A worthwhile investment! (Water Softeners in general)

Member Name: walmslei

Product:	Water Softeners in general
Date:	21/04/04 (7497 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Protects your boiler, Makes clothes softener, No more cleaning toilets/baths!

Disadvantages: Initial Outlay (£400), Running Costs (£5/month), May require professional installation

Hard water is something which many people have, and something which most of us do not realise is a major problem. Sure we all know descaling kettles is not much fun, and many of us are used to cleaning water marks from baths and toilets, however, the effects scale can have on things like your central heating system can be quite costly indeed.

I moved into a new house about two years ago, and we soon realised that the central heating system wasn't up to much. After a while we decided to install a new boiler, and given our budget, went for a Ravenheat 84SFE (from B and Q), which is a combi-type (i.e. it heats the water on demand).

I was advised that the biggest problem for combination boilers was that their heat exchangers often scale up which causes the hot water to taps to run cooler than required - and this can eventually cause the boiler to stop working entirely (due to overheating?). As the boiler was £500 and fitting as much again - I certainly didn't fancy replacing it for some time, so decided a scale inhibitor of some sort was required.

I looked into electronic and magnetic scale inhibitors, but the performance of such devices is usually not guaranteed when heating water (surprisingly, heating water usually reverses the effects of such treatment!). I therefore decided to obtain a water softener, and because I needed to treat all water being heated, a whole of house model was opted for.

I bought a model from Pozzani, which retails at about £400. This bought me a metered softener, which means it only regenerates the resin when it is exhausted. This cuts down on the amount of salt used by the machine, and minimises the amount of water and electricity used.

Unfortunately the installation, which I attempted to carry out, was not straightforward, and I would advise anyone looking to get such a device to consult a local plumber first. Our water comes into the property in a downstairs bathroom, wh
ich is not an ideal location for a water softener since it requires power (no sockets in bathrooms!). Therefore the cold water had to be taken out of the bathroom, to what was the old airing cupboard, and back into the bathroom again, in order to feed the taps,bath and toilet. Needless to say, it was a bit beyond my expertise, and whilst I am lucky enough to know a plumber (who did the work for a few pints), it might cause some issues for some properties. Once the plumbing had been modified, the installation of the softener into the airing cupboard was a doddle, and took about an hour.

Points to consider when installing the softener are as follows. Firstly it will necessitate the cutting of copper pipework, and the fitting of some compression T pieces, to which the softener is connected. Secondly you will require a power socket. Thirdly and most importantly, you will require a waste outlet which the softener uses to pump out waste water during resin regeneration. Most of these points are easily achieved if the softener is to be fitted in a kitchen cupboard (which will be the case in most modern houses), however, if like me you live in an older property, be advised it might take some work.

By not installing in the kitchen it is also more troublesome to add an additional 'hard water' tap at your sink since you effectively have to add a new pipe from the softener to the kitchen solely for this purpose - I did cheat and use plastic microbore tubing though, and this worked out very well indeed.

Well once installed, I opened the valves and let it go to work. Initially I noticed no obvious difference, and it will take a few days for most people to truly notice the benefits. The common points such as no watermarks in baths and toilets, and the fact you use less detergent soon become apparent and you'll realise what a good investment you have made. We notice our clothes are a lot softer, and our dishwasher, whic
h is a good branded model, now works considerably better and leaves crystal clear glasses even on economical washes.

To date we have had no problems with our boiler or central heating, and the performance for domestic hot water is as good today as the day it was installed. The other benefits are all a nice bonus, and despite a bag of salt once a month, it costs virtually nothing to run. Most softeners are designed to run between 7 and 15 years, and if anything goes wrong, I believe most of the parts are easily replaced.

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