water softner help in chosing and is this true

Matt_Filterman

Hi VIP
Any idea what size pipe you have coming in to your house?.. Also do you have a decent water pressure?..
Both of these things may be the limiting factor on potential water flow and therefore which softener would be appropriate. The other thing to look at is the number of services being fed from the softener like how many baths, showers, toilets etc..
My very basic rule of thumb is standard 3 bedroomed house with one bathroom can get away with a 10 litre (of softener resin), 3/4" softener valve like the Autotrol 255 or Fleck 4600 giving 20-25 litres per minute of water flow.
If you need 30-50 litres of water flow for a bigger house you would need a 20-30 litre softener with a 1" valve such as the Clack WS1 or Fleck 2750..
As always I would recommend contacting a local water softener company for their advice. They may well be able to sell you a good,reliable softener at a better price than some of the branded units widely available on the Net.. and look after too in the unlikely event that something goes wrong..

Matt

goatman

bernlyn wrote: »

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.

Hi As you can see this is my first time on here and I am not very good with computers etc so bear with me.Can you tell me where you got this price for kenetico 2020?As I am getting prices of a grand upwards:(
Cheers.

moonrakerz

Time for my usual comment again ..........................

Why pay so much more for a twin cylinder machine ??????

haruki_murakami

Hi,

Having read through the whole thread I've decided on a single cylinder timer controlled softener.

However, I need a softener that will fit quite a small gap under my sink. The gap is only about 225mm wide, so I initially looked at the Kinetico 2020c, but getting quotes for £1k and reading this forum persuaded me otherwise.

I quite like the following softener (£289) which has an Autotrol head. However, my question is whether the capacity is enough for four bedroom house. Can anyone advise?

(it's the following softener on the East Midlands Water web site)

Water Softener - Compact Timer Controlled Water Softener +F15

Volume & Weight
Softener Resin volume 1x 5 litres
Salt Storage capacity 10Kg tablet salt

Dimensions
Depth 420mm (including manifold connections)
Height 560mm
Width 175mm

Alternatively, if anyone can suggest any similarly sized, and priced softeners I'd appreciate any suggestions. It really has to be as small as the Kinetico 2020c as I can't put it anywhere else.:)

Thanks,

H.

Matt_Filterman

The straight answer to your question is it's probably not big enough for your needs.. but if it's the only one that will fit then it's better than no softener at all!.. If there are only two to three people in your family and the softener is feeding a loft tank only (nothing fed directly from the softener) then it will be fine (as long as your water hardness isn't over 500 parts per million). Otherwise though you'll probably get some hardness coming through at times of high water usage or later on in the day when you've used quite a bit of water and the softener capacity is running low.
I'd give it a go and the price looks great..
Matt

CasparBone

Hi, house currently under renovation. Know nothing but learning very quickly. Installing a megaflo system - Worcester Bosch system boiler to a 250l indirect unvented cylinder. There's 5 of us - one bathroom, two en suite shower rooms and a cloakroom.

I have three girls (4 including the missus) and am after a water softener.
According to this forum, I am more than happy to go for a TapWorks AD11 as it would appear to be so well recommended.

Please can anyone suggest whether this could work with my system? Will it handle the 5 of us through these sources? If not do I need anything bigger? 1st time considering this but fed up of shower heads and washing machines packing up due to the water here in Hitchin, Herts.

Any help much appreciated thanks

Doc_N

CasparBone wrote: »

Hi, house currently under renovation. Know nothing but learning very quickly. Installing a megaflo system - Worcester Bosch system boiler to a 250l indirect unvented cylinder. There's 5 of us - one bathroom, two en suite shower rooms and a cloakroom.

I have three girls (4 including the missus) and am after a water softener.
According to this forum, I am more than happy to go for a TapWorks AD11 as it would appear to be so well recommended.

Please can anyone suggest whether this could work with my system? Will it handle the 5 of us through these sources? If not do I need anything bigger? 1st time considering this but fed up of shower heads and washing machines packing up due to the water here in Hitchin, Herts.

Any help much appreciated thanks

I'm no expert on the interaction between softened water and different boiler types (we have a Megaflo and a Worcester Bosch condensing boiler, though) but there are people on here who will help.

However, I have been suggesting that the Tapworks models may be more or less identical, electrically and mechanically, to their much more expensive Ecowater equivalents. The AD11 is suitable for up to 5 people, so it should be OK for you, but with 4 women in the house you might want to consider the AD15 to be quite sure.

A word of warning, though. I may be absolutely wrong about the similarities between the Tapworks modesl and the Ecowater ones. We have an Ecowater, and it's been excellent in every way for many years. The local dealer assures me, though, that the Tapwater models are completely different internally. He sells both, but maintains that they are completely different.

If I were buying a replacement, I'd check out what he says with a little further research. He could be telling a pack of lies to protect his sales of the much more expensive Ecowater models - but he could equally well be telling the truth.

Does anyone know for sure?

CasparBone

Thanks Doc - from what I can gather, they are the same company, Tapworks being the UK branch of Ecowater (being the US variant). Certainly the guarantee cards get sent to the same place. I don't know about the manufacturing but I would assume that at least some of the component parts are the same even if it's not all parts. Just got a quote for a TwinTec S3 fitted (dual cylinder / no power, salt block job) and all in at £1439. So I think going Tapworks/Ecowater is the obvious choice.
Anyone out there running a Tapworks? Are you happy with it?

Cheers

spirit

haruki_murakami wrote: »

Hi,

Having read through the whole thread I've decided on a single cylinder timer controlled softener.

However, I need a softener that will fit quite a small gap under my sink. The gap is only about 225mm wide, so I initially looked at the Kinetico 2020c, but getting quotes for £1k and reading this forum persuaded me otherwise.

I quite like the following softener (£289) which has an Autotrol head. However, my question is whether the capacity is enough for four bedroom house. Can anyone advise?

(it's the following softener on the East Midlands Water web site)

Water Softener - Compact Timer Controlled Water Softener +F15

Volume & Weight
Softener Resin volume 1x 5 litres
Salt Storage capacity 10Kg tablet salt

Dimensions
Depth 420mm (including manifold connections)
Height 560mm
Width 175mm

Alternatively, if anyone can suggest any similarly sized, and priced softeners I'd appreciate any suggestions. It really has to be as small as the Kinetico 2020c as I can't put it anywhere else.:)

Thanks,

H.

Did you get this one Haruki and if so what do you think of it?

RameshSinha

I've recently moved to Herts and am renovating the house to include a much needed water softener.

I've narrowed down my search for a water softener to either a Tapworks AD11 or an Atlantis AT210.

The Atlantis AT210 is recommended by a few separate local plumbing merchants and my plumber has that one installed. Has anyone else heard of it or had any experience of it ? The Tapworks one is well talked about on this forum.

Any thoughts/advice would be appreciated - many thanks