water softner help in chosing and is this true

Doc_N

saayinla said:

bazzie said:

saayinla said:

Hi All,

After researching I came across the MIDI HE as the one that fits my needs and then I came across this thread but I have to admit I haven't read the entire 112 pages.

My question is I want to buy from buyaparcel on ebay (Monarch Midi HE FreeFlow Water Softener Ultimate Series - 15mm Hoses + 10kg Salt) with an ebay Voucher comes down to £574 is this a good price?

Plan is to get my Plumber to fit.

Thanks in advance.

Hi saayinla,

You have probably read that I bought the Monarch MIDI HE & tbh, I wish I had not. I got swayed by the good looks & so called high flow hoses etc. The Monarch Warranty really is not what they claim - they make it sound like it is all encompassing but after 3 visits from their engineers (mine was originally replaced after it kept filling up with water all the time) they told me the main, most important & costly part is NOT covered under their two year warranty.

They will honour everything else (all the cheap parts) within the 2 year warranty including call outs but they always state that if they do not find any faults and/or something not covered in the warranty then they will charge a £125 call out charge plus costs of parts plus VAT.

The unit itself really does need to be (at least mine does) put at a very high setting - near maximum to soften the water properly despite the hardness test stating it should be lower - this according to Monarch's own setting guidelines. This means it goes through an awfully large amount of salt very quickly & the unit runs more often than it should.

To give context, there are only two people in our house - we only take showers & use very limited use of the home water - imagine if we were an average or large size family with much more water usage.

My advice is to buy another brand tbh.

Many thanks for your response and time taken to post your experience sadly I havent seen your 

So back to the drawing board for me. But Can I ask how hard is your water at the moment?

According to Thames water mine is "The level of calcium carbonate in your water zone is 314 ppm." I haven't actually tested it myself.

I am also looking at  the Kinetico Kube 1 from Costco as it seems to have lots of good reviews also, I thought going for the ones that uses mains electric might have some impact on the water flow.

See recommendations above for Tapworks - they still stand good.  Almost 10 years for mine now and hasn't missed a beat.

bazzie

Hi saayinla,

My water hardness is 345. According to the Monarch Water Hardness Test, I should set the unit for 35 to soften the water properly. However at this setting, it still does not soften fully & deposits of limescale still occur.

I had to boost the setting to max at 50 & it just about softens the water as it should - like I said, this means more salt usage & more cycles of the unit regenerating.

I would avoid any of the units that use block salt (Harvey, Kinetico etc) these units are very expensive & the block salt costs way more than tablet salt.

I have not looked into softeners since getting mine a few years back but I remember that the Tapworks brand use to get consistently good reviews & it was very reasonable priced.

I wish I had got that instead at the time & saved both money & frustration. BWT is another big brand but again, over priced & you can get the same models under other brand labels.

Please think carefully about where you will install the unit - if you can place it under the sink & your kitchen leads directly to an outside wall where they will need to drill through for the drainage pipe then great but if not (like us) then you will have to run extra copper pipes & drill through a wall somewhere else which will all add up to extra installer costs - mine charged me £500 just to install it.

My advice - just get the biggest capacity you can for your place & do not spend so much on these fancy, overpriced brands.

Hope this helps!

saayinla

Doc_N said:

saayinla said:

bazzie said:

saayinla said:

Hi All,

After researching I came across the MIDI HE as the one that fits my needs and then I came across this thread but I have to admit I haven't read the entire 112 pages.

My question is I want to buy from buyaparcel on ebay (Monarch Midi HE FreeFlow Water Softener Ultimate Series - 15mm Hoses + 10kg Salt) with an ebay Voucher comes down to £574 is this a good price?

Plan is to get my Plumber to fit.

Thanks in advance.

Hi saayinla,

You have probably read that I bought the Monarch MIDI HE & tbh, I wish I had not. I got swayed by the good looks & so called high flow hoses etc. The Monarch Warranty really is not what they claim - they make it sound like it is all encompassing but after 3 visits from their engineers (mine was originally replaced after it kept filling up with water all the time) they told me the main, most important & costly part is NOT covered under their two year warranty.

They will honour everything else (all the cheap parts) within the 2 year warranty including call outs but they always state that if they do not find any faults and/or something not covered in the warranty then they will charge a £125 call out charge plus costs of parts plus VAT.

The unit itself really does need to be (at least mine does) put at a very high setting - near maximum to soften the water properly despite the hardness test stating it should be lower - this according to Monarch's own setting guidelines. This means it goes through an awfully large amount of salt very quickly & the unit runs more often than it should.

To give context, there are only two people in our house - we only take showers & use very limited use of the home water - imagine if we were an average or large size family with much more water usage.

My advice is to buy another brand tbh.

Many thanks for your response and time taken to post your experience sadly I havent seen your 

So back to the drawing board for me. But Can I ask how hard is your water at the moment?

According to Thames water mine is "The level of calcium carbonate in your water zone is 314 ppm." I haven't actually tested it myself.

