Get a water softener or conditioner?

[Wampuscat]

I've got a 4 1/2 year old house and all of my faucets have scale deposits on them, so I figure its worse in my water heaters. I took a sample to Aquatex and had them test it. The hardness came back as 6 grains. They sell Kinetico systems so Culligan and others weren't an option.

They recommended a Kinetico Premier 2030 water softener that I assume is their basic system for $3300 installed. My Liverpool city water doesn't have any odor or bad taste. There isn't any problem with getting a good lather with soap either. Just the scale.

My water comes into my house on the front, so I don't want a system standing out in front of my house as an eyesore. I also don't have a sewer drain handy so they'll need to drill a hole through my limestone wall and route the backwash drain to a ditch.

I've done a little reading on conditioners and am not sold on their effectiveness.

Any recommendations?

[JES]

Definitely need a water softener to remove the scale, I believe.

If you have any DIY abilities at all, I would recommend going to qualitywaterforless.com and buying and installing yourself.

[RWB]

Definitely need a water softener to remove the scale, I believe.

If you have any DIY abilities at all, I would recommend going to qualitywaterforless.com and buying and installing yourself.

Definitely

Same here except I bought from reverseosmosis.com. Well under a grand all in with a whole home filter as well.

[Huntindad]

If you can, get a Fleck system. Install it yourself where your Washer is. Tie into the washer drain. Do you have a place where water lines are in your house? May be difficult to retrofit.

How did the water folks say they would get the water coming in? Also an inline filter helps.

My Fleck system been going strong over 20 years.

[kmitchl]

I bought the $500 one from HD. It's been in there for two years without ant issues. I installed a whole house filter ahead of the softner with an activated carbon element. How many $500 units can you buy for $3300?

[bowhntrmatt]

Definitely go softener over conditioner. They are cheap for a reason.
A good plumber should be able to install a loop to place the softener wherever you want. (Water treatment companies tend to go way more basic on the install than plumbing companies).
Kinetico is an ok softener, but their low end ones have restrictive valves and you don’t get to control when they regen.
Fleck valves aren’t what they used to be.
There are several good softeners out there. The most important things are: have it sized properly for your home, and test for chlorine. If there is a significant amount of chlorine in your water, add a carbon pre-filter as the chlorine will kill your resin in a few short years.

[JES]

Definitely go softener over conditioner. They are cheap for a reason.
A good plumber should be able to install a loop to place the softener wherever you want. (Water treatment companies tend to go way more basic on the install than plumbing companies).
Kinetico is an ok softener, but their low end ones have restrictive valves and you don’t get to control when they regen.
Fleck valves aren’t what they used to be.
There are several good softeners out there. The most important things are: have it sized properly for your home, and test for chlorine. If there is a significant amount of chlorine in your water, add a carbon pre-filter as the chlorine will kill your resin in a few short years.

He said Liverpool water supply, so probably more concerned with it being brackish than over chlorinated...

[shwacker1911]

I work on kinetico systems how many people do you have in the house? If you only have 2-4 a 2040 premier system would work better you really don't have to bad of water for the hardness being at a 6. 3 and under is considered soft. The 2040 is a small overdrive system meaning if uses two tanks to supply a better flow to the house vs the 2030 using one tank at a time. The big thing you need to know is how much chlorine you are get. It kills the resin faster then anything else. Pm me if you have any kinetico related questions.