Water softener drain question

You are working under a misunderstanding. You have sold 0 Clack valves and I have sold 1000+/- in 48 months and I have had 22 problems. I sold Fleck for 18 years as a local dealer and must say that I had many more than 22 problems/thousand valves in 4 years.

The only tool the Clack needs is a pair of channel lock type pliers, unlike the 2 model specific special Fleck tools the 2510 and other Fleck valves require. BTW, if you were going to Orlando for Fleck's thing there this week, they give you one of their three special tools; I guess you get your choice of one of the 2 model specific and the one that is used for all of them.

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I did the math and if I were to buy a similar sized unit from "big box store brand A" and pay a plumber to come in the difference was about $200 saved. I probably could rent a tool to crimp the Pex hoses onto the fittings and truly install it myself (have never tried, my previous experience was with copper) and save ~$700. I don't know, it erks me a little to pay $700 for something as simple as a water softener install but when I figure in my time to install, the potential grief and aggravation of the install (have some little leak or worse yet, crack something plastic) and the 3 year vs 1 year warranty it seemed like the way to go.

I'm not as hung up on which brand to buy, it's a Ford/Chevy argument. You'll always have someone saying their brand is better and the reality is you can get a lemon from any one of them.

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Gary Slusser wrote:

... You have sold 0 Clack valves ...

Just so there is no misunderstanding: I made a business decision not to sell Clack to my clients.

The only thing preventing me from selling Clack is my strong desire to provide my clients with what is best for them.

Have a great day, I think I'm going to go play golf Cool

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qwik1320 wrote:

I did the math and if I were to buy a similar sized unit from "big box store brand A" and pay a plumber to come in the difference was about $200 saved. I probably could rent a tool to crimp the Pex hoses onto the fittings and truly install it myself (have never tried, my previous experience was with copper) and save ~$700. I don't know, it erks me a little to pay $700 for something as simple as a water softener install but when I figure in my time to install, the potential grief and aggravation of the install (have some little leak or worse yet, crack something plastic) and the 3 year vs 1 year warranty it seemed like the way to go.

I'm not as hung up on which brand to buy, it's a Ford/Chevy argument. You'll always have someone saying their brand is better and the reality is you can get a lemon from any one of them.

If you have PEX, you do not have to use crimp fittings.

You can not get the same size big box store brand, the largest they make is 1.2 cuft units, nothing larger will fit the cabinets.

The plumbing is as simple as it can get and it can not be screwed up and next to no one, regardless of their plumbing ability has leaks or breaks fittings. And if you've done copper, plastic is a lot easier. That's based on over a 1000 DIYer sales and 20 years of installing this stuff myself. My record is 72 year old 4'10" twin spinster sisters in FL. It took them 3.5-4 hours to assemble and install their softener and they had never done any plumbing previously.

A lemon softener... not going to happen. They have a control valve, by pass valve, resin, resin tank and salt tank. How do you see a "lemon"? The valves have a 5 yr warranty, the tank 10 years and resin 1 but those things are rarely going to be bad but if something is 'bad', it is replaced free of charge except for you shipping the bad part back if needed, or you replace a free part in 10 minutes to an hour. And most people will willingly find that amount of time to save $700 or a couple thousand, instead of spending $3000 for a glorified Kenmore, GE, Whirlpool or mortonsalt.com water softener!

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Gary Slusser wrote:

And most people will willingly find that amount of time...

No, it's really just a tiny % of homeowners that choose to take on the installation, maintenance and servicing of their own H2O systems.

The vast majority of homeowners demand full service.

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H2O_MAN wrote:

Just so there is no misunderstanding: I made a business decision not to sell Clack to my clients.

The only thing preventing me from selling Clack is my strong desire to provide my clients with what is best for them.

I've made the business decision to offer my prospective customers all three industry leading manufacturers' control valves; Autotrol, Clack and Fleck, instead of making the decision for them as you have.

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Gary Slusser wrote:

H2O_MAN wrote:
Just so there is no misunderstanding: I made a business decision not to sell Clack to my clients.

The only thing preventing me from selling Clack is my strong desire to provide my clients with what is best for them.

I've made the business decision to offer my prospective customers all three industry leading manufacturers' control valves; Autotrol, Clack and Fleck, instead of making the decision for them as you have.

You made the business decision not to offer your clients installation, service or maintenance.
You drop ship equipment that you don't inspect to the clients location and move on.

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H2O_MAN wrote:

You made the business decision not to offer your clients installation, service or maintenance.
You drop ship equipment that you don't inspect to the clients location and move on.

Yes I forgot, that's another business decision I made to offer my customers another choice but...

You are being hypocritical when you do the same when you sell your "Fleck SE" (2510) to replace a Rainsoft or other brand control valve to a DIY customer.

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Gary Slusser wrote:

H2O_MAN wrote:
You made the business decision not to offer your clients installation, service or maintenance.
You drop ship equipment that you don't inspect to the clients location and move on.

Yes I forgot, that's another business decision I made to offer my customers another choice but...

You are being hypocritical when you do the same when you sell your "Fleck SE" (2510) to replace a Rainsoft or other brand control valve to a DIY customer.

You don't offer your clients any choices when it comes to installation, maintenance and service - they are on their own.
I guess that's ok because they will call a local independent H2O specialist for help.

I made a business decision many months ago to stop drop shipping upgrade valves and complete systems to anyone.
I will continue to refurbish brass RainSoft valves while supplies last if the client ships the valve to me.

I now recommend that everyone support their local independent H2O specialist or their local ECOwater dealer.
This is much better for the client and the local economy.

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LOL, I'd guess you learned you don't have what it takes for online sales but strange, you don't say so on your web site.

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If it was going to cost me $3000 to have a system installed I'd definitely do it myself, my installed price is about half that amount. Maybe I should quit my job and go into the water treatment business!

As luck would have it I caught a show on HGTV the other night and they were showing Pex...it does look easy. Oh well, the die is cast and I'm getting the system installed.

And since the Ecowater system is a "glorified Kenmore" as you say I may be able to purchase Kenmore replacement parts when/if needed to do the repairs myself after the warranties run out. :wink:

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qwik1320 wrote:

And since the Ecowater system is a "glorified Kenmore" as you say I may be able to purchase Kenmore replacement parts when/if needed to do the repairs myself after the warranties run out. :wink:

Yep

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Gary Slusser wrote:

LOL, I'd guess you learned you don't have what it takes for online sales

I know this is foreign territory for you, but I operate under a basic code of ethics and I service what I sell.

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Water softener drain question

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