Water softener

[kieran2]

Thinking of having a water softener installed as we live in a very hard water area. I’m fed up with having to constantly clean the glass shower doors, chrome fittings, stainless steel kitchen/utility sinks, replace kettles, kitchen tap faucet, descaling dishwashers etc. We spend a fortune on cleaning products and heck of a long time cleaning, often fighting a losing battle as soon as a water touches a surface again.

Anyone had one installed?

Any recommendations?

Insights on install price and running costs/amount of salt required over the course of a year (for an average sized 4 bed house)?

Thanks

yes, they're wonderful.

Also thinking of getting one installed, interested to hear on costs of running/ installing.

You might get through 10kg of salt a month.

If you have lots of baths it might be 20kg

I get a dozen 10kg bags delivered and they last more than a year.

The 25kg are too heavy to lift and tip in unless you are unusually strong. The salt is very corrosive so don't spill it on metal or concrete. A vinyl floor that you can sweep then wipe is OK, Don't hoover it or the inside of your vac will corrode. Don't carry it in your own car. Look inside the delivery van and you will be shocked.

Tablets or pebbles are cleaner to handle than granules.

I get mine delivered from here

Phone around for a local water softener co (there will be one) and ask if they repair softeners and deliver salt. If no, call another.

If yes, ask what brand they sell (they may assemble their own, the parts are readily available and very simple). They may refuse to repair softeners bought elsewhere, unless you are a regular salt customer. There are some very cheap ones sold in DIY sheds, and Harveys which IMO are needlessly complex and expensive.

Avoid door leafletters and adverts in Sunday papers, they overcharge.

The machines are very heavy when full of salt and water and need to stand on the floor, not a shelf, and you need access to the top to put salt in, so not under the sink. It needs the incoming watermain and a drain (not a rainwater soakaway). Large ones need topping up less often.

Ours is next to the sink/water supply in its own cupboard in my kitchen Island. They do take up space if you have a large house but it’s worth it. It’s DH’s baby regarding feeding it with salt!

I have one on a 12 week trial from Harvey’s at the moment.

A friend had a Harvey’s one installed about 18 months ago, I liked the sales person & the installer (I over saw the process for her) so rang them to see how much it would cost (for my much smaller house as others sell different size units, I just assumed they would). The only thing I didn’t like about them was them not giving me a price over the phone, they insist on sending a sales person out. They only have one size & a set price so they could easily just give you a price, but I guess they want to give you the sales pitch. (I didn’t actually mind as I knew it was going to be the same salesperson & she’s lovely.)

However, I also rang around a few other companies & looked online and I wouldn’t touch the others with a barge pole. There’s one currently doing a lot of advertising, they sell various sizes & much more cheaply, but the unit just doesn’t stack up.

The installer was here a long time (a good couple of hours), but he was lovely too.

So Harvey is here & he’s leaving over my dead body.

The salt comes in blocks, that you put in the front, so it could go under the sink, it’s happily sitting on a very old shelf (kitchen about to be replaced) & it’s totally fine.

Harvey’s give you a lot of salt when you sign up, (I think I got about 8 bags of two blocks) The first few weeks it uses more as it’s cleaning pipes & appliances. I replaced both blocks 3 weeks in & a further 7 weeks on they’re nearly ready to be replaced now. Depending on how many you buy they cost between £5.50 & £6.50 a pair. (They say they generally wear down one before the other, but mine are wearing equally?! ). Obviously the more water you’re running, the quicker they’ll wear down. (I no longer use Calgon in the washing machine & use less of other products so that easily covers the salt cost).

They clean themselves quite regularly (possibly daily) and I can hear it, but it’s in an open cupboard at the moment until the kitchen is replaced.

My skin is less dry, my hair is more shiney & I’m using loads less shampoo, conditioner, body wash etc (you have to or you end up filling the shower cubicle with bubbles 🤣). The chrome in the shower is all shiney again! The bath stays clean & shiney & everything is just so much easier to wipe down.

The kitchen sink stays shiney (instead of white with limescale), the inside of the kettle gleams, glasses are clear, I can soak dishes without ending up with a limescale mark on the item. Even washing up is easier.

I swear I’m not on Harvey’s books! I just seriously love the changes it has made to my life. I wish I’d got it years ago (I hesitated due to the cost & the space it takes up as the kitchen is small).

The downside is the cost 😖 £1678.80.
You can pay it off in instalments if you want to.

You have to pay just under £50 per month during the trial period, but it is fully refundable if you don’t want to keep it or it comes off the price if you do (too many people were ‘keeping’ them, but not paying, so they had to change the way they administer it).

All true.

Hair, skin, towels, and wet shaves glide. Sinks and WCs are cleaner. Less soap and detergent needed. Descalers not required.

DPs eczema cleared up.

BTW your washing, especially towels, will foam up in the washer until the old hard-water soap residue is all washed out.

Did you guys setup a separate tap for drinking when you installed the water softener?

here's one I prepared earlier

I’m interested to hear how you avoid drinking it too?

you have a separate hard-water tap for drinking if you want it.

Easy.

I didn't (except the garden tap)

So you can drink softened water? I didn’t know that, our plumbers were telling us not to

see my previous link.

My DM just had one installed, had a bit of trouble with the installation. The box itself is outside under the kitchen window but the installer put quite a lot of messy pipework under the sink so she lost a lot of space.

HOWEVER, I would say it's made a massive difference to their lives! Definitely agree with the comments re washing dishes, cleaning etc. Also, they have it so you push the kitchen cold tap lever back for purified drinking water and pull it forwards for soft water.

Does the water softener get fitted just after the stop cock so that every water point in the property has softened water? My kitchen is tiled and if I want a separate tap for drinking, I'm concerned that the tiling would have to be ripped up in order to do the pipework.

Harvey's fit a separate hard water tap if you want it, it has a drinking water filter on it so it filters out other things (obviously you dint have to put a filter in that if you don't want to.

I let them do that because, as I said, the kitchen is being replaced soon. When it gets replaced I'll buy a three way tap.

You don't 'need' it but there are a few reasons why you might want it and as I'll probably end up having to rent this place out for a year or so, I want the option.

If you look on Harvey's website they have a huge FAQ section pertinent to all waster softners.

All the fittings attach to existing plumbing, so you'll only need to remove tiling if it's covering your existing plumbing.

Ah interesting. You don't actually need separate pipework for hard water. You can just filter the softened water and it is essentially the same thing?