Water Softner
 

Can any one recommend a reliable water softener for whole house installation? Price or maybe a budget?

Is there another choice of a smaller system vs having the big tanks in the garage?


Thanks and Happy Holidays.

Pelican Water

Water Softener & Water Filter Systems | Pelican Water


And filtration.

Pelican, Nova, or no system at all. Those are what most people choose from. I chose no system at all, and my water is fine.

I have had Sears water softeners for over 40 years, about 10 years life for each unit. Virtually no maintenance except for loading salt for the water softener. We currently have a Sears whole house filter and a Sears water softener, and very happy with both. No idea if these are still available, but there are now combo units available that are half the size of the 2 individual units. Lowes and Home Depot sell similar units, so if you do not mind keeping an eye on salt level these are probably the lowest cost options, if you do not want to do any maintenance, then see above and probably below for other alternatives.

Thanks

Absolutely NOVA. I got both the water filters AND the water softener and paid about $1800. I think the water softener was about $800 or $900 installed.

ALL softeners, regardless of brand, are simple ion exchange machines. The differences are in price, the controller and marketing. I would by one from a large home improvement store and have a plumber put it in. You'll save at least a thousand.

Two thing to consider -
1) Does the softener operate on a timer or on specified amount of water that you use. The advantage of the second is that you don't have to worry about unplugging your softener when you travel. We had Kinetico which operated using the second method when we lived up north. It was still running after 25 years.
2) Some brands require the use of potassium chloride rather than sodium chloride. Since KCl is much more expensive than NaCl, you might want to avoid these brands unless the small amount of sodium in your diet is a big deal.

I suggest trying a whole house filter system before getting a water softener We found that we didn't need a softener.

Rollie