Water Softener

[Aruffell]

So I live in Kent which is notorious for hard water and someone mentioned a water softener and it got me thinking.

Anyone got one, or used one before? Any drawbacks? I've seen the damage it's done in our current house and would like to prevent that if possible in our new place.

Any brands to go for?

Thanks in advance,

Andy

 

[Felix]

Can't think of many drawbacks. But before someone mentions it, the water is not salty! My parents have had the same Kinetico unit for 20 years and it still works fine!

 

[Kylevdm]

Parents have one in Belgium, it works great, but we still use a brita for water for the kettle and deionised water for the iron.

The only time you get some slightly salty water is when you pour a new bag of pellets into the device, run the tap for 15 minutes and it is all fine again.

EDIT

It will likely be something I will install when I get around to buying a house in the South.

 

[Felix]

The salt is only there for the regenerisation. If you think it is salty then you need to check the times the regen is done. It should be the middle of the night when there is no usage.

 

[Aruffell]

Thanks for the replies guys. Much appreciated.

Any recommendations of which one to go for?

I've had people recommend tapworks ad11 which I believe is a single cylinder with timer for night regeneration at less than £500 or kinetico with a twin design etc.. But closer to double the price.

Any help is greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

Andy

 

[Aruffell]

So been looking around even more.

Kinetico is £1449 with free installation.
Electric based ones are about a £1000 less.

What benefit is there by going for the Kinetico over the electric ones as £1000 for something that essentially does the same thing, is a lot of money.

Thanks,

Andy

 

[Fuzzb3k]

Thanks for the replies guys. Much appreciated.

Any recommendations of which one to go for?

I've had people recommend tapworks ad11 which I believe is a single cylinder with timer for night regeneration at less than £500 or kinetico with a twin design etc.. But closer to double the price.

Any help is greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

Andy

We've had a Tapworks AD11 for just over 2 years and it has worked perfectly until now.

I don't see the point having a twin cylinder unit to ensure 24/7 operation, especially given the huge price difference between the Kinetico and Tapworks units.

If you think about it, how much water are you going to use in the early hours of the morning? Ours recharges at 3am, and I'm pretty sure no water is being used at that time.

 

[S@njay]

We've had a Tapworks AD11 for just over 2 years and it has worked perfectly until now.

I don't see the point having a twin cylinder unit to ensure 24/7 operation, especially given the huge price difference between the Kinetico and Tapworks units.

If you think about it, how much water are you going to use in the early hours of the morning? Ours recharges at 3am, and I'm pretty sure no water is being used at that time.

Twin tank for pressurised systems.

Normal electric one for the older gravity fed.

Another advantage to the twin tanks is that they do not use electricity, if that would be an issue during install.

I purchased a Harvey's MiniMax from ebay reconditioned for about £500, and had it fitted for about £180.

 

[Aruffell]

Twin tank for pressurised systems.

Normal electric one for the older gravity fed.

Another advantage to the twin tanks is that they do not use electricity, if that would be an issue during install.

I purchased a Harvey's MiniMax from ebay reconditioned for about £500, and had it fitted for about £180.

It's a combi boiler so twin tank would be better?

Is this the one you have - http://www.minimax.co.uk/water-softeners/m2-block-salt-softener

I know Harvey's make a lot of different ones and all are branded differently etc....

Any reason why you went for a non-electric version?

Thanks,

Andy

 

[S@njay]

It's a combi boiler so twin tank would be better?

Is this the one you have - http://www.minimax.co.uk/water-softeners/m2-block-salt-softener

I know Harvey's make a lot of different ones and all are branded differently etc....

Any reason why you went for a non-electric version?


Thanks,

Andy

I have a mega flow type system, so no where to store softened water. Which I assume the Combi boiler would be the same too as water is fed directly to the boiler.


Mine is the Mini Max original, I believe the M2 is a refreshed version.
The only downside is the blocks, I have them delivered in packs of 3 (two in each pack) which can be quite heavy! I us 1 pack per month on average.

There are twin tanks that can cope with both Salt bags and blocks I believe, handy as the bags are readily available.

Also twin tanks do not affect the water pressure.

 

[Aruffell]

I have a mega flow type system, so no where to store softened water. Which I assume the Combi boiler would be the same too as water is fed directly to the boiler.


Mine is the Mini Max original, I believe the M2 is a refreshed version.
The only downside is the blocks, I have them delivered in packs of 3 (two in each pack) which can be quite heavy! I us 1 pack per month on average.

There are twin tanks that can cope with both Salt bags and blocks I believe, handy as the bags are readily available.

Also twin tanks do not affect the water pressure.

Thanks for that. It seems the M2 is the same as the Twintec S3 which is the same as the HV3. All manufactured by Harveys but to confuse people more, they brand different names etc...

 

[Fuzzb3k]

I did a bit of research and found this:

Most popular water softeners have an automatic regenerating system. The most basic type has an electric timer that flushes and recharges the system on a regular schedule. During recharging, soft water is not available. Tapworks?

