Whole House Water Softener

[markeg]

We didn't bother with an untreated tap - the amount of salt in the water is minuscule and can't be tasted

We don't either - the point of the salt is to flush the calcium deposits out of the resin, and a minute amount is in the water afterwards. We also test it regularly and the amount of salt doesn't register.

 

[dhobbs]

We don't either - the point of the salt is to flush the calcium deposits out of the resin, and a minute amount is in the water afterwards. We also test it regularly and the amount of salt doesn't register.

That's exactly what i had read. I assume this is the same as your dishwasher and the salt that goes in it.

 

[Mr Tidy]

That's exactly what i had read. I assume this is the same as your dishwasher and the salt that goes in it.

Yes, but if you have a softener you don't need to put salt in the dishwasher!

I had Harvey softeners for over 10 years and they do what they claim to do! But I'm still unimpressed with the smarmy photos of the local agent in my local paper every week. :lol:

They do seem to work well despite that!

 

[PerryGunn]

Yes, but if you have a softener you don't need to put salt in the dishwasher!

True, but the 'add salt' indicator light on ours annoys me so I still put salt in the dishwasher - I have it at the lowest possible water hardness setting so the dishwasher salt lasts for very long time between refills....

 

[mj2k]

Yes, but if you have a softener you don't need to put salt in the dishwasher!

True, but the 'add salt' indicator light on ours annoys me so I still put salt in the dishwasher - I have it at the lowest possible water hardness setting so the dishwasher salt lasts for very long time between refills....

Yup, I put it in too, just to avoid the light :lol:

 

[Mr Tidy]

True, but the 'add salt' indicator light on ours annoys me so I still put salt in the dishwasher - I have it at the lowest possible water hardness setting so the dishwasher salt lasts for very long time between refills....


Yup, I put it in too, just to avoid the light

Our dishwashers must have been pretty low spec. - they never had a "low salt" light.

 

[Carol M]

I've been told they rot the heat exchanger (or whatever it is) in the boiler due to the salt and only one manufacturer (Vaillant I think) are safe to use softened water with. This is why we never got one. Is this the case in your experience?

 

[markeg]

I've been told they rot the heat exchanger (or whatever it is) in the boiler due to the salt and only one manufacturer (Vaillant I think) are safe to use softened water with. This is why we never got one. Is this the case in your experience?

Nope. The salt doesn't go through the boiler, it's flushed through the resin into a drainage pipe. No salt comes through the system into the boiler or pipes. This is our one; non-electric and twin tank - twin tank means the resin is flushed separately so you don't lose the soft water supply.

 

[Mr Tidy]

I've been told they rot the heat exchanger (or whatever it is) in the boiler due to the salt and only one manufacturer (Vaillant I think) are safe to use softened water with. This is why we never got one. Is this the case in your experience?

We had a "Harvey/Kinetico" one some time ago and never had a problem, even though our first was in a house with a Baxi back-boiler which worked fine for 4 years or so?

Just a thought, but did your advice come from a Vaillant salesman?

 

[Carol M]

No, from the Ideal engineer when he came to service the boiler. I'd love to have one fitted, limescale is the bane of my life.

 

[Mr Tidy]

No, from the Ideal engineer when he came to service the boiler. I'd love to have one fitted, limescale is the bane of my life.

Ah, so from an Ideal engineer or "salesman" then! (As far as I can make out Ideal and Vaillant seem to be a part of the same group of companies anyway)!

My view would be to get a softener anyway if you want one, then deal with the doom-mongers as appropriate!

 

[pvr]

Go for it Carol, I had a couple of taps that had almost seized up and the soft water freed them up completely.

 

[RubyBlueZ4MC]

I'd love to have one fitted, limescale is the bane of my life.

+1 Same here!
Mike and I have been chatting about getting one of these installed (oh the joys of married life :lol: )

 

[jamiez]

No, from the Ideal engineer when he came to service the boiler. I'd love to have one fitted, limescale is the bane of my life.

The guy is leading you up a garden path - what a load of tosh!!!!

We moved into our new house just under 2 years ago and the house was 8 months old. The seller was offering me the water softener then for 800 quid to which I said no because I was perry nieve to their benefits. I was not expecting him to remove the unit but he did. That did leave all the plumbing in place under the sink for me to fit one if I chose too.

Within a week of moving in I was asking the mrs why our brand new kettle is white over inside. I then realised why we needed the softener. Checked local hardness rating and we were very high up.

We ended up buying a Twintec S3 which is the model which Harvey's rebrand. I installed it myself and buy the block salt in annual purchases.

Recently fitted a tri flow tap, like others in here, to allow for "hard" water for drinking.

Brilliant investment albeit not cheap.

 

[Mr Tidy]

We moved into our new house just under 2 years ago and the house was 8 months old. The seller was offering me the water softener then for 800 quid to which I said no because I was perry nieve to their benefits. I was not expecting him to remove the unit but he did. That did leave all the plumbing in place under the sink for me to fit one if I chose too.

Within a week of moving in I was asking the mrs why our brand new kettle is white over inside. I then realised why we needed the softener. Checked local hardness rating and we were very high up.

We ended up buying a Twintec S3 which is the model which Harvey's rebrand. I installed it myself and buy the block salt in annual purchases.

Recently fitted a tri flow tap, like others in here, to allow for "hard" water for drinking.

Brilliant investment albeit not cheap.

Just curious, but how did the cost of your Twintec S3 purchase compare with the house-seller's offer of £800?

 

[jamiez]

We moved into our new house just under 2 years ago and the house was 8 months old. The seller was offering me the water softener then for 800 quid to which I said no because I was perry nieve to their benefits. I was not expecting him to remove the unit but he did. That did leave all the plumbing in place under the sink for me to fit one if I chose too.

Within a week of moving in I was asking the mrs why our brand new kettle is white over inside. I then realised why we needed the softener. Checked local hardness rating and we were very high up.

We ended up buying a Twintec S3 which is the model which Harvey's rebrand. I installed it myself and buy the block salt in annual purchases.

Recently fitted a tri flow tap, like others in here, to allow for "hard" water for drinking.

Brilliant investment albeit not cheap.

Just curious, but how did the cost of your Twintec S3 purchase compare with the house-seller's offer of £800?

I purchase the TwinTec via a guy who supplies and fits them and also supplies the block salt for 995 - supply only. Since all the plumbing was under my sink it was a relatively straight forward job. The unit went faulty once but parts and labour covered under the manufactures warranty (2 years standard but can be extended) without any quibbles and all work done on site.

 

[Mr Tidy]

I purchase the TwinTec via a guy who supplies and fits them and also supplies the block salt for 995 - supply only. Since all the plumbing was under my sink it was a relatively straight forward job. The unit went faulty once but parts and labour covered under the manufactures warranty (2 years standard but can be extended) without any quibbles and all work done on site.

Thanks, that's about what I remember paying in 2002 - but ours had to be plumbed in.

Just glad we got it before we had a new kitchen and bathroom as the scale would have wrecked them!