Water Softeners - What are the differences in brands?

Many water treatment units are now assembled in China. Your resins could come from India. A lot of the control heads are made in China with chinese components. The most important part of your softener or filter is the control head. It's like 50% of the cost of the unit.

Can you name a few units and control valves that are assembled and/or made in China?

big box GE's. Actually at least 70% of those you see in the big box stores. It may be a name you recognize as being "USA" but they are made in China.

And god help you if you have a proprietary head and FRP. (The reinforced fiberglass tank that holds the media). Cos now you will have to buy another lousy control head, or buy a new unit altogether.

Sorry, I was not clear. I am referring to the structural vessels that will not fit a Fleck or Clack etc. Will fit only the proprietary valves.

Get a whole house filter. Follow that by a softener.

Do you mean a disposable cartridge filter? If so, they cause more problems for a softener than not. And a 2.5" x 10" model was never meant to be on a "whole house" basis.

No, a whole house filter. I generally will install a 10X54. I cannot understand why any self respecting water professional will install a 2.5X10 cartridge type filter for a whole house application. Even a big blue I would shy away from, cos it'll nickel and dime you.

Don't listen to the guys who tell you to use rock salt. The dirt and impurities in that particular type of salt makes it more likely that your control head will clog with dirt and require a service call.

Clack and Fleck control valves don't gag on dirt, so what controls are you talking about and what blocks up on them?

Anything will gag on dirt. How many brine injectors gag?

If you have sediment in your water, you will need a sediment filter.... Not cartridges! I have seen too many woefully inadequate systems to count.

msjimmied wrote:

big box GE's. Actually at least 70% of those you see in the big box stores. It may be a name you recognize as being "USA" but they are made in China.

I take it you mean the Ecowater made GE, Kenmore, North Star, mortonsalt.com, Whirlpool and Ecowater dealers' units?

H20man, is THAT right!

it's not good business to knock your competitors.

I think almost everything GE makes/sells is made in China.

H2O_MAN wrote:

I think almost everything GE makes/sells is made in China.

But that is not true, the GE at Home Depot is made by Ecowater.

Ah, Gary!! That's a minefield for me. I represent some of the companies that make or assemble their units in China. I can even give you the manufacturer there who works for them. but that's a can of worms that I don't want to have to deal with.

The tiny little filters that Kinetico installs is a mystery to me. They are doing a disservice to the consumer. So also are the other dealers that install them. They are only adequate for point of use maybe in the under sink area. Not for the flow rate of an entire house. That's a joke.

I admire your years on this board trying to help people Gary. Give good value for people's money. Make an honest profit. Make your customers well informed consumers.

Set your standards for an optimal system that will last for years of maintenance free operation with the best possible water quality, and then give the consumer the options for a lesser degree of quality at different price points.
But do not give them the cheapest system you can give them that will perform for the time it takes to keep them satisfied, just about the time the warranty runs out.

What good does it do to mention names except it would give a competitor bullets for his points.

What I would like to do is to have an intelligent conversation about what a good water system is, and let the consumer work his thought process through it.

Perhaps we have to draw the line in the sand as to what a system should comprise of, rather than have the lowest price quote. Doubtless there is such a thing as a budget, but we would be remiss if we do not inform a consumer what the drawbacks are when we design a more inexpensive system.

Set your standards for an optimal system that will last for years of maintenance free operation with the best possible water quality, and then give the consumer the options for a lesser degree of quality at different price points. But do not give them the cheapest system you can give them that will perform for the time it takes to keep them satisfied, just about the time the warranty runs out.

Sorry I will not be able to post for the next few days, as I will have other things I will need to attend to. Take care...

Set your standards for an optimal system that will last for years of maintenance free operation with the best possible water quality,
and then give the consumer the options for a lesser degree of quality at different price points.
But do not give them the cheapest system you can give them that will perform for the time it takes to keep them satisfied, just about the time the warranty runs out.

I see some contradiction in those statements. And again, you seem to be relating lower price with cheap quality.

Also, I already do all of that except the "lesser degree of quality" part.
I guess I could do that too IF I wanted more after the sale type problems, but I don't, so I won't.

Not that I would avoid dodging bullets but I was not sure what you meant by KINETICO'S "tiny" prefilters. There might be some dealers of any product out there that use inadequate filters, perhaps in your area you have seen this. I have seen some where inadequate equipment causes problems. It depends on the service department to determine the correct equipment in all circumstances, not just prefilters.

The filters we use have a NSF certified 42 gpm flow rate so there is no worry about being tiny. Periodical maintenance is required.

You know to which brand I was referring to with the carbon mixed in with the resin...

So let's cut the "gotcha!" stance. It is getting a trifle irksome.

Let's discuss something else. What is everyone's opinion about the salt-free scale removing systems?

Shall I go on?