Water softener installation?

Question

do most people install water softeners by themselves of hire someone. around how much would installation cost? i have 5 people but we dont use TOO much water. how big does mine have to be? how many grains or whatever it is?

Answer 1

What is done is this. For example, you would take a sample of water in a clean glass jar to Sears, then they would test it on the spot and tell you the grain size based on Water Hardness and household size. That is done for Free.

On installation, Noting to it. just break into the cold line almost anywhere. There is an installation "bypass" you buy at like Sears. Install that and it hooks directly to your water softner.

You can buy a watersoftner also at Walmart, Lowes, Home Depot, Menards and a lot of other places. I think Walmart has best price.

Dont forget the salt. And dont forget if you have a high blood pressure problem, your watersoftner is a "replacement process" in that the Zeolite crystals load up with Sodium, the salt, and exchange that with the Calcium in the water passing that sodium onto the kitchen tap. That is how that works.

So in my house, i have a seperate line run right from the well to a special cold water faucet right on the kitchen sink to eleminate that sodium which is a problem for the family.

Answer 2

Most people are not qualified to install a water softener unless they have experience in plumbing. Installation cost will depend mostly where they can tie into and return the existing water supply from ie: basement or having to dig a trench to get to the water line. You will want to make sure you install a three way bypass valve so the water softener can be serviced or bypassed in case of a malfunction. The number of grains is the hardness of your water not the size of the water softner.
With five people you should be able to get by with a residential water softner, these are normally about 4 foot high and 12 inches in diamater

Answer 3

You have received some good answers regarding the size , cost, etc. of a water softener. Most people definitely do pay to have them installed but only you can decide whether to tackle the job yourself.
If you can perform some very basic plumbing like cutting a supply line and soldering some fittings together you should have no problem. Another consideration of course is the location and routing of the existing pipes in your house and the location of a suitable drain for the unit when it regenerates.. You will probably want most of the water in the house to pass through the softener but you may want certain lines to bypass the softener for outside faucets for example.

Answer 4

Home Depot Water Softener

Answer 5

This Site Might Help You.

RE:
Water softener installation?
do most people install water softeners by themselves of hire someone. around how much would installation cost? i have 5 people but we dont use TOO much water. how big does mine have to be? how many grains or whatever it is?

Answer 6

Many people, including plumbers will tell you to call Culligan or something like that. I had mine plumbed in by a plumber, he cut in to the water coming in to the house in the garage and then we ran a drain pipe. You can get a unit just about anywhere, I got one at Sams Club com. You should get a unit rating about 35-40K. Cost of install should be about 300-500 depending on access to line coming in, size of piping and ease of drain line / pipe placement.

Answer 7

The size of the water softener is not determined by how much water you use. The size determines how often it has to be recharged.

Answer 8

Have them installed.