Sears water softeners...convince me either way

You should do some research on the brand you're thinking of buying. They seem to last service free from 2-5 years. The parts are expensive for what they are. All the big box brands, Kenmore, GE, Whirlpool and the North Star at pump and plumbing supply houses and mortonsalt.com are made by Ecowater. They share many parts except for the GE motor. They are not industry standard and next to no one but the Sears service guy will work on them. The warranty is the shortest of any.

For the same amount of money or less, you could get industry standard online and install it yourself or hire a plumber to do it. I suggest you look at a correctly sized softener for your family size and SFR your house requires with a Clack WS-1 control valve.

Do your homework, but don't purchase from an online vendor.

Invest in your local community and deal with a local H2O specialist.

luckydriver,

While Sears may be the easiest solution to your problem you should be able to find a local independent water treatment professional who sells and services industry standard softeners for marginally more money than a Sears softener and their installation fee.

You'd be getting a superior piece of equipment that would last longer, be easier to service and get parts for.

Look in the Yellow Pages under water treatment and find ads that don't specify a brand name... they would be independent water treatment dealers.

It's always nice when you can deal directly with your service personnel in person. Water treatment equipment can be fickle and fine tuning and periodic maintenance may be needed.

Besides, if you do have a problem, it is reassuring that you can go to the office/store and make issues known. Regardless, if you go the BigBox brand, you are buying from a clerk that knows nothing of the product, from a store that doesn't install or service it and from a manufacturer that doesn't trust its product past one year.

""Going cheap can be very costly.""

Andy Christensen, CWS-II

so basically if im getting sears, you are saying i may as well go to the ecowater local guy right?
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ok here are some local choices for me from the yellowbook

http://www.cleanwaterpa.com/ourproducts.php
With a twin-tank system featuring the new Fleck 9100 valve, (Do you recommend that valve?). They list ecowater fleck , wellmate and ge . So do they sound independent?

Electronic or mechanical.
Your choice of the highly reliable 3200 mechanical timer or advanced SE electronic timer with easy programming and minimal parts.

kinetico
http://www.martinwater.com/documents/CurrentAd.pdf
http://www.martinwater.com/default.htm

hague

this place lists water sofeners in the book but not on their site
http://www.hydro-dynamics.com/Hydro_About_Us.asp

one warranty question...i know you said sears has 1 yr . but how long are the other 'premium' brands' warranties? Just curious what more money gets me

may as well pick your brains...does anyone know exactly what a culligan 23 is? I think the guy told me it's a Mark..something?

I tried looking on the valve body but see no marks at all. I'd pay 200 or so to buy something that would fit on top of this thing. I tried looking at some part sites but cant find a match.

oh i also have the old valve body that he removed (kept it for the fun of it) so could you identify it if i took a pic?

and even if i found a replacement, is this a DIYer job? I cannot do things like solder pipes unfortunately.

edit: interesting, only 159 to install a sears softener per the website.

luckydriver,

Does your Culligan have, on the top of the tank, one (approx. 2.5") hole where the valve is attached or two seperate in-outs about 3/4" each?

Andy Christensen, CWS-II

Hmmm i will check tonight when i get home and post back. as much as i've looked at the leak lately you would think i would remember that but didnt.

The reason I asked is that Culligan's older models had two pipes coming up from the tanks. These worked in their exchange tank systems so I think they developed a valve to fit these as well. They are galvanized tanks.

Their newer models use standard tanks and other valves may be used it the treading is right.

Andy Christensen, CWS-II

The reason I asked is that Culligan's older models had two pipes coming up from the tanks. These worked in their exchange tank systems so I think they developed a valve to fit these as well. They are galvanized tanks.

Their newer models use standard tanks and other valves may be used it the threading is right.

Andy Christensen, CWS-II

2 pipes are coming out of the tank

so this thing is pretty old eh?

Sorry for the repeat posting. There was a glich and didn't know if it went through.

Yepper, pretty old. The only way you can get the resins out is forcing them with water pressure, but that would be useless as a new tank and valve would serve you better.

Makew a great choice in your next selection. Anything I can do to help.

Andy Christensen, CWS-II

Thanks for the confirmation that culligan was probably telling me the truth they cant fix it. Though i still wanna believe that somewhere the warehouse is a new valve body waiting for me

And since i started this thread with the intent on buying sears, (in case anyone is wondering, i just went thru the process of buying a used car and honestly and not in the mood to shop for a paper clip now much less a softener), my questions would be:


http://www.sears.com/shc/s/search_10153_12605?vName=Appliances&keyword=softener&sLevel=0

how to choose which of the 4 models i need. 2 people here at home and roughly 2000-3000 gallons per month used. I am not worried about guests, parties or anything like that. We are alone 99% of the time. I know i was asked hardness of water before so is that how you know which softener you need?

the biggest price difference between sears top 2 models is 130 bucks so i wouldnt even mind just buying the bigger one. I dont understand if bigger means just more volume of water or is for different hardness. Thats my main quandry.

If sears lets me down after just a few years then so be it. Lesson learned and ill spend more time researching later.....but i may not be in this house much longer and just want a working softener 'yesterday' since it's really affecting our lives not having it.

So which sears to buy?

If you want to do it right, which I doubt after hearing you talk about a Sears after what you've already been told about them and their sisters, you need the correct size based on the SFR gpm requirement for the house, and then the correct capacity which is set by the lbs of salt used and the volume and type of resin used. It's the number of bathrooms and the type of fixtures, not how many gallons of water per month or bedrooms or square foot of space or acres etc. and it's how you use water and your peak demand flow rate in gpm.

All the big box store brands have a very bad reputation, they are the most complained about softeners on the market.

Respecting your decision I would buy at a local Sears, rather than online, and have the salesperson make the softener capacity determination.

That way, you may have recourse if it doesn't soften properly.

If you choose the softener capacity and it doesn't soften properly you'll have no recourse.

I'd check the warranty fine print very carefully regarding labor and whether on-site service calls are covered under the warranty and what their response times are... IE, hours, days, or weeks.

A Sears softener can definitely soften but it will not soften indefinitely.

on page one if you see what local links i provided i'd be happy to hear your opinions on them.

point being i'm just as clueless when it comes to independents and dont want to make a bad decision there either

If you choose to go that way, buy the Fleck.

The dealer is a local water treatment pro and their softeners are industry standard. They will service what they sell and their softener should give you a decade or so of reliable service.

so is any fleck they provide going to be OK? (ie cant go wrong with fleck)