A second type of control uses a computer that watches how much water is used. When enough water has passed through the mineral tank to have depleted the beads of sodium, the computer triggers regeneration. These softeners often have reserve resin capacity, so that some soft water will be available during recharging.

A third type of control uses a mechanical water meter to measure water usage and initiate recharging. The advantage of this system is that no electrical components are required and the mineral tank is only recharged when necessary. When it is equipped with two mineral tanks, softened water is always available, even when the unit is recharging. Harveys?

http://www.popularmechanics.com/home/interior-projects/how-to/a150/1275126/

I'm still not convinced that a twin tank mechanical model offers any benefits over a single tank electrical timer model for a combo boiler.

As I say, our recharge happens at 3am and takes about an hour. It's not much of an inconvenience to not have soft water from 3am to 4am.

 

[Aruffell]

I did a bit of research and found this:

Most popular water softeners have an automatic regenerating system. The most basic type has an electric timer that flushes and recharges the system on a regular schedule. During recharging, soft water is not available. Tapworks?

A second type of control uses a computer that watches how much water is used. When enough water has passed through the mineral tank to have depleted the beads of sodium, the computer triggers regeneration. These softeners often have reserve resin capacity, so that some soft water will be available during recharging.

A third type of control uses a mechanical water meter to measure water usage and initiate recharging. The advantage of this system is that no electrical components are required and the mineral tank is only recharged when necessary. When it is equipped with two mineral tanks, softened water is always available, even when the unit is recharging. Harveys?

http://www.popularmechanics.com/home/interior-projects/how-to/a150/1275126/

I'm still not convinced that a twin tank mechanical model offers any benefits over a single tank electrical timer model for a combo boiler.

As I say, our recharge happens at 3am and takes about an hour. It's not much of an inconvenience to not have soft water from 3am to 4am.

Thanks for that. The only issue I could potentially see is if your circumstances change. Say you have family visiting and end up using more water than normal and it gets to a point where it has to regenerate. That could be at 2pm during the day and then you have issues.

The other thing looking at the tapworks etc... is it only comes with a 2 year warranty compared to 10 years of the Harvey's and the like and that always gets me thinking as to why they've only offered that amount in comparison.

 

[Chief Wiggum]

We have a Harvey twin tank block salt softener and it seems to be ok. I preferred the idea of mechanical over electric as it's always there when we need it and recharges as required. Plus as our bedroom is right over the kitchen we don't get woken at o-stupid am by it recharging (even though it's in a cupboard they're not exactly whisper quiet when recharging) so something to consider.

/edit
Our water is super hard here and the builder didn't fit anything. The house is 5 years old and when we moved in a year ago next door were having their hot water tank replaced. When he cut it open it was full of rock (I think we have high magnesium) so it's properly hard not like the chalk hardness we had in our last house, that pretty much sold it to me there and then to get some sort of softner.

 

[Aruffell]

We have a Harvey twin tank block salt softener and it seems to be ok. I preferred the idea of mechanical over electric as it's always there when we need it and recharges as required. Plus as our bedroom is right over the kitchen we don't get woken at o-stupid am by it recharging (even though it's in a cupboard they're not exactly whisper quiet when recharging) so something to consider.

/edit
Our water is super hard here and the builder didn't fit anything. The house is 5 years old and when we moved in a year ago next door were having their hot water tank replaced. When he cut it open it was full of rock (I think we have high magnesium) so it's properly hard not like the chalk hardness we had in our last house, that pretty much sold it to me there and then to get some sort of softner.

Thanks for that

Which model did you go for? Got a pic of it under the sink?

Thanks,
Andy

 

[Chief Wiggum]

It's a Harvey TwinTec

Pic under the sink:


With three of us in the house (two adults and a 3 year old) we get through a pack of blocks around every 5 weeks on average, but it varies dependant on use.

 

[Kemik]

What's the profile of your house? I.e. how many people live there.

I live in a two bed with myself and my gf. The Tapaworks was highly rates but I got the smaller model. Something you should know is that most of the block softeners (non-electric) are made by the same company. They keep prices artificially inflated and none of the installers will under cut each other. The whole thing is a giant price fix.

My Tapawork works great to be honest. It cycles every few days at 3am and I check it every few weeks to add some more salt. The electric these things use are really really small. They just power a timer and small circuit board. Don't let the local "expert" con you into paying over the odds for a block softener.

 

[nutcase]

My parents have had one for years. Bear in mind you're not supposed to drink softened water so that part of the pipework will still have to have hard water.

 

[Kylevdm]

My parents have had one for years. Bear in mind you're not supposed to drink softened water so that part of the pipework will still have to have hard water.

The one at my parents house is on the primary water line into the house, before it goes anywhere else...

 

[Kemik]

The one at my parents house is on the primary water line into the house, before it goes anywhere else...

There will be a separate pipe off the main before the softener.