Water softeners

[Canfordhacker]

There is a thread about this but it is 10 years old and i imagine things have moved on.

Thinking of installing one, and just wondered if anybody has advice or experience to share - brands, installation costs, things to avoid, space it takes up - that sort of stuff.

Much appreciated!

 

[RichA]

Had ours installed 10 years ago. We live in one of the hardest water areas in the country (Herts / Essex border with water coming from limestone boreholes). I was reluctant, but now wouldn't live around here without one.

Showering and bathing are much nicer - soap and shampoo foam up with minimal amounts.
Shower door no longer permanently opaque or needing to be constantly descaled.
Washing machine uses about 1/4 the amount of detergent and doesn't need fabric softener - clothes, towels and bedding are no longer scratchy (if you have hard water, you'll know what I mean).
Mrs A says her skin is infinitely improved. I think mine probably is too, but I'm too manly to notice such things.
Central heating circuit no longer sounds like a diesel tractor and our 25 year old boiler purrs quietly like a kitten.
No salt needed for the dishwasher.

It cost about £1200 fitted and we do £100 of block salt per year from a local supplier, but we are very heavy water users - 2 adults but the annual water bill compared our usage to a family of 7!
I think ours is a Harvey. It's completely mechanical - no electronics - and it has never let us down. It's about the size of a large tower PC and fits in an unused recess of a corner cabinet under the sink.
Drinking softened water isn't advised, so we have a separate lever on the monobloc tap for unsoftened water. We keep a Britta filter jug topped up in the fridge for drinking and filling the kettle and coffee machine.

 

[jim8flog]

The flat which I used to own is in an adjoining town (Yeovil) which has massive lime scale build up problems I was going to install something like this but I sold the flat before doing so.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Eddy-Electronic-Water-Descaler-Alternative/dp/B005FWYX9C

It was first shown on something like Tomorrows World.

It gets very good reviews

 

[RichA]

The flat which I used to own is in an adjoining town (Yeovil) which has massive lime scale build up problems I was going to install something like this but I sold the flat before doing so.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Eddy-Electronic-Water-Descaler-Alternative/dp/B005FWYX9C

It was first shown on something like Tomorrows World.

It gets very good reviews

I have no personal experience, but I believe that they have been demonstrated not to work very well outside of theoretical environments. From memory, changes to the targeted particles in the water are reversed once it's been sitting around or flowed through the pipework.
I'm not going to pretend that I understand the science.

 

[jim8flog]

I have no personal experience, but I believe that they have been demonstrated not to work very well outside of theoretical environments. From memory, changes to the targeted particles in the water are reversed once it's been sitting around or flowed through the pipework.
I'm not going to pretend that I understand the science.

No personal experience either. I di read a few of teh reviews and read all the detailed 'how it works and what it does'. One very important point is that it does not claim to be a water softener so if that aspect is important to you go another route.

When I was considering I was just astounded at how quickly the kettle furred up in the flat. Where I live we have no such problems but occasionally due to pipe cleaning etc we get switched to the same water source and the change becomes noticeable within days.

 

[Rooter]

we have had one for ten years + as my daughter had eczema. We use these guys. https://www.thewatersoftenercentre.com/ We actually rent the machine, we did in our last house too, 50% of the rent goes off the value, so you can buy it off them if you want, but being in a rental agreement means it gets serviced and any problems get fixed quickly. We go through a 25kg bag of salt maybe 6-8 weeks and these are 7 quid at the local tool hire place. Could not have a house without one now,

 

[cliveb]

I'll echo others' comments. Our last house was in Watford (water hardness 350ppm). After installing a softener, limescale became a thing of the past.
Ours was a Monarch that used tablet salt, but I'd guess they will all do much the same job.
One big plus was that toilets became much easier to clean. Anything that eases that job gets my approval!
The only downside is that rinsing soap and shower gel off takes longer.

