Do they usually go under the kitchen sink?

Many thanks.

A must in our area. It is good, got it from a local supplier, it was around £700. Ours is in the washhouse and I suppose is about 2 feet tall by one foot by one. WOuld not fit under a kitchen sink. Uses about a 20kg of salt every 6 weeks. We live in a very hard water area/

We inherited one when we moved to our present house (south bucks). Ours is in the garage but I think lots of people have them under the sink, particularly if that is where the water supply comes 'into' the house (they are put next to the internal on/off stopcock thingie). You have to get salt (bout once a year, comes in big bags) and remember to monitor the levels and refill but other than that not much trouble. We've had ours serviced a couple of times - apparently they last ten years. What can I say? - I still have to clean the bath/shower obviously but apparently without one it's awful round here. (I can say that the iron, which as per instructions is filled from the 'non-softened' tap, needs replacing every so often - you can try a descaler but then that tends to leave stains next time you use).

As I said - re 'can't drink the water' - we have one tap in the kitchen which is separate.

Thank you both. It would have to go under the sink in our house, no garage and nowhere else but the space is quite tight. I used to live in South Bucks too, remember the water being as hard as it is here (Hampshire). £700 sounds quite a lot, but if it saves for example your washing machine from breaking down then that's not so bad. Think I'd better do a bit of looking in the Yellow Pages.

Had one in our old house which was about 25 years old according to the chap who serviced it! We had one put in our new house and it was about £700 (Domextra brand). It lives in the utility room and is about the same size as everyone else's on the thread. As previous poster said you need a separate drinking water tap.

Thank you Petalpower, did the £700 include the installation and putting in the extra tap?

Sorry haven't been back on this thread! Yes the £700 did include installation but the extra tap was already here as the previous owners had a water softener that they took with them when they moved. HTH!

Thank you.