# what kind of water softener should i buy??



## dallison (Nov 6, 2006)

we have a 6 year old house that we purchased 4 months ago. we have hard water and have a lot of calcium deposits on everything.

we are only planning on staying there for 5-7 years. we don't want to spend a ton of $$$. can we buy one of those @ lowes and still work?


we have a manabloc sytstem, so it should be pretty easy to install,
will a $250-500 stem from lowes work?


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## dallison (Nov 6, 2006)

anyone?


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## Ron The Plumber (Jun 7, 2006)

I don't really know anything about water softners, all I can say is read the specs real good.


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## 747 (Feb 11, 2005)

You buy a water softner by how hard your water is. CAll you water company ask them how hard your water is. Once you know this then going shopping for water softner. I don't know anything about watersoftner either but that is what my plumber told me. He said depending on how hard the water is will dictate what what softner to buy. He said water company will know how hard the water is. Hopefully your not on a well if so then a professional like culligan man would test the hardness before installation to make sure is the correct system.


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## iGotNoTime (Oct 25, 2006)

Regarding professionals I had a similar issue a couple weeks ago. I have a well, so there was nobody to call for pH levels or testing. I could have taken a 5oz. sample to the county and they could have tested for me for like $5 or so, but that would not answer my novice questions.

I called a water conditioning company, they sent two men to test my water and ask some questions about our water use i.e. quantities. The next day they came with a system and all the starter salt I needed. Sixtyfive dollar install fee, and now I lease a water softener for less than $20 per month and the water tastes awesome. Bypassing the softener and it makes you nearly gag. It tastes like water was stored inside an old rusted steel bucket chilled for 3 weeks then put into a glass. I have iron in my water.

I don't know how to help you or give any suggestions outside of 'Just let the pros handle it'.


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## dallison (Nov 6, 2006)

thanks, we have city water so i will call em to see. i would rather save $$ and install the unit and own it.
thanks for the info


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## filtrationworld (Dec 26, 2006)

dallison said:


> we have a 6 year old house that we purchased 4 months ago. we have hard water and have a lot of calcium deposits on everything.
> 
> we are only planning on staying there for 5-7 years. we don't want to spend a ton of $$$. can we buy one of those @ lowes and still work?
> 
> ...


Hello dallison,

I've worked in water filtration for along time and I can tell you most common problems with "New housing" would be your same problem "calcium and magnesium". Depending in the area you live in your waters hardness level can vary. Being where I reside in California, the average hardness range is anywhere from 10 to 15. You can purchase hardness test kits to test your waters hardness (calcium and magnesium). There are also many qualified companys that will test your water for free, including the company I work with. 

As for "Lowes and Home Depot" brands. I've serviced and installed many of them, and they do work, but my advice is to invest in a water softener that will last over time. Lowes and Homedepot brands tend to not last as long as the leading brands these days. In most cases they tend to lose suction with the brine cycle (the draw of salt/potassium) for the ionization of the resin media. Leading up for the Repair Guy to come out.

Leading up to what water softener should I get and how much will it cost. Try to stay away from the "sales people" trying to sell you a water softener. Only because when you buy it from them your dealing with large fees, leading up to the water softener being up in price ranges of $5000 +. I would recommend trying to either buying one direct online, or a dealer by your location. Even our company sells them at warehouse prices so im sure you wont have a problem buying direct, edging that annoying "sales person" out of your home. Now in my time being in the field my pro opinion in an ideal water softener would have to be a Fleck 7000 Control valve with a 48,000 grain media tank. Again it depends on the size of your home and family to determine the size of media tank, 48,000 being the most popular (filtering up to 5 adults in a medium to larger household.) And the glory about the Fleck 7000 system is its a High Flow system that not alot of other softeners offer. 



Hope I answered your question, any further questions feel free to msg me.


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## dallison (Nov 6, 2006)

wow, that is a lot of great info that will help me.
i still havent chosen a systen yet, i have checked with the water co on hardness on their website. 

there is a plumbing/heating supply co that is right next to my work that said that they might be able to sell me a unit.

they only sell to plumbers so i know this is the same stuff plumbers install, and my price is about the same or just a little more than lowes/sears. thanks for the great info, this is most def. helpful. if i have any other questions. i will shoot you a pm




filtrationworld said:


> Hello dallison,
> 
> I've worked in water filtration for along time and I can tell you most common problems with "New housing" would be your same problem "calcium and magnesium". Depending in the area you live in your waters hardness level can vary. Being where I reside in California, the average hardness range is anywhere from 10 to 15. You can purchase hardness test kits to test your waters hardness (calcium and magnesium). There are also many qualified companys that will test your water for free, including the company I work with.
> 
> ...


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## filtrationworld (Dec 26, 2006)

dallison said:


> wow, that is a lot of great info that will help me.
> i still havent chosen a systen yet, i have checked with the water co on hardness on their website.
> 
> there is a plumbing/heating supply co that is right next to my work that said that they might be able to sell me a unit.
> ...


 

When dealing with "water treatment", I would recommend finding a good Water Treatment company to help you. Being most plumbers know how to install the units, but know little or nothing about the units. In my years of installing units you would be amazed how many times I had to follow up on a recent plumbers attempt. I recommend researching more about water softeners and then possibly talking with the company by you work, give them some good questions to answer. Test their knowledge in water treatment if they check out then awesome.

Good luck :thumbup:


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## jamielynambers (Mar 2, 2020)

Buy only salt-based water softeners. Water softeners saying they are salt-free is not effective like the salt-based in removing hard water. In fact, salt-based water softeners are the best type to have. You can check this site https://americanhomewater.com/salt-vs-salt-free-water-softeners/ to know more between salt-based and salt-free softeners. Hope it helps.


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## Old Thomas (Nov 28, 2019)

I have Whirlpool softeners from Lowe’s in a few houses. One is from 2009. They have been trouble free. Interestingly, when I bought one for my NY house Lowe’s showed a discontinued model online at my local store for 50% off. After I ordered it, they called to say the computer was wrong and they had none. An employee probably bought it. A store in another town showed some in stock so I drove over there. By the time I got there it was 75% off. It cost almost nothing.


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## Dan1973 (Oct 18, 2019)

I know just enough to be dangerous on this topic. I bought a house with a Culligan system already installed. It works fine (for now - it's getting old) but while researching I learned that getting parts for it is difficult, forcing you to go through a Culligan dealer if it needs a repair at some point. 



I had a bad experience with my Culligan guy - had them come out to teach me about the system and check it out (was willing to apy for the visit) and he tried to tell me it was shot and I would need a new one at $2400. I told him I'll think about it, then discovered a day later it had been in bypass mode and once I put it online it worked fine. A week later the guy emailed me with a lower price (that pissed me off - why not offer your best price from the beginning?) I told him what I discovered and he just brushed it off and said it wasn't his job to check if the system was online or not.


Fleck seems to be the most widely praised one out there, and parts are readily available to homeowners. 



Regardless of what you buy, if you are half-handy with plumbing you should be able to install it yourself.


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