I am also looking at  the Kinetico Kube 1 from Costco as it seems to have lots of good reviews also, I thought going for the ones that uses mains electric might have some impact on the water flow.

See recommendations above for Tapworks - they still stand good.  Almost 10 years for mine now and hasn't missed a beat.

Many thanks for the suggestion, will look into tapworks.

saayinla

bazzie said:

Hi saayinla,

My water hardness is 345. According to the Monarch Water Hardness Test, I should set the unit for 35 to soften the water properly. However at this setting, it still does not soften fully & deposits of limescale still occur.

I had to boost the setting to max at 50 & it just about softens the water as it should - like I said, this means more salt usage & more cycles of the unit regenerating.

I would avoid any of the units that use block salt (Harvey, Kinetico etc) these units are very expensive & the block salt costs way more than tablet salt.

I have not looked into softeners since getting mine a few years back but I remember that the Tapworks brand use to get consistently good reviews & it was very reasonable priced.

I wish I had got that instead at the time & saved both money & frustration. BWT is another big brand but again, over priced & you can get the same models under other brand labels.

Please think carefully about where you will install the unit - if you can place it under the sink & your kitchen leads directly to an outside wall where they will need to drill through for the drainage pipe then great but if not (like us) then you will have to run extra copper pipes & drill through a wall somewhere else which will all add up to extra installer costs - mine charged me £500 just to install it.

My advice - just get the biggest capacity you can for your place & do not spend so much on these fancy, overpriced brands.

Hope this helps!

Brilliant and thanks once again for taking the time out of the frustration you have had with yours to go into details , very much appreciated.

I ll look into the Tapworks option as suggested and go with it.

I will be installing ours in the utility room where the mains feed is, there is a drain to the outside wall already in this room as the Boiler is also housed here so also is the Washing machine.

I just need to add a pipe for the feed to the plumbed fridge for drinking then the rest of the house can be from the softened feed.

We have 2 bathrooms with 4 kids taking shows in the morning for school but 2 adults works form home so we take ours later.

Will feedback on my findings on the Tapworks.

many thanks once again.

saayinla

I have now seen the Tapworks NSC11PRO from Buy a parcel for similar price to the MIDI.

Doc_N

saayinla said:

I have now seen the Tapworks NSC11PRO from Buy a parcel for similar price to the MIDI.

That, or one of the larger models in the range, would be my choice for replacing the Tapworks we have when it finally fails. Having said that, it’s almost 10 years old now, hasn’t had a single service, and hasn’t missed a beat. 

bazzie

Hi saayinla,

"I will be installing ours in the utility room where the mains feed is, there is a drain to the outside wall already in this room as the Boiler is also housed here so also is the Washing machine."

Ours is almost the same - the water & boiler pipe work is at the far end of the utility room & the softener placed at the other end to the house wall to the garden where there is a drain. Had to install two long copper pipes to connect between the two which added to the installation cost.

Even though I am not current on brands, I think Tapworks is a very sound choice.

saayinla

Doc_N said:

saayinla said:

I have now seen the Tapworks NSC11PRO from Buy a parcel for similar price to the MIDI.

That, or one of the larger models in the range, would be my choice for replacing the Tapworks we have when it finally fails. Having said that, it’s almost 10 years old now, hasn’t had a single service, and hasn’t missed a beat. 

I have decided to go for the Next model up suitable for 1-9 people Tapworks NSC14PRO.

Might as well ask now, where to buy the salt tablet as cheap as possible, Costco no longer have them.

Thanks once again for the recommendations.

Doc_N

saayinla said:

Doc_N said:

saayinla said:

I have now seen the Tapworks NSC11PRO from Buy a parcel for similar price to the MIDI.

That, or one of the larger models in the range, would be my choice for replacing the Tapworks we have when it finally fails. Having said that, it’s almost 10 years old now, hasn’t had a single service, and hasn’t missed a beat. 

I have decided to go for the Next model up suitable for 1-9 people Tapworks NSC14PRO.

Might as well ask now, where to buy the salt tablet as cheap as possible, Costco no longer have them.

Thanks once again for the recommendations.

I think that's a wise choice, depending on the size of your household and where it will fit.  Ours is the old equivalent of the NSC11 and that easily serves three of us - probably more.  Salt tablets vary hugely in price I'm afraid.  Best search online - the higher the quantity the lower the price per bag.

bazzie

saayinla said:

Doc_N said:

saayinla said:

I have now seen the Tapworks NSC11PRO from Buy a parcel for similar price to the MIDI.

That, or one of the larger models in the range, would be my choice for replacing the Tapworks we have when it finally fails. Having said that, it’s almost 10 years old now, hasn’t had a single service, and hasn’t missed a beat. 

I have decided to go for the Next model up suitable for 1-9 people Tapworks NSC14PRO.

Might as well ask now, where to buy the salt tablet as cheap as possible, Costco no longer have them.

Thanks once again for the recommendations.

Hi saayinla,

Are you sure Costco no longer have them or are they simply just currently out of stock awaiting fresh deliveries? I buy from Costco as cheapest but if they have stopped completely, then it will be bad news indeed. 

Thanks!