[ton80]

[Originally Posted by CoachKandSportsguy View Post
The first problem is that you are an engineer, trained to be bound by the laws physics, chemistry, and few other immutable rules set by mother nature. so are my brothers and my dad. . . they all struggle with behavioral finance as well. ..

So you are looking at your problem from a linear, laws understanding, and humans and behavioral economics doesn't fit into that paradigm, at all. The reason could be unrelated to cost or quality or warranty.

At the end of the analysis, which would you buy and how much do you want to spend for someone else to install or install it yourself. . . that's it. The price differential is what it is. .

not being critical, just seen the tendency of many engineers struggle with that and very similar issues.

QUOTE=jrref;2340439]I hear what you are saying but I'm not sure I agree but it's your opinion and that's OK.

I believe all this discussion has at least given readers a better understanding of water filtration and softening and some of the options to purchase and install a system.

There are a lot of home improvement projects that myself and other's here have researched extensively and had a lot of experience with. This is why some of us spend a lot of time sharing on some of these threads in an effort to help clear up misinformation so readers can make a more informed decision.

Anyone can Google and watch YouTube videos on a specific topic but in my opinion, experience is the most valuable tool when making a decision.

The one thing I want to make sure everyone understands is you can always find a "less than desirable" review of some company performing some service. No company is perfect and we often don't get the whole story. So it's best to get the facts, check out several companies as best you can, look at All the reviews and come to decision.

As far as DIY or hire a professional, this decision depends on your skill set, the amount of your own time you want to personally spend, cost, and your tolerance for risk.

Hope all this discussion helps.[/QUOTE]

SportsGuy why did you try to denigrate Engineers just because your family includes Engineers? My job for many years was to do initial planning for Refinery Projects in the areas of Energy Balance and Water Treatment of all types of water systems. The analyses and recommendations included the financials costs and returns as well as the engineering and reliability aspects. The Board of Directors including the Chairmen of ExxonMobil often started in Engineering initially.
Considering my background I will answer your question in Bold above:

1. At the end of the analysis, which would you buy
I decided to buy the Nova Filtration system with a Reverse Osmosis Filter
for the drinking water and ice maker. We decided to postpone any softener until we had experience with the filtered water for washing and bathing.
Our experience is that the filter works for us and we do not need a Softener.
The Reverse Osmosis unit reduced the dissolved minerals in our drinking and ice maker water. It also can remove bacteria and dissolved chemicals such as the "Forever Chemicals" etc. If there were solvents dumped into the groundwater the RO should remove them. RO's are being installed in municipal water systems in NC to remove forever chemicals from river water and solvents form well water.
I interviewed Pelican as part of the "Welcome Wagon" barrage. I sent him packing when he tried to show the "bad Stuff " in TV water by adding citric acid to a glass of drinking water. The resulting frothing of escaping CO2 was supposed to be bad stuff in the water when it really was acidifying the water to release CO2 from the bicarbonates in the drinking water. High School Chemistry.

2. how much do you want to spend for someone else to install or install it yourself
I decided to contract Nova to install the system since they know their
system and I was working 50% time on international consulting work. At other homes, I installed cartridge filter systems for well water and filter systems on irrigation systems.

. . that's it. The price differential is what it is. .and NOVA costs are reasonable and much less expensive than Pelican or Kinetico

Now for some general thoughts on the subject of Softeners to add to the information that jrref provided in his response.
1. A softener is an Ion Exchange water treater. Your potable water goes through a filter system of both mechanical filters to remove suspended solids and an activated carbon bed to remove any residual free Chlorine disinfectant that was added by the water company. Free chlorine would damage the ion exchange resin.
The Softener itself contains ion exchange resin which has been regenerated with either sodium chloride (Na Cl) or potassium chloride ( KCL). As your potable water goes through the softener, Calcium ions are removed and replaced by either Na or K ions. So a softener can add sodium to the water if it is sodium salt regenerated resin. This is fundamental chemistry.

2. What is bad about "salt"? Salt is a basic name that is applied to many compounds. The bad salt is really the Sodium ion that is part of Sodium Chloride NaCl in saltwater.

3. What do aquarium "salinity Testers" measure? I believe that they are measuring the density or conductivity, etc. of the water and NOT Sodium content. Since the softener removes Calcium ions and replaces them with Sodium ions there probably is no real change in the water density or conductivity so it looks like no salt is added...but it is exchanged and Sodium content has increased.
Also the TV potable water has a low dissolved solids content of say 300 PPM whereas Seawater is more like 30,000+ PPM . I looked but did not find a definitive and clear answer. However, I am sure that NOVA knows the answer.