Please talk to me about water softeners

[FlouncingBabooshka]

We live in an area with extremely hard water. I’m interested in having a water softening system fitted but I’m quite confused about the whole process. I have a few - probably very stupid - questions

Roughly how much do they cost to buy and install? I know there’s bound quite a price range but I really have no idea what that range would be and the water softening websites seem quite coy about it.

How big would an average unit be and where can it be sited if there’s no room under the sink? Our stopcock is in a kitchen larder that will be in the utility once the new kitchen is done. I’m assuming that would be the ideal place for it?

My understanding is that, because we’re in such a hard water area, the amount of sodium used would render the water unsafe to drink and we’d need a water filtering tap. Is this an additional tap or can you get the filtered and unfiltered water from the same tap?

If you have a water softener, which one is it and how highly do you rate it?

Anything else I should know or consider?

Thanks in advance.

Sorry, just re-read and spotted typo - it's in a 60cm cupboard, not 40

@Popetthetreehugger

Ours fit in a single cupboard ( by stopcock bottom of larder ) the salt is cheap and free delivery. Kitchen tap isn’t linked . Keeps appliances sparkly! Definitely good investment . Recommend 🙌

Same here. Kitchen tap not softened as I prefer to drink unsoftened tap water but everywhere else is softened. Bathroom is very easy to keep sparkling and appliances last longer. Dishwasher is particularly good and my glass ware looks very good. It takes a third of a sack of little salt tablets a month and the sack costs less than £10. Very worth it.

@QuattroFormaggi

Sorry, just re-read and spotted typo - it's in a 60cm cupboard, not 40

Mine is in a less than normal width cupboard, I think 30cm?

Also there are different ones, ones that need electricity and ones that don't. Mine doesn't

- I too am in a very hard water area. Everyone I've spoken to has a separate drinking tap due to the high salt content. It may not be a massive amount, but none of us need extra salt! Especially if pregnant or have kidney or other medical issues.

This is a very well held myth. There is more salt in bottled water, or coke than the equivalent softened water however hard your water is.

newatersofteners.co.uk/blogs/news/can-you-drink-softened-water

Why are some cheap and some expensive?

We have a water softener, I constantly forget to buy the salt!! Where do you all buy it from?

Following!

@beepbeep

We have a water softener, I constantly forget to buy the salt!! Where do you all buy it from?

We buy ours from Costco but plumbers merchants also sell it. We tend to buy 6 bags a time and this will last use a year, easily.

@beepbeep

We have a water softener, I constantly forget to buy the salt!! Where do you all buy it from?

Amazon.

I get my salt blocks from the guy who installed the softener. He charges £55 for 10 packs of two, which seems good to me, and he delivers .

We do get through a lot though. Family of four, we change out regularly, probably get two or three deliveries a year.

I personally wouldn't want to drink the softened water. You can, but it tastes salty to me, and that's not nice in water.

What I really love is not having "squeaky" skin and hair when you shower. Everything is smooth and soapy, and soft. You will really notice the difference in your skin. I hardly ever use body cream.

@1990s- *This is a very well held myth. There is more salt in bottled water, or coke than the equivalent softened water however hard your water is.

newatersofteners.co.uk/blogs/news/can-you-drink-softened-water*

Thanks for posting the link to the info. It echos what I said! Those with kidney issues, low sodium diets and other medical issues, should not drink softened water. Glad know that the majority can though.

We've had a Harvey's water softener for more than 20 years and never had a problem. The blocks are big, but we get a couple of big boxes delivered at a time and keep them in the shed.

[quote Elouera]**@1990s*- This is a very well held myth. There is more salt in bottled water, or coke than the equivalent softened water however hard your water is.

newatersofteners.co.uk/blogs/news/can-you-drink-softened-water*

Thanks for posting the link to the info. It echos what I said! Those with kidney issues, low sodium diets and other medical issues, should not drink softened water. Glad know that the majority can though.[/quote]

Yes and babies shouldn't either but otherwise if you don't mind the taste it's all good.

We have a water softener in our main house that serves the whole house apart from the kitchen cold water feed. It lives in the scullery in the corner and is about to be housed in a corner cupboard when the room is refitted with new kitchen units.

We live in an area with very hard water and it does a great job of reducing the scale in our bathrooms and on shower screens etc. It is also much nicer water to wash in than the hard untreated water, the difference to our skin (three of us have dry skin prone to eczema) and hair is very noticeable.

I actually have the water softener man here today as we having a second unit fitted in the garage to soften the water in the annexe:flat above. Having just had a new kitchen and in the process of refitting the bathroom there, it makes sense to add a softener to keep the limescale at bay from the start.

