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Water Softeners
My husband wants one. I don?t know much about them so I keep saying no no no.
I guess we have really hard water, but really, I don?t know what hard water and soft water means. The dishes coming out of our dishwasher have almost like a white powder on them and the water glasses upstairs get a film pretty quick ? my husband says that is hard water. My husband says that will all stop if we get a water softener ? which would lead me to believe that by dumping a bunch of salt into our water (via the water softener) we are somehow going to filter out all the minerals.
If you google water softeners they look pretty expensive. Culligan sends me coupons all the time for their rental program?$10 a month, I thought that might be a good way to try it out see if we wanted to buy one.
Anyone got any insight on the enthralling world of water softeners? All I know about them is my grandparents had one, had to continually by salt to dump into it and that there water was kind of slimy.
Re: Water Softeners
I don't know a ton about water softeners, but I'd say it would be a good idea to rent it to see if you like it. When we moved in to our house, the water softener was rented by the previous owners. It is a Culligan one so we called Culligan to decide if we wanted to continue to rent it.
We ended up buying the softener instead of renting. It was going to cost $30 a month to rent it, or we could purchase it for $800. It made sense to us to purchase it because we plan on being in the house for a long time so we would rather own it than rent it for the next 15 years. In the long run, buying it will save us money.
Since the softener was already installed in our home, it was considered a used softener. Culligan sells their used softeners for half price (original cost is $1600) and even though it is considered used, it was still only a year old.
The newer softeners are pretty efficient, so I don't think the salt maintenance will be a big deal. Culligan delivers salt 3 or 4 times a year and for our house/usage it will be 3 bags each time.
So maybe rent it for a couple months to see if you like it and if you do, purchase it at that time? Or ask if they have any used softeners available to purchase immediately?
Hmm...that is good to know.
We replaced our water softener in November. It was $417 from Home Depot including tax and delivery. Installation wasn't too bad. We did it ourselves.
Don't go with Culligan. I think it's a rip off.
We live in St. Louis Park and I could NOT live without a water softener. A bag of salt ($4 - $5 each) lasts us about 3 months.
Our clothes come out softer and cleaner, the dishes don't have the film and I don't have to scrub our toilets every three days or use the harsh chemicals to clean the bathroom.
They're totally worth it!
ETA - Just saw that PP had Culligan - if you want to try it, I guess look into their rental options if you're not completely sold on them.
H is right - that white powder and build up are the result of hard water. i would get one for sure, but if you have your doubts, then renting one first seems like a good idea. It will also make your hair softer and skin less dry using soft water.
Soft water tastes a bit different, though. But my H says the water only is softened on the hot water, so cold tap water is still "normal."
We have to fill ours about x2 a year with more salt. It's not a huge deal.
We bought a Kenmore water softener from Sears about a year ago, total cost was around $800 with installation. I have some pretty severe contact allergies to certain metals that can be contained in hard water, so it was essential to get one.
Our clothes and dishes are cleaner, and my hair and skin feel softer and cleaner as well. My allergies have been greatly reduced and that's the best thing!
Do a little research, sales come around often, you'll be able to get a decent deal without renting if you want one.
We just got one this fall. Installation was a snap since our house was already plumbed for a water softener, there just hadn't been one installed. We spent about $700, but you can get them for cheaper if you go to Home Depot.
We have frameless glass doors on showers in 2 of our bathrooms, and we've noticed a huge difference in how clean they are since getting the water softener. Before the water softener, we had to squeegee the glass after every shower in order to avoid filmy build-up, but that's not necessary anymore.
We have regular (non-softened) water going to the kitchen tap, which is pretty normal.
I think you'll really like having one, I wouldn't even bother renting unless you plan to stay in the house short term. If you're staying for awhile, buying will be a lot cheaper than renting.
Mr. Sammy Dog
The white powder build up may also be because dishwasher detergents recently started eliminating trisodium phosphate from their formulas to be environmentally friendly. Info here if you're interested. Try Lemi Shine --- we also had the white buildup problem, I thought it was our hard water, this stuff gets our dishes clean. I do about half with our detergent and half the Lemi Shine. It's a little spendy - $3.50 for a small container but it gets us by until we find something better and get a water softener. I get it at Target, don't know who else sells it.
Hard water also lowers the lifespan on your pipes and faucets, the mineral buildup can eventually erode the metal.