Salt-free water conditioners vs water softeners - Recommendations for each

[three_jeeps]

I will be replacing the hot and cold water lines in my basement as well as the risers to the first floor. (the pipes have been developing a lot of pinhole leaks) I will be replacing the existng copper with new copper.
The water in my area is somewhat hard. The house originally had a ion-exchange type of water softener with needs to be replaced and I am considering a salt-free conditioner.
Any recommendations for salt-free types or mfg brands/systems? or general guidance? (upside/downside)
Conversely, any recommendations on ion-exchange products or general guidance? (upside/downside?)

I am assuming the salt-free type would be placed on the incoming water line?
Thank you!
J

 

[three_jeeps]

ummm, anyone??????

 

[sawsaw]

This system doesn’t soften water per se. You can visit their website to learn how it works. I chose that over ionizing, as that system wastes too much water. I’ve had it for about a couple years and I like it. No salt in the water and the little mineral build up cleans off easily.

 

[Mitchell-DIY-Guy]

If it's only the salt you are concerned about, you realize you can use a potassium instead of sodium salt for most water softeners.
If it's mostly drinking water you are concerned with (as opposed to general use) a small RO system works well and they do a great job.

 

[PerplexedPlumber]

I've been watching this discussion for input. Our new well has too much iron, so we use some of the "no-iron" salt along with standard salt. Culligan's drip system may provide a better solution. To reduce the feeling of slickness, we use some bypass. This is part of our softener unit, but I'm thinking about shutting that off and running a small PEX line to decrease the amount of bypass allowed, as that worked better in previous systems. The minimum setting on our softener is too high. It takes a while to get the settings adjusted on salt-based softeners, more so for this well than for others I've used. At this point, there is a surprising amount of crystalline precipitate when you boil water - not the amorphous white precipitate that forms when you boil hard water. We use a Pelican RO for drinking water, and it has been performing very well. With an RO system and hard water, the cost for changing the filters could be very high. It would be best to evaluate the costs closely if you are leaning toward a whole-house RO system. If you choose the whole-house RO system, I would be interesting in hearing your experiences.

 

[Mitchell-DIY-Guy]

My last home before this one here in NC was on a lake in Michigan. The water was well water, high in iron content. The first thing we did, more than 20 years ago, was install a chemical-free iron filter. The particular unit we installed was a MacClean, but they were sold to CUNO and I think there are both CUNO and Aqua-Pure filtration systems using the same technology. It works: not absolutely perfectly in terms of reducing iron to zero, but it does work. Here's how: iron in water is both dissolved and not dissolved. Water coming into the filter system is aerated which oxidizes the dissolved iron into undissolved rust. This is then filtered out in a media tank. The tank is automatically backwashed based on a timer.

Some people at our community then also added a softener but we did not. Our water was still hard, but most of the iron was removed. Every year we added some pH balancer to the media. So, in your situation, @PerplexedPlumber you may consider adding a chemical-free iron filter prior to the softener. If you don't mind chemicals (we were careful of what we put down the drain since it was a septic system) there are more efficient iron filters that use a Potassium Permanganate chemistry; just look up "greensand iron filters" if you don't already know about them.

What was challenging for our situation is it was a weekend/vacation home until we moved there from August 2019 until March 2020. During that time, when we were using the water constantly, the water quality improved significantly. These filters don't like to sit for months at a time; they need to be used all the time. We did have a small RO system under the sink, and I did change those filters every year (filters were cheap) and the membrane I changed twice in 20 years. If we used the place daily would have to change the membrane more frequently.

 

[three_jeeps]

Following up on my initial post. After a lot of reading and product searching/reviews, I decided to go with the Aquasana Rhino whole house system composed of pre-filter, salt-free water conditioner, rhino filter (copper-zinc and mineral stone reduce chlorine and heavy metals) and a post filter. I didn't want salt based systems of any kind. I have been satisfied with the product performance to this point (about 1.5 months of use). My self and family members noticed that the water has a different feel to it - a little 'silkier' than before. Personally, my skin feels more 'flexible' after a shower, not as dried out. Soap usage is about the same, that is, I don't see the reduction in soap that salt-based systems claim. Personally, that was not a big factor in my decision. (No salt, lead and chlorine reduction were major factors) Washed clothes feel less 'scratchy.'
Taste wise, there is an improvement - less chlorine and it tastes 'better,' hard to describe but I think it is improved.
I got the 1,000,000 gal system that is advertised to last 10 years. I really don't believe that part of it - if it last 8-9 years, I figure it will be a win.
I plan on having the water tested before and after to get quantitative evaluation so I can look at numbers. My house is in 'surburbia' serviced by the local community water authority, not a well system.
This is not an advertisement of any sort, I just wanted to provide feedback for anyone considering a water softening/conditioning system.
BTW, pricing seems to vary depending on where you look. On amazon, one day I saw it at $1200, another time at $1700 , and some places sell it for close to 2K. Go figure.

 

[997GTS]

Is it expensive to install

 

[Mitchell-DIY-Guy]

https://www.aquasana.com/whole-house-water-filters/
Looks like a 600k gallon set is about $1,500.

 

[three_jeeps]

Is it expensive to install

A registered plumber charged me ~ $200 to install, using PEX from a 3/4" copper line. As part of the original copper pipe replacement, he had already run the bypass line and shutoff valves. Basically what he did was install the line with the filters and conditioning tanks for $200. I flushed out the conditioning tanks prior to him installing them.

I purchased the unit new for $1200 which included the installation kit which is really suggest you get. It was luck that I saw the price that low. Usually it is more.