water softner help in chosing and is this true

abb16ott

moonrakerz wrote: »

Pete, I am trying to help you save money - honest ! That's why others have accused me of having "a bee in my bonnet" - I hate to see people being fleeced by glib salesmen flogging over priced equipment loaded up with totally unnecessary extras.

I don't live a million miles from Malmesbury so my water is probably very similar to yours.

If the salesman you mentioned knew how many people were in your house and your likely consumption and still said that one bag of salt would last you for a year, he was either grossly incompetent or was a con artist of the first magnitude - OR BOTH !

All water softeners will use roughly the same amount of salt - that is why I was so sceptical with the figures you mentioned.
A basic softener is set to regenerate x times a week (depending on your useage - as I said a bit of trial and error), this happens during the night and you are not aware of it. To regenerate "manually" you press a knob on the softener to tell it to regenerate "now".

In my last house, 4 beds, 3 baths/loos, 4 adults, the softener held 25kg of salt and that would last just over two months. That is the sort of consumption I would expect you to have as well.

Go to B & Q in Chippenham, Swindon or Bristol, say you want to buy one of their Water Softeners but you are having trouble with finding a plumber and electrician to fit it. They will have a list of guys who do their kitchen installations and the like.
They might even give you a price to supply and fit.

I live in Swindon and quite like the look of your B&Q one and was wondering how much you paid for fitting???

Cheers

vrstu

Mine was the 2020C High Flow version.

moonrakerz

abb16ott wrote: »

I live in Swindon and quite like the look of your B&Q one and was wondering how much you paid for fitting???

Cheers

I don't really know - it was included in all the other costs for fitting the complete kitchen. I was starting from bare walls and mains pipe in and waste out. which made it easier.

This is what is under the sink in the kitchen ! Might be of help to you.

abb16ott

moonrakerz wrote: »

I don't really know - it was included in all the other costs for fitting the complete kitchen. I was starting from bare walls and mains pipe in and waste out. which made it easier.

This is what is under the sink in the kitchen ! Might be of help to you.

Wow now that is what I call a diagram - nice one

abb16ott

With the overflow pipe must it go through the wall and outside as my kitchen is at the front of the hous and has no drainage outside and I don't really want a outlet overflow pipe sticking out like a sore thumb. Or can in connect some other way?

moonrakerz

abb16ott wrote: »

With the overflow pipe must it go through the wall and outside as my kitchen is at the front of the hous and has no drainage outside and I don't really want a outlet overflow pipe sticking out like a sore thumb. Or can in connect some other way?

It can go anywhere where the water will drain away. Mine goes out through the wall; in my last house it went into the same drain as the regeneration waste - which was also the drain from the washing machine.

abb16ott

Many thanks for that, you've been a great help

katch_2

Hi, I'm new.

Have been avidly reading this thread and finding some really useful advice; what I'm wondering is, whether these gizmos are any use for skin conditions. I've noticed that whenever I go somewhere like Greece or Italy (not that often!) my itches and rashes disappear. I presume this is because their water is soft, and am hoping a water softener would have the same effect. Advice from a fellow sufferer would be much appreciated.

mrg9999

My existing softener, Culligan/Liff 2000C, has been unreliable since it was fitted 5 years ago, needing a service call to stop it flooding / wasting salt. When it works, it is fine, but now it is just flooding all the time, and I don't want to pay a £130 call out.

I've been trying to get a Kinetico 2020 at a reasonable price, say £700 inc vat. I don't need fitting. On Ebay second hand units seem to go for between £250 and £450 !!.

So either I buy another £300 unit in B&Q,Screwfix which if I estimate a 5 year life the cost is £60/year + salt, or pay £700 with a 7 year warranty (140/ year). if it lasts 25 years , then the ownership drops to £30 / year.

If there are any vendors here who can offer sensible prices, please respond.

moonrakerz

mrg9999 wrote: »

My existing softener, Culligan/Liff 2000C, has been unreliable since it was fitted 5 years ago, needing a service call to stop it flooding / wasting salt. When it works, it is fine, but now it is just flooding all the time, and I don't want to pay a £130 call out.

I've been trying to get a Kinetico 2020 at a reasonable price, say £700 inc vat. I don't need fitting. On Ebay second hand units seem to go for between £250 and £450 !!.

So either I buy another £300 unit in B&Q,Screwfix which if I estimate a 5 year life the cost is £60/year + salt, or pay £700 with a 7 year warranty (140/ year). if it lasts 25 years , then the ownership drops to £30 / year.

If there are any vendors here who can offer sensible prices, please respond.

There is absolutely no reason why a £300 machine from Screwfix shouldn't last as long as a £700 machine from Kinetico. My first softener (basic model) lasted lasted over 20 years. I replaced that with a B & Q model, which I also have in my present house.

I don't know what the problem is with your current machine, but it may well be that it had a manufacturing defect from the outset ("has been unreliable since it was fitted"), which is just as likely to happen on an expensive machine.
Are you saying that a 7 year Kinetico warranty will cost you £140 a year in addition to the £700 purchase price ? - don't quite get what you are saying there.