water softner help in chosing and is this true

CrazyIndianZA

Dear All

Having trawled through this thread and done further reading on the web, I'm still confused . Does anyone have any experience with

http://www.threesixtyplumbing.co.uk/ecosoft-water-conditioner/

I appreciate that it is a conditioner and not a softener.

They have sent me some test results which appears to be positive but I'm don't really understand how it works.

mongeese

I am after a water softener too - I have read much of the thread and I'm only a bit closer to a decision. We are renovating the house so the installation will be done by the builder/plumber.

This will be for a 3 bathroom house with 5 people living in it (more when we have visiting relatives). CH system will be Megaflo.

I want decent quality that can also cope with high flow use. e.g. we might have 3 showers running at the same time in the morning - so that could be near 60l per minute - the flow rate needs to cope with that.

Any suggestions welcome. I have been quoted for a Kinetico, but don't want to pay for brand name - just for a quality machine.

ihshaikh

What about the Coral 15Ltr with High Flow kit from here.
http://www.fountainsofteners.co.uk

mongeese

Thanks - are Coral well respected?

Lolly1968

Deleted_User wrote: »

I have done some reading up about the taps work vs the ecowater, yes they are both made by ecoworks but apparently the taps works has cheaper components in and also the ecowater uses less salt and water to regen as the taps work is 2266 litre capacity of soften water ( AD11) and the ecowater (ESM11) has a 2400 litre capacity. Hope this helps.

Werly3, which model did you go for? I am looking at Tapworks AD15 its £650, uses 52 litres and 3.8kg of salt to recharge and a 3000 litre capacity.

Thankyou to you and Doc N for taking me down this alternative route. Had a visit from a Harvey's distributor (called Harveys they sent a local company, Capital Softeners). Kinetico 2020c at £1331 and Harvey's M2 Mini Max at £1230.

I am still considering the latter for the following reasons: the latter are smaller and use block salt. They use less salt. They do not run on electricity. They both have a 10 year warranty (Harveys are now offering 10 year warranties) whereas the Tapworks is only two years warranty. One of the biggest attractions for us is the company that came Capital Softeners will obviously do the installation but will also do any repairs or sort out the problem if it goes wrong with a £75 call out charge regardless of the problem as all parts will be under warranty for 10 years.

My concern if we go for Tapworks is the warranty is only for 2 years; we will have to find a plumber who really understands water softeners to install it (my usual plumber has no experience) and if anything goes wrong we will need to again find plumber who knows what it's all about and will know which parts to order in etc which of course will cost us a lot after the two year warranty period.

Having written that down I have now convinced myself to go through Capital Softeners and the more expensive model!

Any thoughts Doc N on my pitfalls with the Tapworks model?

Doc_N

Lolly1968 wrote: »

Werly3, which model did you go for? I am looking at Tapworks AD15 its £650, uses 52 litres and 3.8kg of salt to recharge and a 3000 litre capacity.

Thankyou to you and Doc N for taking me down this alternative route. Had a visit from a Harvey's distributor (called Harveys they sent a local company, Capital Softeners). Kinetico 2020c at £1331 and Harvey's M2 Mini Max at £1230.

I am still considering the latter for the following reasons: the latter are smaller and use block salt. They use less salt. They do not run on electricity. They both have a 10 year warranty (Harveys are now offering 10 year warranties) whereas the Tapworks is only two years warranty. One of the biggest attractions for us is the company that came Capital Softeners will obviously do the installation but will also do any repairs or sort out the problem if it goes wrong with a £75 call out charge regardless of the problem as all parts will be under warranty for 10 years.

My concern if we go for Tapworks is the warranty is only for 2 years; we will have to find a plumber who really understands water softeners to install it (my usual plumber has no experience) and if anything goes wrong we will need to again find plumber who knows what it's all about and will know which parts to order in etc which of course will cost us a lot after the two year warranty period.

Having written that down I have now convinced myself to go through Capital Softeners and the more expensive model!

