We’ve had a Sears Kenmore for the last 16 years that has worked well. However, it has finally decided to give up the ghost so to speak. Our Kenmore used salt pellets which was a pain as we had to take the bags downstairs. Mrs. BB61 is wondering about the salt less softeners so as we get older we aren’t carrying bags of salt downstairs. As I have no experience with them, I thought I would turn to the SIGforum braintrust for suggestions. For reference, we have extremely hard water. Also, if salt less softeners aren’t the best option or pricey, I’d appreciate suggestions for a quality softener that uses salt. As an FYI, there are no Sears where we live so a replacement Kenmore isn’t really an option if we go the salt route.
Thanks!

I just replaced my water softener in April after 14 good years of service.

Purchased a Hague system - about 2K installed.

I looked at the salt-less systems and the performance just wasn't there - a lot of smoke and mirrors. These systems are not actually softening the water - they are only "conditioning" the water. Look up the difference and you will understand what I am talking about.

My new system only uses one bag of salt pellets monthly - and that is for a family of 5. Very efficient.

Best of luck.

I recently had a problem with our water softener. We were experiencing a loss of water pressure unless we bypassed the system.
After doing some research, I decided to try fixing it myself.
I replaced the resin, top and bottom collector screens and the brine injector.
Total cost was under $250.
Much cheaper than a new unit or call into a company to do the service.

I used softenerparts.com for the parts and materials.
They appear to have sears water softener parts. It might be worth looking into.
https://www.softenerparts.com/...er_Whirlpool_s/1.htm

No affiliation with the company other than being a customer.

I replaced a Culligan that never worked right with a GE from Home Depot about 10 years ago, and it has worked just fine. My son just bought a house and replaced the junker in there with another GE. They are easy to install and seem to work well. I won’t hesitate to buy another.

I got a Rainsoft whole house filter and water softener a couple of years ago. It has been completely trouble free and made the super-hard chemical tasting city water much more pleasant.

Kinetico

The one which requires NO electricity whatsoever.
Cycles by water usage and not some timer, which doesn't factor in water consumption. So it saves money two ways, no power and less chemicals.

Had a sears that ran good for 15 years, it finally crapped out. Looked at all sorts of expensive ones, maintenance required , reliability, reviews. Decided just to go back to a sears one again since we knew how well the last one worked, and was reliable.

Water Boss is the baby brother to the Water Max, both from Hague Quality Water...
GE is the same as Polar Star, Kenmore or Sears... just different package.

Box Stores are selling units that will most likely need to be replaced in 5-7 years... or sooner as it will most likely be cheaper to replace than fix.

With the size of the house and number of people , a 1.5 cubic foot unit should be used...
There are some of us that use Fleck valves, others Clack.. both are great valves..
A digital control might be better... gallons or days could be used.

The main reason for the Fleck or Clack valve, once they are there you are going to get 15+ years of most likely trouble free service.. I can't say no trouble as some things unknown do happen... but either of those will be more trouble free than the box store ones... some may say other wise, but in my 20 Years I do more fix on box store than others.

It depends what you are trying to remove from the water. When I lived in NC we had iron, and it was removed by a filter system containing potassium permanganate beads that removed the iron. The bonus was that the discharge was not harmful to the septic( I pumped the discharge elsewhere).

A lot of people used salt water softener systems to do the same thing but harmed their septic systems With the discharge.

i would call a company and have them come out and test your water to see what is in it , then Decide.

quote:

Originally posted by Excam_Man:
Kinetico

The one which requires NO electricity whatsoever.
Cycles by water usage and not some timer, which doesn't factor in water consumption. So it saves money two ways, no power and less chemicals.

My parents got one for their house in 1988 and it's made a huge difference in the quality of their water (really hard water from a well). In 2012 they needed to have the Kinetico tech come out to replace a piece in the cycling unit that broke. Fifty dollars and they should be good for another 20+ years.

Also, their house has a septic system and have never had a problem with it and they use salt for the water softener. They have it pumped out every 4-5 years and every time it's been normal.

Kinetico is very highly thought of and used extensively by industry and drinking water systems (I do drinking water inspections for the state of TN).

Thanks everyone for the advice.