How Water Softener Reviews Can Help Or Harm Your Choices
You can find a lot of useful information in water softener reviews but you should keep in mind that most of these reviews were probably not written by people who have actually installed them or used by the people reviewing them. These reviews can still be helpful, but you will want to keep a few things in mind while making your decision on which water softener to get. I relied on water softener reviews before I purchased one online and did a self-install. The review was not inaccurate, but there were a couple of things that I would have liked to know ahead of time.
Fortunately I did get a water softener that worked well and had all the features I needed. What kind of threw me, and what wasn’t covered in the water softener reviews, was the importance of things like having a bypass (even if one is included in the unit) and to think seriously about drainage of the waste water.
Since I did the installation myself I had to cut into my existing plumbing system. It was all copper so I become somewhat adept at sweating copper. Well, good enough to not cause any leaks anyway. I installed new shutoff valves to turn off water to the softener if I ever need to remove or repair it (which I never did, thankfully) but I did not put in a bypass. I realized later that a bypass is useful if want to completely isolate the water softener, and even remove it, while still maintaining water flow to the rest of the house. I never needed to do that, but it bugged me all the time because I knew I didn’t have it if I ever did need it. Ah, and about those valves, it’s best to use ball valves over gate valves. Yes, they’re more expensive, but they are very reliable and have a short throw (90 degrees) which makes them easy to use.
The unit I ended up with was a “smart” unit that had a processor built in to keep track of how much water was being used and when to regenerate. The regeneration process is noisy as the unit will flush large amounts of water through the resin bed. Also, soft water is not available to the house during the regeneration process (our unit had an internal bypass so we could still get water) so the ability to schedule what time of day the regeneration process takes place is very handy.
While you’re working on your plumbing system you want to be sure to isolate the water that goes into your house from the water that feeds your sprinkler system. There’s no point in wasting money spraying softened water onto your lawn or garden. This type of water is not good for growing things anyway.
In my case, it was pretty obvious our home needed a water softener since we were on a community well, all the neighbors had water softeners, and we were starting to see some mineral buildup in the pipes. It was a fairly new home when we moved in, but for some reason the original owners/builder did not add a water softener. Also, every local supermarket, grocery store and hardware store carried ample supplies of the salts used to refill water softeners, so that was a pretty good hint that they were used by many people in the community.
If you don’t see the obvious signs in your home but you still suspect hard water you can get your water tested. In some areas you can give some water to the local hardware store for them to test. In other cases you may want to get a kit online and send it in yourself to get the water tested.
When you look for water softener reviews you want to be sure and get reliable information. For example, some household names may not be the best units to get. For example, is a GE water softener a good choice, or are they not worth the brand name?
categories: water softener,water treatment,plumbing,home improvement,home and garden