Water Softener for the House
Posted June 16th, 2012 @ 07:22pm by Erik J. Barzeski
For years our dishes have been slowly getting cloudy, our shower heads have been getting deposits on them, and we haven't gotten a good lather from shampoos or soaps.
Suffice to say we're looking into a water softener.
Going rates seem to be about $2200 installed, and $15 every two months or so for salts. Does that sound about right?
We've had a Culligan guy out, and a RainSoft guy is coming soon ((I'm not letting him put on a three-hour show - he's got 30 minutes, tops.)). The Culligan guy recommended a "Gold Series" model. It seems okay.
I think what I should do next is call a plumber or two and see what they recommend.
We'll be here for awhile, so we're not considering renting.
Anyone with any experience?
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Posted 19 Jun 2012 at 8:11pm #
The installed price sounds about right--similar to what we had several years ago, though the DIY route is always cheaper. Salt sounds a bit high though, as we get salt for a year and all RO filters for around $80.
Posted 19 Jun 2012 at 8:53pm #
Thanks. I see that you can get 40 pound bags of salt for about $6, so that's about $60/year. I'll inquire about the RO filters too.
I'm still planning to call a plumber and see what they recommend. I've read both good and bad things about Culligan.
Posted 20 Jun 2012 at 11:08am #
[...] that didn't take long. True to form, once I began investigating water softeners, I spent a LOT of time researching, obsessing, and becoming as knowledgeable as I [...]
Posted 20 Jun 2012 at 12:48pm #
You can use a 50/50 vinegar water soak to clean up the dishes. It takes quite a while, but the cloudy roughness is gone. We soaked them for over an hour.
Posted 20 Jun 2012 at 6:27pm #
Yeah, I actually just use straight vinegar on a sponge and clean them up by hand. I can't go soaking all of the dishes every month or two just to get rid of the stuff (if for no other reason than I don't really have the sink space! :D).
This shouldn't be a problem at all in about a week, and from what I hear, the dishes will begin to clear up on their own with soft water.