Hi jerseygirl66,

Googling "Hydrotech" it seems that they offer generic, industry standard softeners which is just fne but nothing that a local water treatment pro can't do.

Here's what I suggest...

First, get a complete water test from an independent lab. This is a MUST DO because without it everything is a guess. A quickie water test from Sears or a water softener company won't be complete. They only test for the "profitable" stuff.

Second, hit the Yellow Pages and call at least three local water treatment pros. Make sure you call at least one of the big dogs like Kinetico or Culligan and at least a couple independent pros. DON'T TELL THEM YOU HAD YOUR WATER TESTED.

Give each an opportunity to offer suggestions and provide you with a quote to meet your water treatment needs. IGNORE ANY THAT DON'T TEST YOUR WATER THEMSELVES as they can't speak intelligently to water treatment without knowing what needs to be treated.

Ask lots of questions. Warranty, parts & labor, how long? Install, permits required, licensed plumber? Routine maintenance and costs? Do they stock parts? Response time for emergency (water leak) calls? If they don't explain things to your satisfaction that is a good indicator of how you'll be treated after the sale.

After they've gone use your water test to compare with their's. Are all your treatment needs being addressed?

Ask your neighbors if they have any water treatment experience. They might tell you who's good or who to avoid.

Come back here and post the specific recommendations and hardware with the costs and we'll give you our opinions.

If you're a DIYer then you have other options and here's a good place to start ...
http://ohiopurewaterco.com/shop/customer/home.php?cat=179

But remember, when you do it yourself there's no one else to blame

The negatives regarding the pre-built softeners are ...

Lower quality materials, mostly ABS which ages and becomes brittle. ABS does not do well with really hard water. On 3 gr hardness city water most any softener will give a decent service life BUT harder water than that seperates the pre-built box store softeners from the quality ones.

While all ion exchange water softeners use resin and "tanks" there's a big difference in the resin and resin "tanks". Again, the pre-built softeners do not use the top quality resin from companies like Purolite or Ionac and the materials their resin "tanks" are made of are not the same quality as the Structural brand (10 year warranty) resin tanks the top quality softeners come with.

Most of the parts are proprietary and only available from limited sources and they tend to be expensive.

The pre-built softeners are "cabinet" (all-in-one) designs and are much harder to work on. The cabinet design puts the resin tank inside the brine tank. The routine cleaning of the brine tank is more difficult and takes a lot more time than a conventional design softener but the Sears type does take less floor space (the ONLY advantage in it's design).

The greatest falsehhood is that pre-built BOX store softeners are less expensive than the industry standard softeners.

The Sears softeners around 40000 hardness capacity generally run a little under $500. For $466 you can have a Fleck 5600SE electronic on demand metered softener delivered to your home including shipping. You'll need to assemble it (takes less than 30 minutes) and install it. You can have a plumber assemble it and install it (you'd need a plumber to install the Sears softener also or DIY).

You'll get a control valve that has proved it's reliability over 20+ years, is made of state of the art materials (Noryl) which does not turn brittle and is totally inert. You'll get a 5 year warranty on the control valve and ten year warranty on the resin tank. You can buy parts for the Fleck control valve locally or all over the internet. Complete parts and service/repair manuals are available for download and there is always someone everywhere who can service Fleck control valves as they are the long established industry standard AND they are as easy OR easier to program than the pre-built softeners. They tolerate the hardest water with no problem.

Real softeners generally last 20+ years EVEN on ludicrously hard water while the service life on a pre-built softener seems to be under 5 years (if you're lucky) on really hard water and lasting longer than that is a rare exception.

Sears, GE, Waterboss, North Star and the like are the most commonly complained about water softeners on this forum and all over the internet. Fleck based water softeners just work and work and work and work and work ...

Why buy a lesser quality water softener for more money?

A local water treatment guy gave us a price of $1350 for a 1" metered unit plus $350 installation, including running a drain line across the basement and installing a trap. His supplier for the units is Hydrotech. 5 yr warranty on valve, 10 yrs on tank.

Hardness is 16 GPG, TDS 580, pH 7.8, iron 0. Admittedly, these are his tests. We have municipal well water and get mineral deposits on everything. We're family of 4 2 adults, 2 kids, 2.5 baths.

This guy is recommended by people we know, not just out of the phone book. Culligan estimated about $2k to a neighbor to replace the softener they have.

Cathy

Cathy,

Providing this company has sized the softener correctly for your needs their quote sounds in the ballpark.

Do you know the size of the softener they recommend? Usually they state size in hardness capacity like 32k or 48k or they state the resin volume like 1.5 cu ft

It would be good to know what control valve they are using on that softener also.

You also want to make sure that the softener will be softening ALL the water in the house and not just the hot side.

You still might want to get a couple more quotes for peace of mind. Now's the time to consider options.

Thanks, I'll ask those questions. They are softening all the water in the house.

I'm also wondering whether to get a RO system for the kitchen sink. Our water is drinkable but not great. The plumber who never sent the estimate said not to get an RO bc the taste is just chlorine and if I left a pitcher on the fridge overnite the chlorine would dissipate and the water would taste fine. I've read on this forum, that using an RO on soft water results in great tasting water. I suppose I could also get a Brita. Any thoughts on the RO? He's pricing it at $375 installed for free with the softener. It's a 4 stage RO. Watts zero waste RO @ costco is $289, but then I would have to install it.

Thanks,
Cathy

Many people are very happy drinking softened water. Many people prefer drinking bottled water. Which are you?

A Brita is only a filter, not an RO.

With water as hard as yours an RO is very common for cooking, drinking, and the icemaker. The RO pretty much removes everything from the water except the "H" and the "O". Good RO's have a 90%+ rejection rate.

The RO at Costco is a good unit but if you've found a local water treatment pro that you trust for the softener then I'd recommend buying the RO from them. If there is any problem you only have one place to call. Besides, as you said, you'd have to install the Costco RO anyway.

Does the RO take out chlorine? I'm told by both water guys that that is what makes the water taste bad, or not like bottled water.

Water is H2O... that is hydrogen and oxygen

A properly working RO removes 90%+ of everything except the H and the O. So, there's no Cl (chlorine) left.

Simply put, when you get bottled water from the machine at the supermarket, there's a commercial RO in there. An RO under your kitchen sink will give you the same water.

OK, for my kitchen sink its its $375 for an RO or $150ish for a carbon filter or do nothing. I really just want my water to taste better, and I think that means removing the chlorine. This is for the softened water.

I don't know what to do. Is the $200 difference for the RO worth it? Should I do nothing and just drink the softened water and see what it tastes like? Should I just get the carbon filter?

I'm so confused.

Cathy

I would recommend an RO. At the price range you mentioned, you are considering a rather low priced model but still would produce water of a higher quality than a carbon filter. Your RO should have a carbon filter in it so it will eliminate taste and odor issues as well.

Try to get it hooked to your fridge as well for the ice maker.

You might also consider a whole house filter before the softener to remove chlorine as it will damage the resins an possibly some o-rings in the softener.

Andy Christensen

Hi Cathy,

A carbon filter will remove chlorine. An RO will remove chlorine and other stuff in the water. With an RO you'll be drinking the equivalent of bottled water. With water hardness of 16gpg I'd definately opt for the RO.