water softner help in chosing and is this true

Matt_Filterman

Do you know exactly how much water pressure you have carynh?.. it can fluctuate quite a bit and is usually significantly higher at night time when most softeners go through their regeneration cycle. There is a danger that if pressure is a problem it might drop below the 0.83 bar required for the Kinetico, particularly as these units can regenerate at any time during the day or night.
For the record I don't have a problem with twin tank softeners, and if the Kinetico model allows you to have a softener when other softeners won't work then it's money well spent. My issue has always been that twin tank softeners are much more expensive compared to the single tank systems that are perfectly adequate for most domestic applications.
Matt

murphydog999

Just thought I would add my twopenneyworth.

Carynh - We are just going through the water pressure bit as we want a water meter and have a shared line. Your water company have to guarantee 1 bar pressure, Have you checked why your pressure is low? 1. We have found so many leaks in the the old pipes here, 2, we have a shared line and 2 other houses share the water so this will decrease pressure and flow. If you have a meter this obviously doesn't apply, but it might make a difference?

carynh

Not sure about exact pressure, chap is coming tomorrow to measure it so will have to hold thumbs that it will be a manageable level. We are at one edge of a village and the water pressure decreases the further out of the village you go. I do not think we have a shared line but it is one more thing to check. Will wait to see what tomorrow brings. Thanks all for your helpful comments.

Catbells

Hi Am going to have a water softener installed in our new house and looking on this thread see that several models' names are mentioned as good buys - Fleck 5600, Tapworks AD11, AtlantisAT210, Autotrol and Kinetico. Problem now is choosing one of them! Not sure though about the number of tanks as some have said two and others just one. What is the criteria for choosing how many tanks. There's only two of us and more when the family come home. 4 bed semi. Thanks.

spirit

Hi catbells

the difference with twin tanks (apart from twice the price) is that when they regenerate, the twin switches to the other tank so you don't get hard water in your system at this time.

However..

with the single tanks, you just set the timer to regenerate when no water is being used i.e. 2am so you don't have that problem anyway.

There's normally 2 people in my house so I have mine set at 2am every 4 days. If you are using more water than normal at any time (visitors for the weekend perhaps) you can override and do a manual regen.

When I was choosing which one to get I read the whole of this thread. I also had a couple of water softener people (local) out to quote and searched on Google.

I didn't see the point of spending about £1300 on a twin tank so bought one (new, single tank, fleck valve) from an ebay powerseller with an ebay store. (I just don't trust buying second hand although they are a plenty on there)

Then I co-ordinated the fitting with the kitchen fit.

I absolutely love the soft water now, no white marks on the shower screen or tiles etc

Catbells

Thanks for your reply. I am also hoping to have a heat exchange energy pump installed in the garden to provide my energy. Does anyone know if these two are compatible - ie a heat source pump and a water softener system?

moonrakerz

spirit wrote: »

the difference with twin tanks (apart from twice the price)

............also they usually take block salt which is enormously expensive compared to ordinary granular salt.

Matt_Filterman

Hi Catbells.
You won't have any problems having a water softener and a geothermal type heating system.. The water that goes through the softener comes out of your hot and cold taps.. the water in your heating system circulates in a closed loop so the two are not usually connected. At some point you do have to fill your heating loop from the mains water supply and this is done by connecting the two systems temporarily with a short length of flexible pipe, filling the heating loop and then dis-connecting the two systems again.
I'm sure some people would argue that the heating loop should be filled with un-softened water but in the scheme of things there will be so much anti corrosion chemicals already added to the heating system loop that it will make no difference whatsoever..
Matt

Chunks

I have looked at this interesting thread (but cannot see that my issue has been flagged, so here goes). I have been putting off getting a softener for years although I need one (live in East Herts). I have limited room under the sink and with my kitchen being rather small would struggle to fit elsewhere.

Can softeners be fitted in the loft? I realise you have to resupply with salt (which is a pain in the behind (but I have loft ladders ) coupled with frost protection, electricity and drainage etc.).

Alternatively, given I have very restricted space (and budget) are there 'mini' units that don't come with an 'aston' price tag?

Appreciate a steer guys.

Chunks

spirit

Hi Chunks,

my understanding is that they are best sited near your mains inlet (dunno if that's the correct terminology). I know of someone who has it in their downstairs loo as that's where theirs comes in.

However i also know that you can have them in a little box thing outside so if your cold supply comes in under your sink, then it could go on that outside wall.

hope this helps.