Whole house water softener?

Anyone know a ballpark price? Did it make a huge difference if you did it? And do I need a plumber to install this? TIA!

Message edited 12/7/2008 8:45:14 PM.

Re: Whole house water softener?

It def makes a huge difference. We have well water and we need a complete water purification system which is going to cost a few thousand dollars. But I am sure just the water softener is much cheaper. Not only is hard water tough on your hair skin etc.....but it will eventually cause damage to the pipes and tile.

Re: Whole house water softener?

Sears has them from about $500-$800
http://www.sears.com/shc/s/search_10153_12605?vName=Appliances&keyword=water+softener&sLevel=0

I installed ours myself. There is a good deal of pipe cutting and soldering, so unless you are comfortable with tapping into your main water supply and soldering some bends and pipes in, you may want to hire a plumber to do it.

It makes a HUGE difference, though. Our water was very hard before. My car was dirtier after I washed it than before. Your hair feels weird, dishes have spots, clothes don't wash properly, there's calcium buildup on all the fixtures.

After the softener is in place, you have none of that.

Even though they are kind of expensive, they don't do a lot, so there's really no maintenance, other than adding more salt (we get our salt from BJs). The machines pretty much last forever, and a bag of salt lasts roughly a month, and mine holds 10 bags at a time.

Re: Whole house water softener?

Posted by GoldenRod

Sears has them from about $500-$800
http://www.sears.com/shc/s/search_10153_12605?vName=Appliances&keyword=water+softener&sLevel=0

I installed ours myself. There is a good deal of pipe cutting and soldering, so unless you are comfortable with tapping into your main water supply and soldering some bends and pipes in, you may want to hire a plumber to do it.

It makes a HUGE difference, though. Our water was very hard before. My car was dirtier after I washed it than before. Your hair feels weird, dishes have spots, clothes don't wash properly, there's calcium buildup on all the fixtures.

After the softener is in place, you have none of that.

Even though they are kind of expensive, they don't do a lot, so there's really no maintenance, other than adding more salt (we get our salt from BJs). The machines pretty much last forever, and a bag of salt lasts roughly a month, and mine holds 10 bags at a time.

Re: Whole house water softener?

Posted by Mrs. Patticakes

Thanks Shawn! I didn't expect it to be so expensive and we would definitely need a plumber too. I'll have to add that to the project list.

Also, I've heard of some not needing salt. Did you research all the companies or are they all just about created equally? TIA!

Re: Whole house water softener?

sure does make a huge difference. And in my opinion well worth it. We have hard well water and as soon as the softener was put in the water felt so good against my skin. I love it! WE payed about 1500 for ours.

Re: Whole house water softener?

we just got one a few months ago. i think ours was just under $600 at sears- a mid range model. DH is an engineer and likes " projects", so he was able to do it himself, but defintely hire a plumber if its not something you or DH is comfortable with.
for us, ours made a BIG difference! we had very hard water before- to the point that our white bathroom walls were always getting this orange-y "film" on them ( i'm guessing it was from some iron in the water). since we put the softener in, none of that! and i definitely feel like our clothes and dishes are cleaner. like somebody else said, softeners last pretty much forever. they really are a good investment because i think they also help keep calcium and stuff from building up in other appliances, too which can help them last longer...