water softner help in chosing and is this true

pieman_71

thanks for the responses, have gone ahead with the order for the Coral.

more_than_confused_86

i'm looking in to renting a water softener. I live in Dorset has anyone got ANY advise at all I have seent he ones on EZsoftener they seem reasonable i guess but i just dont know!:eek:

Matt_Filterman

Hi confused 86.
Looks like an expensive way to run things.. To rent costs about £155 per year.. A decent softener costs between £300 and £450 and should last at least 10 years without any problems. By my calculations that makes it 3 - 5 times more expensive to rent.
The obvious question then is what constitutes a decent softener?..
If you go back through the thread you should get an idea of what softeners people like, and what should be avoided (at all costs!)
Sorry to seem a bit vague on the last point but I don't want to be seen to be too biased in any direction.
Regards Matt

alxce

I purchased a Permutit PST65 V2 from B&Q back in Oct 2007. It seemed to work fine until the end of 2009 when it started to constantly overflow. I called out the Culligan guys and for £176 they replaced the valve kit, drive gear and board. That price also gave me full warranty for a year. So, here we are two years later and it is constantly overflowing again. Have tried the obvious things like a number of recharges but to no avail.
I have come to the conclusion this is not a very good piece of kit and rather than throw another £200 at the Culligan people I think it is time to cut my losses and get a replacement.
Can anyone tell me what kind of valve the Permutit uses as I would wish to avoid it like the plague in a new unit. The Coral 15L Timed or Metered is currently looking favourite but the valve assembly (Autotrol) looks very similar to the one I have currently.
I have read through a lot of the pages in this thread but difficult to tell which units are the most reliable, if anyone can recommend a replacement in the £400-£600 range I would be most grateful.
Thanks & Regards,
Alan

manda1205

We have a Monarch Midi. The people we know who have one have all had them for 10+ years and they come with a 7 year guarantee. We've only had ours since January but so far its been no trouble. They are local to me and will only guarantee for East Anglia so it does depend on where you live. Might be worth seeing who your local water company recommend or your local independant plumbing place.
http://www.monarchwater.co.uk/htm/home/default.htm

southcoastrgi

my recommendation is to contact your boiler maifacturer first as some insist that the boiler isn't connected to a softner (ideal being one of them as some of their boilers have aliminum heat exchangers), it is def worth a phone call before buying a softner.

Matt_Filterman

Hi Alxce.
If you have read any of my previous posts you will probably ascertain that I'm not a big fan of Culligan.. I am however a big fan of the Autotrol 255 domestic valve that is probably fitted to your present softener.
You might find the problem you are having more to do with the previous engineers ability to diagnose the fault with your softener rather than the piece of kit itself.. I might sound a bit scathing but having worked on this softener valve for the past 20 years I cannot see how you would need to replace the valve kit, drive gear and board on a two year old softener with an overflow problem.. unless you didn't know what you were doing.. or wanted to sell loads of spares.. or both!
My advice would be to contact a local water softener company with a good reputation, tell them which softener valve you have and get a realistic price for having it repaired properly. Any good softener engineer should be conversant with the valve fitted.
If it is the Autotrol 255 valve fitted it should last a good 20 years and need very little (if any) maintenance.

alxce

Thanks for the advice Matt.
I have had a good look at the valve and the only identification is Culligan etched into the black top plate. I have also examined it pretty closely and there is only a minute trickle of water running down the blue resin tank and I can find no trace of it anywhere on the valve assembly. If I reduce the level by taking out about 6 litres it then takes a couple of days to reach the overflow again, although this does seem to go quicker if we are using a lot of water in the house.
I am now beginning to wonder if it might be leaking from the joint where the valve screws into the resin tank but it's a little difficult to be sure because of the large plastic clamp that surrounds that area where it goes into the brine tank. Is it possible to tighten that joint with the unit in situ or does it all have to come out and be disassembled?

Matt_Filterman

Hi again alxce.
If there is a clamp around the area where the valve screws into the brine tank then it sounds like you might have one of Culligans own manufactured valves rather than an Autotrol. Words escape me how I feel about Culligan valves in general but all is not completely lost. It is possible to just replace the valve with a new industry standard Fleck, Clack or Autotrol valve by a local company for around £200.. Having said all that you might just want to cut your losses and buy a new one. Once again I'd try and buy from a local reputable company.
Sorry I can't be of more help on this one.

alxce

Thanks Matt, you have been very helpful.
I can confirm your thinking as I have pulled it apart this afternoon and the valve is a Culligan. There are leaks in two places. A minor one is the valve cap which I understand is susceptible to distorting under pressure. The major one is underneath that collar where the valve meets the valve tank body. Strange design in that it presses down over a large o-ring, the clamp goes over the top but is actually too big when fully tightened to exert much by way of pressure on the two flanges. I tried cleaning, plumbers mate on the o-ring and refitting but the joint still leaks. I can get spares from Wrekin for both the valve cap and the tank body o-rings but the costs start to mount up and if these things are really that bad I am leaning towards jumping ship.
I know where I can get a Coral C15 with Autotrol 255 for a reasonable price so that is looking favourite at the moment.