Looking for Advice on Hard Water Treatment

[asta]

I have been looking online for information on hard water treatment but most links are attached to a product being sold so I am asking for some first hand experience. Our water is moderately hard but enough to cause a film on shower door and combine with soap to clog the drain. Our plumber is trying to sell us a Flow-Tech system to descale that does not use salt. His solution combines that with a whole house filter. The Flow-Tech uses a low frequency pulse, not magnets like other systems. Anyone have any experiences or reccomendations?

 

[The Mystery Machine]

I have been looking online for information on hard water treatment but most links are attached to a product being sold so I am asking for some first hand experience. Our water is moderately hard but enough to cause a film on shower door and combine with soap to clog the drain. Our plumber is trying to sell us a Flow-Tech system to descale that does not use salt. His solution combines that with a whole house filter. The Flow-Tech uses a low frequency pulse, not magnets like other systems. Anyone have any experiences or reccomendations?

Very interesting read on the new system. How much did he quote you?

We may be in the market for a system. At the moment a water softner will cost us a little over a grand to install the hardware, plumbing, and electricity.

 

[DopeyDame]

We have a water softner that uses salt that's connected to our whole house filter (we're on a well)
It's a bit of a PITA to fill up the salt, but other than that it works great. I can absolutely tell when we've been negligent with the salt as the water totally changes.
I'm intrigued to hear about other options though.

 

[asta]

Very interesting read on the new system. How much did he quote you?

We may be in the market for a system. At the moment a water softner will cost us a little over a grand to install the hardware, plumbing, and electricity.

This is pricey. Installed the Flow-Tech is about $2,000 and the whole house filter is $2,000. They can be done separately but I would like to do both. This quote is from Hiller Plumbing.

 

[mnrose]

We have water softeners. The one in our house is $$$ (around $1200), but honestly works no better than the $400 water boss we installed in my MIL's house. LOL. We don't go through much salt at all (less than a 40 pound bag a month, which costs about $4....so less than $50 a year). We then have an RO system hooked up under our kitchen sink. Produces phenomenal drinking water. That cost about $150 at Costco, with a $50 set of filters which lasts a year. So, for an upfront cost of less than $600 bucks, and annual costs of $100, I have wonderful water. 4 grand? No way. Completely unnecessary.

ETA: My Dh installed both the water softener and the RO system. He's what I would describe as "reasonably handy" but neither project required more than basic expertise and tools.

 

[The Mystery Machine]

Well, I went and read up on the Flow-Tech system and it sounds like it is a match for us.

Instead of removing the minerals it crystallizes them so they do not stick to your pipes.

The larger crystals will settle into your water heater anyway.

Plus, 3yr warranty on the Flow-Tech? That would send me running.

I live on a limestone bluff on a well. Probably not the system for us.

 

[JJZMgailey]

We inquired with Costco about a water treatment system and someone was out today from Ecowater Systems. The water in our house is just horrible - full of chlorine and off the charts on the hardness.

Their quote for a machine that handles the chlorine and everything else was almost $3,800!! I'm kind of dying over here!

Costco gives you the extended warranty that is normally an extra $399 for free plus you get 10% back in Costco Cash, but holy cow. Not sure what we're going to do yet, but a couple of our appliances that came with the house need replaced and I hate to ruin brand new machines with the extremely hard water.

I'm so used to Costco having such awesome deals but this was quite the shocker!

 

[bcla]

Aren't ion exchange cartridges the most common solution? A Brita filter does that on a small scale, but it has limits for really hard water. I lived in a town where most of the homes were supplied by well water, and that water was nasty. It was yellowish and aerated water would take forever for the bubbles to go away. There was a ring around the water line of toilets. Washing a car meant drying quickly to avoid spotting.

I just got back from Disneyland last week. They used softened well water in most of Anaheim. Doesn't taste very good even when softened and filtered.