We need a new one…ours is 15 years old and needs to be replaced. Anyone have any recommendations? Seems like a million options between HD, Menards, etc. Anyone have luck with a particular brand?
If someone installs them I’m willing to pay and not deal with dragging one in and out of my house. PM if you’re interested.
Live is S MPLS…house is 2500 sq ft with 3 people.
The last two I’ve had are Sears. Don’t know who manufactures them. Have worked well.
Sears seems to be the same as the Morton brand Menards carries. My last 2 were Sears and now I purchased a Morton brand from Menards. Same hookups which was nice for the install.
Kinetco is great but $$$ and the longevity is there. Down side is you don’t rebuild them yourself.
I’ve ran Whirlpool in my two houses for the last 25-28 years. Averaging about 16-17 years of use. Larger house is 3900 sqft 3.5 bath and a soft water hose Bibb.
I bought a clack millennium system from Peterson salt. Installed it myself, they helped with the programming, it’s really not that difficult, do your research, the clack heads are great, the rest of the system is basic and all can be easily rebuilt in 15 years.
Being in MPLS you can get away with a pretty basic model. MPLS treats their water already down to under 4ppm of hardness if I remember right. It should be easy info to find on their website.
What I would be more concerned with is what they put back into the water supply. If like most of the cities in the metro there is lots of Chlorine added. A standard water softener does nothing to remove Chlorine. Northstar makes a unit that both softens the water and has carbon to help with Chlorine removal.
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Before we sold our old house, I had replaced the softener with one bought off the shelf at HD. I wouldn’t bother with hiring someone, I am not what anyone would consider “handy”, and I was able to pull the old one, prep and reinstall the new one, and have everything up and running in under three hours, sans a flood. I think all told I spent about $300, and if you already have some of the tools, probably closer to $250. I’m sure that prices have increased on the actual softeners, this was approximately 2016-18, but unless you are looking for the top of the line I wouldn’t feel comfortable spending more than $500.
Many if not most water softener brands are made by Ecowater. I replaced mine a few years ago from Home Depot and for the most part they all use the same manifold to connect to the softener. Do some research and see if your existing manifold looks like a new one. I found that my 30 year old softener had the same input/output dimensions as a new one, therefore only had to lengthen the input lines. Of course I am sure someone would be willing to install for you. The best thing about a new softener is the salt usage is significantly less.
I have owed kenitico for many years. They are spendy to start with but make up for it in the long run. They are not electric and only recharge when needed. You can have them set up for the amount of softning you need for you area. I think I have owed one for over 30 years and have not had much repair work on the two houses I had them in. I would buy again. Great deal if you can afford the investment from the start.
You want a Fleck controller water softener. No need to spend over $1000 for a unit its self. Stay away from the big guys as they will charge you $3-4k and its all profit if you do the math. The 5600xt is $799 on Cyber Monday deal at US Filter.com
I’d listen to Mike W. Our water is way harder in Carver County, so I will be going w/ a Kinetico when our current traditional one fails. Bought a Kinetico at our old house, and it was great and also specifically requested to stay as part of the offer to buy our old house.
I used to have a Kenmore unit and it crapped the bed. Not sure what the heck happened internally but it was basically spitting black crap out into the sink. So, rather than replace it I have been renting from Culligan. I believe after you have rented for a set number of months, you can outright purchase a unit minus what you have paid in for renting and they give you a brand new unit. I have their RO system as well. Works really well, they deliver and install the salt for me on a regular schedule and I just had them replace the RO filters. Better than me lugging around bags or dealing with finding filters etc.
Ecowater is near my house. They look like they are shutting down that huge facility?
I have an ecowater system in my house which was built in 2004. I forget about it and let it run out of salt often. My water isn’t very hard to begin with.
Had a different model in my last house, in Hastings, and bypassed it altogether because there was no difference with it running or not (maybe it was not functional, I didn’t bother to care).
I grew up without one. Call me crazy but I think they’re a huge waste unless you’ve got obnoxiously hard water.
