more articles like this

Tell them you found them on Edhat!
www.edhat.com/referrals

Water Softener
updated: Feb 02, 2011, 6:47 AM

Need advice about where to go for a good water softener including installation. Even Sears Kenmore seems expensive. Any ideas out there?

Places People Are Talking About:

Augies	Construction Plumbing	Culligan
Hague	Matilija Pure Water	Rayne
SB Water Company	Seymore-Meijer Water

What People Are Saying:

COMMENT 142175	2011-02-02 07:16 AM
Augies
COMMENT 142182P	2011-02-02 07:33 AM
Bought ours at Home Depot. Some unsolicited advice: Put a whole-house water filter in front of it to capture sediment. Besides cleaner water, it will make your softener last longer. Use potassium chloride rather than sodium chloride. It's better for you and for your houseplants - you don't need more sodium salt in your diet. The least expensive source I've found for potassium chloride salt is Costco.
COMMENT 142217	2011-02-02 08:21 AM
Rayne
COMMENT 142219	2011-02-02 08:23 AM
I have and recommend Rayne for soft water rental and reverse osmosis. Instillation is not cheap but under $50 mo. LOVE them
COMMENT 142232	2011-02-02 08:39 AM
Matilija Pure Water, on Santa Barbara street. They have the best customer service, and amazing technicians. Nathan installed my system. Gave me a GREAT price, and installed the next day! www.getpurewater. com that's how I found them, I'm sure the number is on the website.
COMMENT 142235	2011-02-02 08:43 AM
Hague is a good one, it is top of the line whole-house water Purification system.
COMMENT 142244	2011-02-02 09:06 AM
I replaced a worn-out Sears unit last summer with a GE softner that I bought at Costco. It works fine so far and uses very little salt. I use regular NaCl salt. My reverse osmosis drinking water system removes the salt from drinking water.
CHERIDIANE	2011-02-02 09:25 AM
I second the suggestion for Matilija Pure Water. 1026 Santa Barbara Street, 963-7873. Nice people, good prices, will work with you.
COMMENT 142266	2011-02-02 09:50 AM
Construction Plumbing can supply and install a softener. Just to clear on the air on the salt issue after speaking with many plumbers in the industry the softener doesn't add salt into the drinking water and won't kill your plants. It uses the brine solution at night to rinse off hard water minerals from the filter media then it ejected via a pump down the drain. You proably get some salt in the first slug of water in the morning but it is the same amount of sodium as what is in 2 slices of white bread. I switched from using the potassium cloride to just regular salt and the only difference I noticed is the cost savings as potassium is 4 times the price.
COMMENT 142308	2011-02-02 11:25 AM
In my opinion the best one to get uses no salt. I can't remember the name of the system but you can google no-salt water softeners and find the product. It uses electrical ionization. What makes it superior to the salt softeners is you can drink the water, don't need to have a separate drinking water supply, and it doesn't put the chemicals, excess salt, back in the environment. This is the system I will install when my water heater craps out as I will include a tankless water heater with the project. Local plumbers are also familiar with these systems if you want their feedback.
COMMENT 142311	2011-02-02 11:32 AM
Just thought I'd let you all know that I heard about a scam yesterday. There was a cold call to an elderly person, I heard about this from the Daughter of that person. She was told that when the city water supply got low that they switched to the state water system and the water wasn't as good as what she was getting thru the city. It was harder, not good for plumbing and it tasted nasty. The call was evidently from a water softener company that said they could insall a system that would automatically switch her over when needed. I don't know if this was just an isolated event or if someone is out there trying to part money from the elderly. Just thought I'd throw that out there for you. I'm in Lompoc.
COMMENT 142331	2011-02-02 12:37 PM
142308 you are my long-lost twin or alter-ego or something. I came here to post those same thoughts. Crazy!
COMMENT 142361	2011-02-02 02:15 PM
14308. I believe you are refering to an Aquel sytem. You will be stunned by the cost which is in the thousands of dollars where a conventional soft unit is about $500. We have an undercounter Aquel unit here and it sucks. It is a dual function faucet unit that has both soft filtered water and "mixed" mineral water. I taste no difference over tap water. I think the water that comes out of the refrigerator tastes better.
COMMENT 142365	2011-02-02 02:36 PM
Call Harm at Seymore-Meijer water. I believe he does rentals.
COMMENT 142372	2011-02-02 03:00 PM
This is 14038 and no, the system I am referring to is not Aquel.
SYVPEANUT	2011-02-02 03:05 PM
Rayne Water Conditioning. I have used Rayne for over 15 years and they have exemplary customer service. The last couple years I switched from the exchange tank system to the home water softener that uses potassium. The potassium does not harm plants so I have the recharge water go back into my garden. Every one of the technicians that delivered my tank, twice a month were stellar citizens. I am a strong supporter of customer service not only for maximizing my service but for having an at home encounter that is predictably pleasant. Dan IS the man for Santa Ynez service. 967-3424
COMMENT 142383	2011-02-02 03:45 PM
I don't understand why anyone would want to pay a montly tank exchange fee. What happens when they come to exchange the tank and you happen to be using the shower? They must need to shut off the water to exchange the tank right?
COMMENT 142400P	2011-02-02 04:44 PM
-361 The reason the water in the refrigerator tastes better is because chlorine is a gas. If the water sits long enough the chlorine diffuses out of it.
COMMENT 142401P	2011-02-02 04:47 PM
Here's a third thumbs up for Matilija. Excellent company. Instead of buying, we rent a system and they service it. It's a large capacity commercial softener. No "tank exchange" (whatever that is), they simply add potassium once or twice a month in a separate bin (and they monitor potassium usage and test the water, making any necessary adjustments.) We had bad luck with the smaller non-commercial systems you get at Sears or Home Depot. They aren't very well made, have too low a capacity, and they waste a LOT of water because they need to regenerate too often. The commercial units have a much larger amount of beads in the tank and don't need so much regeneration.
COMMENT 142510	2011-02-03 07:58 AM
142383: They only shut off the water going through the softener so for the minute they're swapping tanks, you get unsoftened water.
COMMENT 142538	2011-02-03 08:32 AM
Ditto on Augies - got a softener and water filtration system from them eleven years ago - great service, reasonable prices, good follow-up
COMMENT 142562	2011-02-03 09:11 AM
I purchased a Kinetico system 13 years ago. Very good performance, also very efficent water and salt use. They sell through a local dealer.
BILLY BOB	2011-02-03 09:14 AM
Nobody mentioned Santa Barbara Water Company http://santabarbarawatercompany.com/ we have had great service with them.
COMMENT 142581	2011-02-03 09:33 AM
water softeners do indeed add sodium to the water. not a big deal for most people, but could be a problem for people with high blood pressure.
COMMENT 142603	2011-02-03 10:12 AM
I bought a water softener on-line about 10 years ago for about $450. Installed it myself - I made sure that the dimensions of the new one matched the old one that I replaced. I saved about $1,000 vs. the price that I got from Rayne. Now I just buy salt at Costco every couple of months. No fee from a water softener company.
COMMENT 142672	2011-02-03 01:42 PM
Augie's Water Systems is the only place to go. Got ripped off by Culligan and Augie was recommended. Several of my neighbors have gone to him as well. Great service and great follow-up!