Water softners

[orangepudding]

I am in the process of buying a house. The fixtures and fittings lists state that a water softer is included in the price.

I have never had one before. What questions do I need to ask the sellers about it?

We had a new wet system installed in our house and initially wanted a water softener. Our plumber said they are incompatible with some boilers (make them break faster) but presumably it was taken into account at installation. I got an impression it's a lot of fuff for not much gain.

PigletJohn rates them so they must be worth having

You need to ask how old it is, if it is still under warranty. Get the product documentation and find out who installed it for them.
Then you need to ask them how much salt it uses per month and request that they leave you a months supply / full salt dispenser when they move out.

Water softeners can only cope with a certain volume of water. Therefore if you buy one which can only process 10 litres a minute but want 15 litres per minute to a power shower, you will be capped at 10. [Disclaimer - I'm not a plumber but this is the gist of the chat I had with our plumber]

Depends on how hard your water is. Ours means that we no longer have to use viakal and other chemicals to clean the scale on the bathroom, it has improved my DD's and DH's eczema. Longer term it will remove build up on appliances.

oscarwilde - thanks so much for the info. Will call the EA and ask.

Find out if it's dual-cylinder (much better than single cylinder) as you then get continuously soft water. Single ones are intermittent supply. We've just installed one last month - you use much less detergent/shampoo etc, easier bathroom cleaning, lovely soft hair.

Get it checked by a plumber, but I would say it's a bonus if it's included.

EA spoke to seller who doesn't have paper work anymore.
He will leave the chemicals needed in the garage. When we move in I will google the make and model.

Shouldn't need any chemicals... just special salt. It comes in a sack and looks like large white boiled sweets. It weighs a frickin ton so get it delivered!