You want a Fleck controller water softener. No need to spend over $1000 for a unit its self. Stay away from the big guys as they will charge you $3-4k and its all profit if you do the math. The 5600xt is $799 on Cyber Monday deal at US Filter.com
This is what I replaced my all-in-one with. The single units are inherently more complicated and harder to fix. A system with separate brine and resin with a simple Fleck head are pretty bulletproof and everything can be easily fixed/replaced individually if needed. I got mine from https://www.discountwatersofteners.com/ many years ago.
I grew up without one. Call me crazy but I think they’re a huge waste unless you’ve got obnoxiously hard water.
I grew up with one and do not have one in the current home. Did not work when we bought the place and never replaced it.
It’s a showstopper for my wife and daughter. It’s not only because it keeps your skin better in the winter but it helps with long hair. The hard water makes their hair really snarly so we need it.
I’ve got some calls to make. I’ll probably install myself because everything is plumbed already but I didn’t consider all the variables like Mike W pointed out.
These connectors can make hooking up the water piping a breeze. They take a little force to get all the way on to the water pipe side. Make sure they are threaded on straight on the bypass valve side. This is the only place I ever use a sharkbite fitting but since it’s exposed its easy to change out if there is ever an issue with it down the road. Just make sure the ones you get match up with the pipe size needed on both ends.
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Just had culligan out….$45 a month for a high efficiency softener with the chlorine filter seems like a pretty good option at this point.
At $200 for them to install there is no reason for me to do one myself. First year of salt is free, too.
The break even on the rental is 6-7 years and I can purchase it with rental credit at anytime.
I think I just sold myself.
Cool! I thought long and hard about it before I did it. I still am renting, something like the piece of mind if something breaks they fix it vs me footing the bill. I have to look at how long I have been renting…
Renting is typically one of the most expensive ways to have a water softener especially if you plan on having it for a long time. I see customers renting them for 15-20 years and Culligen has done nothing to them but cash the check.
$45 a month for 10 years is $5400.
Renting is typically one of the most expensive ways to have a water softener especially if you plan on having it for a long time. I see customers renting them for 15-20 years and Culligen has done nothing to them but cash the check.
$45 a month for 10 years is $5400.
It’s $4500 but I get your point. We plan on being in this house 5-7 more years so renting makes sense. If things changes, I can buy it out.
It’s a good business model for Culligan but not having to outlay cash upfront outweighs that for me.
Plus if you are renting its on them to fix it when its broke. I always learned you lease or rent something that depreciates in value like a car or truck or in this case a water softener and BUY something that appreciates like a house. People get fooled by the numbers because they are paying it each month, but you arent out anything for repairs and you arent making money and its not a benefit when you sell the home either. Its about the same as choosing a paint color. YOU may like it but the new owner may not. They can choose to not rent from Culligan and buy their own otherwise you made the choice for them with your however old system that could break at any time.
<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>Mike W wrote:</div>
Renting is typically one of the most expensive ways to have a water softener especially if you plan on having it for a long time. I see customers renting them for 15-20 years and Culligen has done nothing to them but cash the check.$45 a month for 10 years is $5400.
It’s $4500 but I get your point. We plan on being in this house 5-7 more years so renting makes sense. If things changes, I can buy it out.
It’s a good business model for Culligan but not having to outlay cash upfront outweighs that for me.
Mike Was math is right. 12 months x 45 = 540 x 10 years is 5400
Losing my mind a bit …
From my experience if you get a decent water softener there isn’t a lot to go wrong with them. Heck even a cheap one if something goes wrong just disconnect it and slap a new one in place. They all come with a bypass valve to.
From my experience if you get a decent water softener there isn’t a lot to go wrong with them. Heck even a cheap one if something goes wrong just disconnect it and slap a new one in place. They all come with a bypass valve to.
This was my original thought but once I started looking at them with chlorine filters that kinda shot that idea out of the water.
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