We are paying around £600 for the unit and fitting.

@ChequerBoard

What make is that please?

@ChequerBoard

We have a water softener in our main house that serves the whole house apart from the kitchen cold water feed. It lives in the scullery in the corner and is about to be housed in a corner cupboard when the room is refitted with new kitchen units.

We live in an area with very hard water and it does a great job of reducing the scale in our bathrooms and on shower screens etc. It is also much nicer water to wash in than the hard untreated water, the difference to our skin (three of us have dry skin prone to eczema) and hair is very noticeable.

I actually have the water softener man here today as we having a second unit fitted in the garage to soften the water in the annexe:flat above. Having just had a new kitchen and in the process of refitting the bathroom there, it makes sense to add a softener to keep the limescale at bay from the start.

We are paying around £600 for the unit and fitting.

I'd like to know what brand too please s we are having a new kitchen and shower room... is like to keep my expensive polished nickel shower and taps looking nice and my new appliances running for longer! Cheers

We have a basic metered one which we rent. We put it in years ago because I’d read about the eczema thing and Ds was suffering at the time. It cleared up straight away and we’ve never had an issue since.
We fill it with tablet salt every 3 weeks or so and otherwise don’t touch it. We have a separate tap for drinking water straight from mains but use softened for soft drinks and everything else.
Because we rent, when the resin beads needed changing after about 10 years the whole unit was replaced with new.
We love it and definitely will never not have one. We live in an extremely hard water area and the difference to cleaning and maintenance is noticeable and showers etc are much nicer.

Ours is fitted where the mains enter the house in a small kitchen cupboard under the sink so very little alteration to pipes etc needed.

We got a mechanical (rather than electrical) one which was very compact and went under the kitchen sink. You do need to have it bypass the cold supply to the sink and use ONLY that tap for drinking water, as you say, because of the salt. Cost about a grand to install. Expensive to have serviced. If your water is very had, as ours was, it saves a fortune on soap and cleaning chemicals even allowing for the cost of the salt tablets, which we bought cheaply by the sack from the local plumbers' merchant, and cuts down on the cleaning amazingly- no more sinks/showers/baths that need cleaning every time you use them because of the hard water scum. Good for washing machines, showers etc. too, which don't scale up and die. Also, my hair loved it- it did wonders for it. I wish we'd done it a couple of decades before....

We've had quotes this week from both kinetico and harveys. Both non-electric machines, 2 cylinder. We got quotes for their 1-3 bathroom, plus their larger 4+ bathrooms. I cannot get over people who recently got one for £1000 or less. Where do you live and how long ago did you buy it???

We are Sth East and here are our quotes:

Kinetico 4+ bathrooms
Supply only £1800
Incl installation £2200

Harveys (both incl installation)
1-3 bathrooms £2300
4+ bathrooms £ 2500

Harveys was here twice as long! He did an elaborate and time consuming demo, including a ridiculous dropping liquid into our tap water to see it change colour! Whow!!! He agreed that it was the exact hardness I'd already discovered on a quick postcode check! Such a drawn out, 1970's style sales 'demo'.

Oh no! That's a bloody fortune!!! I see they do an interest free payment plan.

My Kinetico was around £2000 about 18 months, although, as I said up thread, it was a complicated installation taking most of the day.
I used their interest free payment plan and they also gave me 10 bags of salt blocks.

Our water softener was installed by the precious owner. It's in the garage, so I've never paid attention to the brand. It's fairly large though and we do go through a lot of salt!

The effect is amazing. It wonderful not having limescale in the bathrooms! I think ours totally bypasses the kitchen tap (we've also got a separate hot and cold drinking water tap). I'd definitely install one in a future house

As somebody who works in the water treatment industry, I can safely say that an ion exchange or commonly known as a salt softener is the best option, but, beware of all the extra costs. The cost of salt has risen greatly over the past few years, you have to have it serviced every year, you really should have a “hard” water or drinking water line installed to the kitchen which gets cut into the mains water Pipework before the softner. Things like Brits filters are fine for making drinking water taste different but definitely WON’T stop your kettle from getting scaled up. Eddy products or wire wrap around are absolutely rubbish and you may as well burn your money as the produce an electric change that will last at most 1 metre of pipe.

In-line conditioners are excellent if you buy a high end brand and your water hardness is less than 300 ppm, don’t be suckered into buying the cheap ones as they are basically a hollow tube of metal.

I would recommend speaking with a water treatment expert as they will give you the best advice and offer the best solution.