water softner help in chosing and is this true

Dellus

Looking to have a Water Softener installed. I've read through the whole of this thread and realise it not as straight forward as I thought!


There are two of us and have one Bathroom and I think I need a single tank, metered device.


Now!
The other things that are bothering me are...
Compatibility with my boiler/central heating?
Do I have a separate drinking tap?
what "valve" does it have?


Have had two local sellers around, one pushing the Kinetico and the other the Twintec. Without going into details both quoted around £1500 (Twintank models)




Currently looking at the Monarch ULO




Does anyone have any experience with this model?

csgohan4

Dellus wrote: »

Looking to have a Water Softener installed. I've read through the whole of this thread and realise it not as straight forward as I thought!


There are two of us and have one Bathroom and I think I need a single tank, metered device.


Now!
The other things that are bothering me are...
Compatibility with my boiler/central heating?
Do I have a separate drinking tap?
what "valve" does it have?


Have had two local sellers around, one pushing the Kinetico and the other the Twintec. Without going into details both quoted around £1500 (Twintank models)




Currently looking at the Monarch ULO




Does anyone have any experience with this model?

Kinetico and Twintec are rip offs, esp if over 1k.


Buy a Monarch or something else and get a local installer to fit it. Much cheaper

kris22

Hi.
I try choose water softener for family of 4 with one bathroom and downstairs toilet
Maximum height of water softener can be only 540 mm.
I worry because many specifications say then minimum water flow should be 10 l/min, but I think this flow is too big for normal washing dishes or hands, because water will be splash everywhere. Smaller flow probably will not remove all hardness or cause channeling if I'm right. Anyone notice this?
Anyone check ph water before and after softener and which model softener?
My water hardness is 335 ppm.

rodee13

I was looking at the efficiency/water usage of various water softeners and the Atlantis AT350 looks good since it claims to be using only around 30 litres for regeneration and around 2000 litres between regenerations compared to others which use around 15-20 litres for regeneration but then only 400 litres flows through before needing a regeneration.

Anyone in the forum using Atlantis AT350 ?

malc_b

Have you check on what basis the AT350 is using? Water softening is a standard chemical process so there is only so much you can get out of it. However, the amount of softened water you get depends on the initial water hardness. Usual figure is 300ppm but it 300ppm water get 1000l then 150ppm water would give 2000l. Hence you need to check the AT350 is using the same ppm hardness.

Typically the bigger the resin amount the more efficient, except if you get too big as then you regen before it is all used up to keep thing fresh and the resin free flowing. For example 2 x resin means more rinse water but 2 x, but it does mean regen half as often. That's another reason why twin tanks are bad idea, unless your twin is ~2 x your single size. And of course metered is better for efficiency means you only regen went needed.

The actual amount of soft water you get is pretty constant to the amount of resin you have. Have a look at this if you want technical but note this is USA but note that my figure show that regen water is a significant cost of a softener, 20-30% of salt cost and that was for the efficient, single tank softeners I was looking at. Hence salt efficiency isn't the only issue. So it's a trade off. Higher salt per resin kg is less efficient on salt but more efficient on water.

rodee13

Thanks for the reply, yes even I thought to achieve water softness there is not much scope for variation in amount of salt, water etc unless you increase one at the cost of something else. Just wondering why Atlantis isnt as popular as some of the other ones like Tapworks etc

RobRH

I have to say the replies I have seen to the post by Moonraker are a tad silly as he is trying to help and all you want to do is belittle this help. I also have had a water softner for over 30 years that has a single tank and regenerates at night when little or know water is being drawn and this has always been the most effective type to use. Having had this does not make me an expert either in your eyes but I do have then I suppose neither does my Qualified technical back ground and experience in engineering, plumbing and electrical. The points being made are born out of experience of the product which in most cases is far more valuable than those made by some sales person that has only the biased input from the manufacturer of a particular product.

All softners are fairly easy to install if you have any technical ability, the hardest part is getting the plumbing & electrics to the location you want it fitted. Unless you seriously need any of the specific extra extras or facilities that raise the price and make extra profit for the manufacturer, which I very much doubt, I would suggest the basic model is all you need and there is less to go wrong. This is what moonraker was trying to tell you to save you money and unnecessary trouble and all you do is shoot the messenger.

If you don't want to save money I suggest you just go your own way, buy what the salesman suggests and not waste your time on this forum. You may find you will need that time to resolve the issues you have once the device is installed.

David_Aston

What page is Moonrackers post on?

Doc_N

David_Aston wrote: »

What page is Moonrackers post on?

Amongst the very first pages - around 10 years ago!

madeinireland_2

Hi - this is my first post to this thread but I have read through quite a few of the pages.

In summary I am going for a Tapsorks water softener but I have a couple of questions around it relating to how I connect to the main kitchen tap. I am having a new kitchen fitted and am in the process of selecting appliances sinks taps etc.

My questions...

1. I am likely to select a single level mixer tap with a pull out spray attachment. I have looked for a 3 way tap with a pull out but these are really expensive. Am I ok to connect the direct hard water supply to the cold water input to this tap and softened water to the hot water input so that we can have full unsoftened on cold and a mix when in any other position?

2. Are there any downsides to this?

3. I presume I could just connect to the cold water input an in line filter at a later stage if I need the "Brita" filtered water experience

4. If I did all this and it's Ok then why do people go for a separate tap and an extra hole in their granite worktop so? I presume there must be some advantage?

Thanks...