Buying a New Water Softener

Many people are looking for water softeners tgo buy but have a tough time because of the price ranges and hard sales tactics used.  You can buy a water softener at a big box store for around $450.00 and then have a salesman come and sale you a water softener for $8,000.00.  Wow that is a huge price difference and are you getting your monies worth?  After all you know the old saying "You get what you pay for".  Well when it comes to water softeners it can and cannot be like that.

There are many brands and types out there and the basic homeowner may not be familiar with them and which one is the correct one.  Before you buy make sure you do some research, ask questions get some bids, this is very important because some companies sale type A water softener for this price $$$ and another company may sale the very same one for this price $$.  You will also want a water sample.  Most companies will test your water for you and then they will size the water softener accordingly.  It often times depends on how hard the water is, how many people in the home and flow rate needed.

Licensing, most water softener sales people are not licensed, they can sale the softener and have a licensed plumber install it.  Or they will install it themselves.  Even if they don't have a license they usually know what they are doing because they don't want to keep coming to your home to redo something since time is money and do overs only cost the water softener company.  You can also ask questions like; how long have they been in business because sometimes there are companies out there who want to make the sale and in a year or so they no longer exist so then you are left to find a reputable company to fix your softener and hopefully if it is a warranty item they will honor it. You may also want to ask the company what types of water softeners can they fix, the reason for this is that if they can only fix their particular brand then you may be stuck with their prices on parts and labor and if he goes out of business who is going to fix your system.  If you can find a company that can fix most types of water softeners then you have found a company that knows what they are doing and are in it for the long haul since they have that much experience.

Expensive is not always the best, for instance there is one company that sales their product for thousands of dollars and they are the only one who can do maintenance to the system so you are stuck with their high prices.  There are other systems that are sold for lots of money and are really over priced.  My recommendation is to buy either a Fleck or Clack brand water softener.  Both companies have been in the business for a very long time and it is much easier to get parts if you like to DIY.  Parts are not too expensive and there are videos on the internet that can show you exactly how to repair them.  I would also suggest going to YouTube and searching how to fix a fleck valve or clack valve or whirlpool.  Then you can see how easy or complicated it is to repair a water softener.  You can find different types of water softeners and filters here

Warranties- most water softeners come with a 10 year warranty on the tank and a 5 year warranty on the valve.  The tank should have a sticker near the base and will have the size of the tank and the date on it, the valve has nothing like that so you would want to keep your receipt.  Most tanks last far beyond 10 years and the valve do to however the internal parts may need to be replaced due to the fact that they are moving parts and will over time wear out and this will depend on what is in the water and how often the water softener or water filter back washes.

If you are a DIY you can order your water softener over the internet at which point you will probably find the Fleck valve and of those valves you will find mostly the 5600 or the 2500/2510 valves out there.  Once again do your research and watch YouTube videos on how to install them and call around to see if you can find someone to install it if you cannot.  I would recommend staying away from the Fleck 7000 series valves because most service techs have no experience with this valve, even though you may get a good deal you will pay in the end when you need it repaired..Most plumbers know how to connect them but may not know how to set them up however you can find many videos and self help sites to help you in this.  Actually it is very easy and you should not be afraid to attempt it on your own.  You can also go to http://lowcostwatersofteners.com

For more information clik here