Harveys water softener - anything better?
Discussion
Other half wants one - mainly to stop the showers being covered in scale (she cleans them, so fair enough)
Harveys have just quoted £1700 to put a plastic box on the wall....if thats fair and normal, no issue - but didn't want to get it fitted then discover there where far better options out there!
They spoke about how you could take it with you if you move (sounded daft as what do you leave the new owners? signs you had one and were so tight you took it with you???) so really just interested in the costs over the 10 years MAX we are in this house.
Harveys have just quoted £1700 to put a plastic box on the wall....if thats fair and normal, no issue - but didn't want to get it fitted then discover there where far better options out there!
They spoke about how you could take it with you if you move (sounded daft as what do you leave the new owners? signs you had one and were so tight you took it with you???) so really just interested in the costs over the 10 years MAX we are in this house.
depends what you need but they are overpriced. Ive just got a monarch ultra midi single tank but i tend to not use much water 3am when it regenerates this one actually meters the water unlike alot of electric ones they just do it if they need it or not so more salt used. Mine suits us 2 adults just fine i paid 420 ish +fitting
It won’t be far from the dishwasher and washing machine so running power to it it’s no big deal. However, the gap between my stopcock and where the plumbing gets complicated as it diverts off to the sink/dishwasher/washing machine it’s pretty small. Looks like I might need to have a plumber tap into that rather than DIY as I have no idea how I could fit the in and out to the water softener with a bypass in the middle in a few inches of pipe ???
I looked into one a while back as we live in a really hard water area and my wife has skin problems and I think a water softener will really help.
I was going to fit one myself but a couple of things put me off / made me re-think......
- The unit needed a gravity slope to a drain for the waste water. Both of the locations I had in mind made this difficult.
- Unless you get a twin tank there is no soft water available whilst a regen is taking place, and a regen could happen at any time as it is metered so once you have used Xm3 then it will regenerate (might be wrong on that one)
- The fitting dia was 22mm and they all used flexi hoses, reducing the diameter further. As we live in a low(ish) water pressure area, when I refurbed the house I replaced the old lead main with a 32mm incoming water main down the drive and back to the water meter which was also upgraded by water company. We have great water flow to all outlets and I didn't want to waste all that effort by restricting the flow as soon as it came into the house.
I will still get one I think when I get round to it but not a Harvey or similar (there seem to be loads that look the same marketed under different brands). I would go for a twin tank Flek system with meter / timer.
I was going to fit one myself but a couple of things put me off / made me re-think......
- The unit needed a gravity slope to a drain for the waste water. Both of the locations I had in mind made this difficult.
- Unless you get a twin tank there is no soft water available whilst a regen is taking place, and a regen could happen at any time as it is metered so once you have used Xm3 then it will regenerate (might be wrong on that one)
- The fitting dia was 22mm and they all used flexi hoses, reducing the diameter further. As we live in a low(ish) water pressure area, when I refurbed the house I replaced the old lead main with a 32mm incoming water main down the drive and back to the water meter which was also upgraded by water company. We have great water flow to all outlets and I didn't want to waste all that effort by restricting the flow as soon as it came into the house.
I will still get one I think when I get round to it but not a Harvey or similar (there seem to be loads that look the same marketed under different brands). I would go for a twin tank Flek system with meter / timer.
PurpleFox said:
I looked into one a while back as we live in a really hard water area and my wife has skin problems and I think a water softener will really help.
I was going to fit one myself but a couple of things put me off / made me re-think......
- The unit needed a gravity slope to a drain for the waste water. Both of the locations I had in mind made this difficult.
- Unless you get a twin tank there is no soft water available whilst a regen is taking place, and a regen could happen at any time as it is metered so once you have used Xm3 then it will regenerate (might be wrong on that one)
- The fitting dia was 22mm and they all used flexi hoses, reducing the diameter further. As we live in a low(ish) water pressure area, when I refurbed the house I replaced the old lead main with a 32mm incoming water main down the drive and back to the water meter which was also upgraded by water company. We have great water flow to all outlets and I didn't want to waste all that effort by restricting the flow as soon as it came into the house.
I will still get one I think when I get round to it but not a Harvey or similar (there seem to be loads that look the same marketed under different brands). I would go for a twin tank Flek system with meter / timer.
Hi, couple of points for you, all the regen waste hoses pump water out so can go up hill on problem, some can even pump 2.5m vertical..I was going to fit one myself but a couple of things put me off / made me re-think......
- The unit needed a gravity slope to a drain for the waste water. Both of the locations I had in mind made this difficult.
- Unless you get a twin tank there is no soft water available whilst a regen is taking place, and a regen could happen at any time as it is metered so once you have used Xm3 then it will regenerate (might be wrong on that one)
- The fitting dia was 22mm and they all used flexi hoses, reducing the diameter further. As we live in a low(ish) water pressure area, when I refurbed the house I replaced the old lead main with a 32mm incoming water main down the drive and back to the water meter which was also upgraded by water company. We have great water flow to all outlets and I didn't want to waste all that effort by restricting the flow as soon as it came into the house.
I will still get one I think when I get round to it but not a Harvey or similar (there seem to be loads that look the same marketed under different brands). I would go for a twin tank Flek system with meter / timer.
Your right with your twin tank and always soft water. Single cylinders usually regen at night when no water is being used, thus not gettinghard water back in the system. Yes the metered ones work out what water you use, and if there is enough capacity for the next day, or to regenerate if not..
Yes most units have 3/4” connectors, you can have 19mm hoses to run these machines.
There are units with 1” connectors for use with 28mm hard plumbing if required, there are household softeners not commercial.
It’s not the hoses that restrict the flow it’s the resin withing the softener that does.
Yes Harvey has many machines under different names, that’s marketing, it’s there way of having different dealers selling the different brands.
The 2 premium brands are Twin Tec and M2 no matter what anyone says these are the better buys. We sell the M2.
The new Ecowater is also a fantastic softener, Wi-fi enabled so can send you warnings of any problems..
All softeners are different, some are cheap some are a lot more expensive, you do get what you do pay for, it is also about running costs, some will eat you out of house and home with the salt they use and some use very little.
Hope this helps.
We've had a cheapish softener (it's an unbranded single chamber one but does have electronic flow-monitoring and consequently only regens when necessary rather than on a timer) installed for years now and it hasn't put a foot wrong. I think I paid about £400 for it plus maybe £50 for various fittings and tools so I could install it myself. It may use a bit more salt than a top-end twin-chamber one but I suspect I"ll be dead before the difference in running costs reaches the difference in purchase price!
ETA: I think this is the one we have: https://www.eastmidlandswater.com/water-softener-1...
Maybe we've been lucky but on the basis of our experience I can't see a reason to pay more.
ETA: I think this is the one we have: https://www.eastmidlandswater.com/water-softener-1...
Maybe we've been lucky but on the basis of our experience I can't see a reason to pay more.
Edited by kambites on Thursday 14th March 08:39
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