Water Softener Recommendations?

[christoperrobinspipe]

Hello

Would love some general guidance on what I should be looking out for in the market when purchasing a water softener? I live in a 2 bed flat, with just me and my partner, and would like to think we are 'water considerate'. We've never owned a dishwasher, so benefit of the device is primarily for showering/bathing, laundry etc. We live in South East London so water is quite hard (like majority of the South East tbh!).

My budget is around £400, although am prepared to go a bit higher if the benefits warrant it. Below is what I have in mind (if you have experience with this specific model please let me know your experience - good or bad):

Mini Water Softener 5L - Meter Controlled - https://www.aquacure.co.uk/water-softeners/water-softener-compact-5-litre-meter-controlled

The only professional guidance I've received thus far is to definitely go for metered (as opposed to unmetered) and aim for a device that accepts tablets as opposed to just the ground salt, as the tablets are less expensive?

Would be great for some advice and recommendations - thanking you in advance

Cheers

 

[exedon2]

With that budget the block salt models are probably out.
We use East Midland water company they have several models that meet your budget.
Have found them decent company to deal with.

 

[christoperrobinspipe]

With that budget the block salt models are probably out.
We use East Midland water company they have several models that meet your budget.
Have found them decent company to deal with.

Thanks for the tip-off - their customer service reviews appear quite positive, which is a good sign.

You mentioned that "block salt models are probably out" , but one of the models below specifies that you can use either tablet/block/granular - and its £399. It does recommend you use tablets though:

AQ8 Compact Meter Controlled Water Softener - https://www.eastmidlandswater.com/water-softeners-aq8-compact-meter-controlled-softener/1020

Am a noob to water softeners - what's the benefits of using block/tablet/granular vs one another?

 

[exedon2]

I was mainly referring to Harveys good softeners top end price .
I've one of East Midlands own digital control softeners at home works really well (our water is described as aggressively hard) we just use tablet salt less than £10 for 25 kg

 

[Devisham]

Get a fleck or a clack digital head metered ion exchange softener. All these other brands are just rebadged versions of these and sold with a markup on top or made using some rubbish that you'll never be able to get parts or resin media for in 5 years time if needed.

Recommend phoning euraqua with regard and having a chat with them about your requirements.

Use tablet salt. it's generally more efficient due to purity levels and the risk of brine line blockage is minimal.

 

[Frelon]

There are many posts on this forum about water softeners, do a search. Remember that buying cheap is buying twice!
Think about a water softener as a long term purchase, I have had them (different makes - Permutit onwards) for 40 years. A block salt (twin cylinder) softener is a big investment that will last for years, but you will be pleased you made the decision!

 

[christoperrobinspipe]

Thanks all for the feedback so far - this is really helpful! Out of curiosity, does anyone have any knowledge or experience of the below:

Mini Water Softener 5L - Meter Controlled - https://www.aquacure.co.uk/water-softeners/water-softener-compact-5-litre-meter-controlled

 

[Stonecutter]

Hardness of water around the world is not uniform so there is no globally recommended setting for a water softener.

 

[Frelon]

Let us know how you got on. Always good to get feedback on these forums!

The advantage of twin cylinder softeners is that they regenerate when you have used a certain volume of water and the cylinder being used needs to be regenerated using brine. The system automatically then changes over to the other cylinder to maintain your supply of softened water.

With metered softeners they will regenerate after you have used the set volume of softened water. This may be in the middle of the day (or middle of the night). When doing so the softener switches to by-pass and the allows hard water into your house. This means that if you use any water during the regenertion period the soft water in your storage tank is being replaced with hard water so diluting/mixing your storage of softened water. This only applies if you have a water storage tank in your attic and/or a hot water storage cylinder. If you use a Combi boiler this dilution effect will not bother you!

Out first Permutit softener was timed and regenerated at 2 o'clock in the morning (every three days). In those days if we got home after 2:00am and flushed the toilet we had hard water in our tank which took days to work through. Nowadays we would be constantly having to check the time clock as we have had so many power cuts recently.

A twin cylinder made all that stuff go away!

 

[gpbeck]

The harder your water the more salt there is in the softened water. Can be tasted and not recommended for health. It is much easier to plumb a separate fresh supply if softener is under the kitchen sink. I just have non softened water coming from kitchen cold tap.