Water softener install

[jinga nation]

Old water softener died (we have terribly hard water here in west central floriduh), it was one of those all-in-one models made by a company, sold as various brands (GE, Rheem, Whirlpool, depending on the big box store one purchases from). Resin leaked into house plumbing, PITA to flush out from all fixtures and from the fridge's water lines.

Ordered a new one with separate resin and salt tanks, friend recommended, reviews are good, and he self-installed at his home. With his help, installed the new one. Assembling the unit wasn't hard. My nemesis is plumbing, but buddy is very good at layout and connections. Built my confidence from his sanity checks and advice.

Going to get WS salt today, and perform initial setup tonight, unit is currently in bypass mode with no plumbing leaks (fingers crossed).

Box store mistakenly sent me the model which comes with a whole house filter, so I'll self-install this in a couple of weekends. Not a priority, but hey, free is free, and no point keeping those parts unused.

Also have to install a reverse osmosis system in the home for drinking water. Something wife wanted for a while; got it for ~40% off with sale price and box store gift cards via employer rewards system.

[jinga nation]

Water softener working well.

Installed Reverse Osmosis 6-stage system this week, did the couple of system flushes last night and this morning, have it in operational mode. Very easy to install, manufacturer provides good documentation, and they post YouTube videos too on installation process.

Installed it with default tubing lengths. Next step is to shorten the tubing. And route thru the water leak detector that came with the system.

[zolotiyeruki]

Awesome!  We live in an area with really hard water (13.3gpg!), and installing a water softener made a huge difference.  We bought ours used for $80, and installed it myself.  Totally worth it.

[jinga nation]

@zolotiyeruki $80? That's a steal! How did you find that? Did you have to change out the resin since it was used? Or are you expecting to do that sooner than expected?

Our water hardness is 17 GPG.

Installed this water softener: https://aquasureusa.com/products/aquasure-harmony-series-whole-house-water-softening-system-48-000-grains?variant=45966860484830

And this reverse osmosis system: https://www.ispringfilter.com/ac/ro-good-taste-alkaline-mineral-bottle-water/ispring-6-stage-superb-taste-75-gpd-high-capacity-under-sink-reverse-osmosis-drinking-water-filter-system-with-alkaline-remineralization-nsf-certified

Purchased via BigBox home improvement store, for a slightly lower price (and using gift cards for partial payment), and easier if have to return.

Also BigBox store sent me a whole house pre-filter along with the water softener. It seems their online order department shipped the wrong model/ value-plus model. :-)

Going to install it soon. Was supposed to install it this past weekend, but I spent a cumulative 8 hours fixing pop-up and rotor sprinklers.

[zolotiyeruki]

I found it on one of the classified ad sites--either bookoo or craigslist. It was pre-FB marketplace. And it's still working, some 12+ years after I installed it. Haven't needed to replace the resin beads, either

[RetireOrDieTrying]

A softener was both practically and financially a brilliant choice, in my experience. Practically speaking, you cut way down on scrubbing spots off the shower glass and the water tastes more neutral. Financially, I don't get mineral deposits ruining my water heater, plumbing fixtures, pressure regulator, etc. The ongoing costs are salt (to recharge) and about every 3 months a $20 pre-filter cartridge for the particulates.

It's one of those things (like a bidet) I never really thought much about until I implemented them. If your experience is anything like mine, you'll grow to like this thingamabob very much.

[jinga nation]

I had a bidet in the master bath's toilet; we just got done renovating, so I have to reinstall it. First though, is to find longer bolts. Replaced a 1990 toilet with an elongated low flush model, the lip (if that's what it is called) is thicker on the new one.

[Chris Pascale]

Got a water softener this year and my wife was having trouble sleeping. After taking magnesium she's not having a problem.

On the plus side, the shower isn't getting stained from whatever other minerals were coming through.