Water softener owners, what was the main reasons why you purchased a softener?

Question

Please list reasons why you personally chose to buy a water softener for your home in the order of most importance to least importance. And which brand did you choose?

Some reasons to stir up your mind: features of the water softener, the benefits to your home, cheaper than hard water, skin problems, less home cleaning, extending appliances, clothes, and so on.

All comments are great.

Answer 1

I got a water softener many years ago for my rural house in upstate NY. Not only was the water hard, it had dissolved iron in it. I got a water softener from Sears and used salt pellets that had something called "Rid Rust" in it, which eliminated the iron. It worked very well, but I sold the house after about four years and no longer have that softener.

When I used it, I found the softened water to be too soft. It seemed to take forever to rinse soap, for example. Therefore, I set the system up with a valve where I could bleed a little untreated water back into the system so that the water was still soft but just a little harder. This worked well.

I also plumbed the system so that the toilet got untreated water. I could go either way on this, as hard water will leave more water stains and cause valves to fail more quickly. But I hated to flush soft water down the toilet. This may not be as big an issue with today's 1.6-gallon toilets. (They were 3.5 gallons back then.)

Answer 2

Hard water contains calcium, magnesium and other dissolved minerals. While it is safe to drink, it leaves stains on sinks, showers and toilet bowls, reduces the cleaning power of soaps and detergents, causes scale buildup in faucets and pipes, and can reduce the efficiency and shorten the lifespan of water heaters and appliances. - See more at: http://www.proconstructionguide.com/choose-a-water-softener/