Any thoughts Doc N on my pitfalls with the Tapworks model?

Hi - I can appreciate your concerns, and all I can say (from direct experience) is that my AD11 is in my view something of a bargain. It's not much more than a third of the price of the equivalent Ecowater machine, which is, apart from the more sophisticated programmer and the case, pretty much identical. Same manufacturer, same mechanical parts, same operation. The Ecowater has a much longer warranty (like the others you mention) but it depends how much you're prepared to pay for that peace of mind.

In practice, they rarely go wrong because there isn't much to go wrong. If they do, repairs are pretty cheap, but my Ecowater went for many years without even a service, and I'm expecting the same from its direct descendent.

By the way, £438 is the going rate for the AD11 online - you shouldn't need to pay more than that for a reputable supplier. Plumbing in is simple - but you do need to find a competent plumber who can follow the simple instructions here:

http://www.tapworks.co.uk/storage/Tapworks%20manual%202013.pdf

Chickereeeee

As this seems to be the thread for water softener info, I will add some more:

I had a Waterside MC250 which was OK initially, but many problems after a few years: reducing water flow, overflowing, eventual failure. I replaced the valve, head unit and resin with new (£200 ish) but this only lasted two years before same problems returned.

I have replaced with a Wrekin ECO15. Uses the Autotrol valve, smaller than the MC250. Seems great initially: have to see on longevity, but has 12 months parts/labour and 5 years parts warranty

I looked at the Tapworks AC15: slightly cheaper but the valve head and electronic controls seem VERY similar to the MC250 (which I would not touch again), unit is bigger and only has 1 year warranty.

HotPotato

ok, I just started out on the watersoftner path myself...

I read bits of this, and have just got off the phone with Kinetico.

They're very keen on sending someone around to do the hard sell, but the prices I got out of them were as follows:

The Aqua Blue just under £1000 unit only, £1200-£1300 fully installed
The 2020C £1400 unit only and about £1800 fully installed.

Had a look at that Monach Midi, which could be good, but need to clarify a couple of things:

I only have a 1 bed 1 bath flat, so can't have something giant, will it fit under the sink? If not, what else reasonably priced will?

I don't want one that does the regeneration cycle at set times regardless of use, since I travel a lot, it would be a waste, so want it to 'know' when to do it.

Any recommendations? -The kinetico seems to fill my requirements, but costs one hell of a lot. Which was brought home to me when my plumber said he bought industrial sized ones for £700!

Was also mentioned something about overflows, and my plumber came back to me saying he'd also have to have a look with regards to drainage issues, why would this be complicated?

Doc_N

HotPotato wrote: »

ok, I just started out on the watersoftner path myself...

I read bits of this, and have just got off the phone with Kinetico.

They're very keen on sending someone around to do the hard sell, but the prices I got out of them were as follows:

The Aqua Blue just under £1000 unit only, £1200-£1300 fully installed
The 2020C £1400 unit only and about £1800 fully installed.

Had a look at that Monach Midi, which could be good, but need to clarify a couple of things:

I only have a 1 bed 1 bath flat, so can't have something giant, will it fit under the sink? If not, what else reasonably priced will?

I don't want one that does the regeneration cycle at set times regardless of use, since I travel a lot, it would be a waste, so want it to 'know' when to do it.

Any recommendations? -The kinetico seems to fill my requirements, but costs one hell of a lot. Which was brought home to me when my plumber said he bought industrial sized ones for £700!

Was also mentioned something about overflows, and my plumber came back to me saying he'd also have to have a look with regards to drainage issues, why would this be complicated?

Simple answer - Kinetico fine if you've money to burn.
Check out Tapworks - see above.

David_Aston

We recently had a Monarch Midi fitted. About £450 from Ashford Heating. Did have to be a tablet machine, replacing the granular machine we had for over twenty years.
To early to tell salt useage yet.
Monarch do seem to have a friendly and helpful team over the phone. Comes with a 7 year parts, two years labour warranty.