water softner help in chosing and is this true

hack_2

In all this long thread on softners I have found no mention of water pressure. Do electric/non-electric softners reduce water pressure for a mains-only supplied house (ie, no water tank)?

Will the shower (supplied by combi boiler) suffer?

manda1205

hack wrote: »

In all this long thread on softners I have found no mention of water pressure. Do electric/non-electric softners reduce water pressure for a mains-only supplied house (ie, no water tank)?

Will the shower (supplied by combi boiler) suffer?

Mine is an electric, metered Monarch softener and it doesn't reduce/effect the mains water pressure at all. The only thing we were told as our water pressure is quite high anyway, if it is too high (no idea what constitutes too high though) it has to be restricted before it enters the softener, but the plumber told us it was rare to get it that high anyway.

128hdays

I've going with the EW Technologies Gold Series 500 system. Its reasonably priced at £499 including installation and a free drinking filter. Has anyone experience in dealing with this company before good or bad that you could let me know about before i 100% commit to the purchase?

Chance89

Sterlingtimes wrote: »

My machine is nearly twenty years old and still appears to be working efficiently. It has never had a fault. Is there anything that needs to be done chemically or otherwise with the resin sack?

@Sterlingtimes: As a ball park figure resin lasts in the region of 10 - 15 years depending on the hardness of the water coming in to the machine and the water consumption of the property. This said I have known resin to last up to 25 years. Its a bit of a lottery in all honesty.
When resin comes to the end of its life it does lose some of its softening capabilities but the main problem that arises is that it expands and slows the water down that is passing through it so you lose pressure at your soft water outlets (although if you have a tank fed system this is not always obvious). In extreme cases if the resin continues to expand it can break the distributor in the softener and escape into the plumbing system which can cause blockages in toilets, showers, washing machines etc. In MOST cases resin can be replaced but not always and it is expensive to do. Most people tend to replace their softener when the resin comes to the end of its life.
I hope this has been useful.

Chance89

hack wrote: »

In all this long thread on softners I have found no mention of water pressure. Do electric/non-electric softners reduce water pressure for a mains-only supplied house (ie, no water tank)?

Will the shower (supplied by combi boiler) suffer?

@hack: Water softeners do not reduce pressure of your mains supply. Pressure is the force behind the water. Flow rate is the speed at which water is allowed to flow the system. Flow rate is dependent on the size of your pipes ie. pipes/valves with a small internal bore allows a lower flow rate of water through than a larger bore. Most softeners are available with different size installation kits. I would suggest talking to the manufacturer of the softener to see what kit they recommend for your particular installation so it wouldn't restrict your flow rate.

MoneyMate

Sorry to differ but water pressure passing through a Water Softener will be reduced, also be careful with Combi Boilers as Softened water can be corrosive to some metals in the boiler construction.

128hdays

I've been told that as long as the water pressure in my home is above 1.5 to 2 bar there should not be any noticeable reduction in pressure. Is this true?

3_Put

New to the forum and have been reading this thread as I am about to have a softener installed.

I have previously had a twin tank kinetico and a single tank timer controlled system in former homes and am a convert to using softened water.

Of the two systems I have used I found the convenience of the block salt suited me best for ease of storage and refilling the unit compared to the tablets.

I also had a problem with the timer motor which activated the regeneration of my single tank unit whereas the twin tank non electric unit was trouble free. (I had the use of each for over five years in different properties)

So I set out to get quotes from Harvey's and Kinetico as no info. seems to be available on the net.

Harvey's send out a salesman who will make all sorts of claims, many of which are discussed and discounted on this thread. The bottom line is that as of Feb 2015 Harvey's will install there standard twin tank for £1574.00 including VAT. They refused to sell the unit for self-installation.

Within the Harvey's quote the installation is fixed at £250.00 + vat whatever the situation, so if you have a really expensive fitting issue there is a benefit but otherwise Harvey's is expensive.

Kinetico use a dealer network and my local dealer said that he knew exactly what my Harvey's quote was ( and he did!) and said he would beat it by £100! So £1474.00.

I looked at East Midlands Water and Fountain Softeners who seem to offer good web prices and went with Fountain as they are based in Sussex which is nearest to me.

I went on Amazon for added protection as it was the same price.

Ordered on Feb 2nd and on Feb 4th Parcelforce delivered my Harvey's Twintank at a cost of £795.00 including delivery, 15mm installation kit and 2 blocks of salt.

My friendly plumber(who I play golf with) is coming to fit on Tuesday - he says it should be half a days work so I am saving £700 on the quote from Harvey's!

I appreciate bigger savings can be made with other makes which will do a similar job but I do like the twin tank block salt system.

I will update when everything is up and running.

Thanks to all for the helpful information on this thread.

Chance89

MoneyMate wrote: »

Sorry to differ but water pressure passing through a Water Softener will be reduced, also be careful with Combi Boilers as Softened water can be corrosive to some metals in the boiler construction.

You are quite right about the combi boiler issue, it is always best to check with the boiler manufacturer first to see if they recommend the use of softened water. The same also applies to some washing machines as the drum support arm can also be corroded.
As I said in my previous post, it would be flow rate that could possibly be reduced rather than pressure. Flow rate would only be reduced by a softener due to incorrect sizing of the unit or the pipework connected.

128hdays

I have decided to install the EWT 606 system. Its £705 fully installed at the moment and comes with a free drinking filter. Will let you know what the quality of the water and system is like in a few weeks. Thanks for all your helpfull tips on this thread.