Water softeners

[Hookmaster]

How long is an average lifespan?

[solbes]

I'd say 15-20 years when I looked into it a couple of months ago. Ours had a continuous flow to drain issue that was resolved with a new seal kit for about $150. Our culligan was 11 years old, so it made sense to go ahead and do the repair. Works great again.

[BobT]

My first one was a rental that we used for nearly 20 years. I called for service twice due to O-ring leaks on the top of the tank but that is all. They are not install-and-forget-it equipment and do require regular maintenance. Aside from adding salt in a timely manner (running out of salt can cause issues) some maintenance may be required to keep the system clean. With my rental, about once a year I cleaned the nozzle and venturi that was responsible for pulling salt water from the tank. There was a screen in there as well that required regular cleaning. The whole process took less than 15 minutes so it wasn't a big deal.

[echotrail]

Like Solbes, our softner was 13 years old when I had a new seal kit put in 2 years ago for around $150. I was told I should get another 5 to 7 years out of it.

[bucketmouth64]

Mine was about 17 years old and started leaking where mechanism was attached to tank. The timing mechanism wasn't the best. Went ahead and bought a new water boss.

[spearchucker]

Get a no frills softener from Fleet Farm with the metered Fleck valve. They are a standard valve that any plumber can get parts for easily. They are the ones with the blue tank and are less than $500.

[schmoe147]

15-20 years, Go with one that recharges by the amount of water you use, not by days. Much more effiecent. If you are looking for something cheap I would go with a Water Boss. Good top of line softner for a fair price is northstar.

[krinkle]

Cheap no frills softeners are great for saving up front money. You may want to look at the water and salt usage of these softeners. A good quality softener will use around 35 gallons a recharge. Others use 70 or more gallons per recharge.

Question for you guys. If you purchase your owner softener from a big box store who does the water testing to see how hard the water is? This is needed to properly set up the softener.

Depending on how hard your water is running Iron out threw it every once and again is recommended. Cleaning out the venturi and screens is recommended to.

If you want to look at a good quality softener try North Star. They have some of the lowest salt and water usage in the industry. They are also locally made in the metro.

[bucketmouth64]

Question for you guys. If you purchase your owner softener from a big box store who does the water testing to see how hard the water is? This is needed to properly set up the softener.

When I bought my water boss you can bring in a water sample and they can test it. If you are replacing one make sure you get your sample from a faucet that doesn't have soft water like your outside spicket. I also called the public works for the city I live in to see what they have the water hardness rated at. Both places were practically the same in results. If you need more information about your water I would talk to local public works.

[BobT]

I rented a softener from ECO Systems for nearly 20 years and I don't recall it every using 35-70 gallons of water per cycle. If memory serves me correctly, it used about half that much. My water hardness tests at nearly 40ppm with nearly zero iron. My rental could only be set to cycle every X number of days so I cycled it three times per week and we used about 2 40# bags of salt a month.

About two years ago I decided to install a Water Boss model 51PSB. I've configured it for high efficiency mode. The big difference in salt use is that this unit will now cycle when needed rather than on a time schedule. It uses 20 gallons of water per cycle and we use only 1 40# bag of salt per month, which is half the salt we did before. I am very satisfied so far.

[krinkle]

On the Water Boss how do you know how much water is being used when it regenerates? Is there a read out for this? Water conservation is not as big a issue in mn as some other parts of the country but we lean towards using more conservative products.

[BobT]

Specifications. There are two modes of operation for the model I use.

High Capacity - cycles less often but uses more salt and water per cycle. This mode uses 32 gallons per cycle. Good to use if having company for an extended stay or maybe a larger family where water use is high.

High Efficiency - cycles more often and uses less salt and water per cycle. This mode uses 20 gallons per cycle.

[jwhjr]

I just put in a Water Boss 900 a few weeks ago to replace a 14 yr old Kenmore softener that finally went out. Install was straightforward, and it works great. We have 6 in the house, so it ends up regenerating about every 3 days or so.