Water softener advice

[twittkop]

My wife and I purchased a house in Marion, IA almost 2 months ago. Some of you may know that Marion has horrible hard water and we need to get a water softener.

I think we're either going to get a Culligan or a Kinetico water softener. My parents have had a Culligan water softener for about 20 years and haven't had too many problems with it. I don't know anybody that has had a Kinetico though, so I don't know how reliable it would be. The Kinetico is appealing because it doesn't use any electricity.

I would appreciate any advice on these water softeners that you can give.

 

[cycloneplastic]

We recently had a Culligan water softner installed and have not been disappointed. It works well and uses little salt.

 

[ISU_phoria]

My folks have a kinetico. They have the nastiest, hardest well water I've ever encountered and their kinetico does a great job for them.

I don't know what the culligan costs, but I do know that the softener my parents got was unbelievably expensive....it's the cadillac of water softeners. Maybe Kinetico has several models, so you won't have to pay what they did.

 

[cyclonekj]

I've been very happy with my Culligan for the 9 years I've had it. Yes, it was quite spendy.

 

[tbau80]

My Dad has been selling and installing water softeners for nearly 40 yrs for his ecowater systems dealership. Ive grown up with ecowater, so and there was a culigan in the townhome that i used to live in. Trying to be unbiased here, but i liked the ecowater better, although my dad tells me they are pretty similar. As for Kinetico...Kinetico is crap, dont buy kinetico.

 

[Cyclonesrule91]

We bought a Kinetico about 5 yrs ago and have been real happy with it. The big advantage to the Kinetico's IMO was the fact that the Kinetico uses no electricity to soften the water and it softens the water as you use it whereas, at least at the time we bought our Kinetico, the Culligan units used electricity and no matter how much water you used during the day, at whatever time it is programmed to cycle it does it so you are using salt even if you aren't home for a couple weeks. We had an older Culligan and I know when we went to the Kinetico, our salt consumption was cut to a 1/3 of what we were using before and the water is great. I know Kinetico is rated near the top when researching water softeners.

I would not say Kinetico is crap by any standard....

 

[SlyCy]

We have a Kenmore which was here when we bought the house. Haven't had any problems with it.

 

[ss]

i live out in the country and we purchased a kinetico water softner about 5 yrs ago...we bought a couple other kinetico products because our water is extremely rusty. long story short, our water is great now, and im very pleased with our kinetico......better than the rust watr fo sure.

 

[HILLCYD]

Where's Jon Miller when you actually WANT to know what he thinks???

 

[CloneBack]

I live in the West Des Moines area East of Valley high school and I recently replaced my water heater. We have a culligan water conditioner that is not hooked up and I was wondering if anyone else in this are recommends a water softener. The water seems to be fine without it, but I'm just curious if anyone else in this area would recommend I use it.

 

[redrocker]

Where's Jon Miller when you actually WANT to know what he thinks???

You beat me to it.:yes4lo:

 

[Cyclonesrule91]

We just built a house in Waukee and I was told by someone in the city office that Waukee and, I would assume, West Des Moines water is soft enough after treatment that you aren't going to get a whole lot of benefit using a softener. Whether that is true or a line of crap I don't know.

 

[Wesley]

What do Steve Alford and Wayne have in their houses? That is what you want.

 

[brianhos]

I would assume, West Des Moines water is soft enough after treatment that you aren't going to get a whole lot of benefit using a softener. Whether that is true or a line of crap I don't know.

Sounds about right. The water in DSM is pretty good already, and all you are going to get by softening it up even more is that slimy feeling getting out of the shower. I for one hate soft water.

 

[Wesley]

Omaha and MUD runs at 170 ppm hardness or the ragged edge to make a decision tough for us.

 

[DevilDog]

Have had a Kinetico for 3 yrs now and love it. So nice to not have to worry about it being hooked up electrical. It was pricey but well worth it.

 

[NebrClone]

I have Kinetico that was here when I bought the house. I think it is close to 30 years old. I have had it serviced twice in the 13 years I have owned the house. I asked the serviceman if there was anything better and he said just keep the one I have.

 

[twittkop]

Last night I went price shopping out to compare prices. It was funny listening to the sales guys bad mouth the other product.

The Kinetico that was recommended for my house is $2995 installed and the Culligan is $1099 installed. Considering I could buy 2 Culligan water softeners for less than one Kinetico, and my folks haven't had many problems with their Culligan in the 20+ years, I think I'm going to go with the Culligan.

If the Kinetico wasn't almost 3 times the cost of a Culligan, I would probably get the Kinetico. I like the idea of not having the water heater regenerate at 2:30am every day regardless of water usage. The Kinetico salesman claimed that they were more expensive because of the dual tank, but I don't buy it. The extra tank probably costs an extra $800, but they don't have the circuit board that Culligan has (~ $300 to replace).

I appreciate all of your input.

 

[bos]

Sort of off topic, but wasnt Ames rated best water in the state at some point?

 

[GoCy]

I bought the el-cheapo GE model from Sam's Club about 8 years ago. I think it was something like $200. It's worked fine for us, and we have really hard water in our town. I've heard some of the more expensive manufacturers sales pitch about using less salt than the others, but we only use one bag every 2 months, so I can't see spending $1,000 or $2,000 just to save $15 worth of salt every year.