 

[PJ87]

I'll echo others' comments. Our last house was in Watford (water hardness 350ppm). After installing a softener, limescale became a thing of the past.
Ours was a Monarch that used tablet salt, but I'd guess they will all do much the same job.
One big plus was that toilets became much easier to clean. Anything that eases that job gets my approval!
The only downside is that rinsing soap and shower gel off takes longer.

I really want one. Its on the list of things to get for house. Just the space they take under sink (we are rammed under there) can they be smaller? Or are their smaller ones I should say

I don't mind the drinking water side of it as the salt content is like 0.001% or something stupidly low

 

[cliveb]

I really want one. Its on the list of things to get for house. Just the space they take under sink (we are rammed under there) can they be smaller? Or are their smaller ones I should say

We were lucky that the water mains supply came up in the under stairs cupboard so space wasn't a problem. I don't think the one we had would easily fit in most under-sink cupboards. I believe the block salt ones tend to be a bit smaller. Ours also needed an electricity supply to control the regeneration, but there are others which use mains water pressure instead.

I don't mind the drinking water side of it as the salt content is like 0.001% or something stupidly low

I think it's only infants and the elderly who might be affected.

But it's worth having an unsoftened supply for things like the garden hose.

 

[larmen]

In my old flat we had an in-pipe softener, doesn’t take any space at all, just replaced about 40 cm of pipe. We got the plumber to exchange it every 2 years when he did the gas safety checks anyway.

 

[PJ87]

We were lucky that the water mains supply came up in the under stairs cupboard so space wasn't a problem. I don't think the one we had would easily fit in most under-sink cupboards. I believe the block salt ones tend to be a bit smaller. Ours also needed an electricity supply to control the regeneration, but there are others which use mains water pressure instead.


I think it's only infants and the elderly who might be affected.

But it's worth having an unsoftened supply for things like the garden hose.

Can I ask why garden hose?

 

[cliveb]

Can I ask why garden hose?

Two reasons:
1. We were told not to put artificially softened water on the garden.
2. Watering the garden consumes a lot of water, and it's silly to use up all that salt.

 

[Rooter]

Two reasons:
1. We were told not to put artificially softened water on the garden.
2. Watering the garden consumes a lot of water, and it's silly to use up all that salt.

Oh no, my garden is on soft water! Why??

I clean the car and I don't need to dry it.

We don't have a plant filled garden, so don't water much more than a few pots etc. Even so, Salt is cheap.

 

[Rooter]

I really want one. Its on the list of things to get for house. Just the space they take under sink (we are rammed under there) can they be smaller? Or are their smaller ones I should say

I don't mind the drinking water side of it as the salt content is like 0.001% or something stupidly low

Here is ours under the sink.

 

[PJ87]

Here is ours under the sink.
View attachment 40945

Does it have to be on the main input or can it be any input? I'm not sure where our mains comes in tbh

 

[Rooter]

Does it have to be on the main input or can it be any input? I'm not sure where our mains comes in tbh

I think ideally it connects to the main input, typically this will be under/near the kitchen... but I would call a company and check

 

[PJ87]

I think ideally it connects to the main input, typically this will be under/near the kitchen... but I would call a company and check

I'll have to call them , yeah our kitchen is an extension of the house. Where the kitchen was is part of an open plan living room so God knows where it is lol might be under the stairs

 

[cliveb]

Oh no, my garden is on soft water! Why??

I clean the car and I don't need to dry it.

We don't have a plant filled garden, so don't water much more than a few pots etc. Even so, Salt is cheap.

I don't know why we were told not to water the garden with softened water, just that we were.

Good point about car washing. But since I wash the car about once a year (it just gets dirty again), never given that a thought.

 

[Rooter]

I don't know why we were told not to water the garden with softened water, just that we were.

Good point about car washing. But since I wash the car about once a year (it just gets dirty again), never given that a thought.

LOL same, mine now also gets washed once a year of it needs it or not! Life is too short for washing cars these days.

 

[Rooter]

I'll have to call them , yeah our kitchen is an extension of the house. Where the kitchen was is part of an open plan living room so God knows where it is lol might be under the stairs

Do you know where the stop cock is???!