Water softener ???

[No-Walkin STX Hank]

Just bought a new house and now every company in town are stopping by to sale me a water softener. I guess I have been lucky and never had really hard water, therefore I know nothing about them.
What does the GS say about water softeners.
What should I look for? How much is the right price.

Any help is greatly appreciated.

[switchbackxt]

If you indeed have hard water then get one sooner rather than later. I have a GE Pro Elite system and just occasionally add salt. It was approx 2500 installed.

[TTORA]

put my own in for less than 500.00 simple in and out hookup on mine before the water heater. salt lasts a pretty good while

[lameduck]

Where do you get your water from?

[Bisch]

put my own in for less than 500.00 simple in and out hookup on mine before the water heater. salt lasts a pretty good while

This^^^^

I would say that anyone with simple plumbing skills (esp if your house is already set up for a softener) is crazy for spending $2500 on a softener! I have installed my own in two different houses with no problems.

You should have your water tested to verify how hard it is. You will need that info to set up a softener anyway.

I will also add that if you are on a septic system, do yourself a favor and use potassium instead of salt. The potassium is 4X the price of salt, but you do not have to worry about septic pumps getting ruined in the case of a malfunction.

Bisch

[Draco]

I just got a price today to put one in my pump house. Every thing is easily accessable and would be an easy job. Gave me a price of $2200. That ain't going to happen. I'll do it myself.

If you do put one in, be sure to put a big particulate filter in front of it.

And yes, you do have hard water in Hutto, Round Rock area.

[60 Deluxe]

We have 99 grains hardness in our water. I put in a softner right after I built the house. After going through 160 pounds of salt a week for about a month I opened the by pass valve and wrote it off as a bad investment. I am fairly well versed in water softners having once owned a water treatment business. Some people buy into the sales pitch that you have to soften your water if it has more than six or seven grains of hardness. We have gotten by for nineteen years now with hard water and it does not destroy our clothes or our water heaters or our pipes. I pulled a water heater out of the attic that had been in use for about seventeen years. Out of curiousity(I just knew it had to be packed full of scale) I opened it up and found maybe a three pound coffee can size pile of scale.

We have had to be selective in what bath soap we use. Everything but Dove and Caress seem to clabber up. I have probably saved enough money on salt by now to pay for a new four wheeler.

Do your homework and make an intelligent decision.

[No-Walkin STX Hank]

Where do you get your water from?

House is in Hutto

[lameduck]

House is in Hutto

Should have ask well, city, other. If you an your neighbors share the same water, I would talk to them. You may not even need one.

[No-Walkin STX Hank]

Should have ask well, city, other. If you an your neighbors share the same water, I would talk to them. You may not even need one.

The good and the bad is I currently don't have neighbors just empty lots. I am sure I will be the one they are asking once their house are built.

[No-Walkin STX Hank]

Well a guy from GE came out and tried to sell me the Golden We my water is 18 gpg
not sure what all that means but I assume it is not good.
He only wants $75 a month until $7500 is paid of. Now this is where I asked how long and I did not get an answer just that he is better than their competitors who stretch theirs out for 12 years. Now I am educate and I can figure it out myself that they sure want a lot of interest.
I want a water softener but I am not paying $7500 plus a lot of interest.

[codyw2006]

Do not go through anyone to put in your water softener. If you feel like you need it then put it in your self

[mavrick]

Buy the softener and hire a plumber to tie it in. Do not spend $2500, you can get one for $500 and a couple hundred for the plumber if you can't do it.

[the-butcher]

You can find sites online that will put your system together for your water needs and all you have to do is cut and glue some pipe. Its not hard.

[Planner]

We went through this four years ago when we built our house. After the slick talking salesman who claimed his own manufactured water softener would do just about everything short of curing cancer for $4k, I went to Lowes and bought a GE model for around $800. I think they charged me $100 or so for delivery and installation. We've been pleased so far.