water softner help in chosing and is this true

bernlyn

i have decided to get either a kinetico 2020c or a crown Twin Cylinder Non Electric water softner.

1. HOWEVER when i phoned and enquired about the crown the sales person said that yes they were good and gave me the sales pitch. i then asked about the kinetico and she said that it was the best out of the 2. the price difference was crown £650 and kinetico £840 i said i wanted to get more quotes.

2. the 2 company i phoned said that the crown was very good and was a good choice. when i asked about the kinetico she said right away that they werent very reliable. she then stated that the companies that sell the kinetico get bigger profits on selling the kinetico softners and they installed over 280 crowns last year and only had 4/5 faulty machines but the kinetico they had just over 40% returns on faulty machines.

i also said that i cannt find any reviews on the crowns and she said that crown make other softners aswell such as Twin Tec, mini max, calmag, homesoft and a few others. is this true and how can i find this out. i have tried the net but cannt find anything to verify this.

the price of the crown[£636] and the kinetico was £699 and compared to the first company there is a big price difference


how would you decide which one to install.

Bossyboots

This site will give you some more information on Twin Tec softeners. I haven't read it all but if you contact them they should be able to tell you who makes them. http://www.uk-water-softeners.co.uk/

Again with minimax http://www.ukwater.net/waterSofteners/minimax/

I found these by Googling the names you listed and if you do the same with the others, you will find more.

I would ring some of these independent companies that come up in the searches and ask them for advice. Compare what they say always bearing in mind they might have a relationship with a particular manufacturer but if they sell a few different makes, they are more likely to give you an accurate opinion of how reliable the machines are.

Lord_Gardener

We have an Aqua Dial Prismertec which has served us well for 12 years:

http://www.h-i-e.co.uk/acatalog/Aquadial_Water_Softners.html#a2800

You should be able to one in your price range!

bernlyn

We have an Aqua Dial Prismertec which has served us well for 12 years

thanks

i had a look at your softner and i dont know if you are aware that it uses 61liters and almost 2kilograms of salt when it regenerates.

Fred_Bear_2

According to the manufacturer's website the Prismertec uses only 600grams when it regenerates. My family of four uses 3 twenty-kilo bags of salt per year.

bernlyn

i checked again and found another site that confirms what Fredbear says http://www.godfreys-online.co.uk/pageview.php?page=show_product&ecommerce_stockcode=AS000750 depending on the usuage setting but still uses 61 liters for every regeneration. so for us who is on a water meter have to be very carefull when chosing a softner

sloughflint

bernlyn wrote:

i checked again and found another site that confirms what Fredbear says http://www.godfreys-online.co.uk/pageview.php?page=show_product&ecommerce_stockcode=AS000750 depending on the usuage setting but still uses 61 liters for every regeneration. so for us who is on a water meter have to be very carefull when chosing a softner

Have you come to a decision? I hadn't thought of implications re being on a water meter until you posted this.
I was considering getting kinetico too.

bernlyn

no i havent decided as yet but have found out that twintec s2 and crown are made by harveys. so it is still between kinetico and crown but still trying to find some other people that have crown to get a review from them.the kinetico here http://www.ezsoftener.com/index.asp?pid=P230&srch= is the cheapest i have found so far.

the thing that is a concern for me is that on ebay there are a few kinetico on sale that have been reconditioned but is this because they were faulty i dont know. maybe it is me being to over cautious.

another thing to keep in mind is the installion costs if you get them to install.

let us know what you go with

sloughflint

Thanks for that link, bernlyn.
I notice you can rent them. I wonder if that might suit me better as I understand you have to install differently depending on whether you have water tanks or direct feed water.
I am anxious to get a softener soon as I am worried about damage of hard water on newly installed whirlpool bath ( among other things of course)but am not changing central heating system for at least a few months possibly a year. Might be an idea to rent until we get the CH done and then buy.

sloughflint

The only thing I don't like about that site is you have to call to get a price on the 2020c. What price were you given bernlyn?

bernlyn

the price i was quoted was £699 inc vat and £636 for the crown also £205 for the install of either 1