justalurker wrote:If you are on a municipal water system the city or county water department will be able to provide you with a detailed report on your water conditions and the water treatment pros will know that info also.
If you are not on a water system then get a complete water test from an independent lab. This is a MUST DO because without it everything is a guess. A quickie water test from Sears or a water softener company won't be complete. They only test for the "profitable" stuff.
A softener is said to be needed and normally the only things in water that a softener removes is hardness, iron and manganese. So any test done by anyone for those parameters is sufficient.
Anything else would require other than a softener but... anyone on their own well water should have certain parameters tested annually and then, if needed, appropriate equipment should be obtained.
Justalurker. Please define what parameters should be included in the "complete" water test you mention.
Quote:Hit the Yellow Pages and call at least three local water treatment pros. Make sure you call at least one of the big dogs like Kinetico or Culligan (for comparison) and at least a couple independent pros. DON'T TELL THEM YOU HAD YOUR WATER TESTED.
Give each an opportunity to offer suggestions and provide you with a quote to meet your water treatment needs. (the following sentence does not apply if you're on a water system, see paragraph #1) IGNORE ANY THAT DON'T TEST YOUR WATER THEMSELVES as they can't speak intelligently to water treatment without knowing what needs to be treated.
Ask lots of questions. Warranty, parts & labor, how long? Install, permits required, licensed plumber? Routine maintenance and costs? Make sure the entire house will have softened water and not just the water heater. Do they stock parts? Response time for emergency (water leak) calls? If they don't explain things to your satisfaction that is a good indicator of how you'll be treated after the sale.
All that takes up a lot of time and effort for a DIYer and there is no benefit to them in doing it.
Plus the fact that no warranty includes free labor. All free labor claims by a dealer are based on an amount of money being added into the purchase price of the equipment to cover any future problems in like the first year after installation only. Kinda like the high priced extended warranties on appliances etc. which are a ripoff to the vast majority of consumers.
And the fact is that most consumers do not want to call a dealer for service and stand around waiting for them to show up or eventually call saying they are running two hours late or they won't be there until tomorrow between 10 AM and 2 PM etc..
Now if a person wants local service, they shouldn't be posting in DIYer forums except to check out what a local sales person has told them as to the equipment proposed.... they should be in their local yellow pages and then speaking to local sales people.
The fact is that most people want to be DIYers and self reliant rather than dependent on a local dealer, and save huge sums of money when they purchase the same or better quality equipment over the internet. And if needed, they can always spend some of the savings to call a local dealer to service what they bought over the internet and if they buy right, they can easily fix it themselves in about the same time as it takes for the local service guy to show up.
One nice thing about the Fleck 2510SE is that it rarely needs repairs...
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