I live in East Anglia which is one of the hardest water areas in the country, I scrape the limescale off the taps daily etc. We are considering investing in a water softener but searching on the internet is like a minefield of contrasting information on which product is best and why and the running costs. Does anyone have any advice on these, do you use one, is it good or any useful info would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks in anticipation

Do you want a softener in order to have softer water throughout your house, or are you just wanting improved drinking water?
We live in Gloucestershire and our water is also hard and have had Britta fit a filter system to our kitchen tap. The new tap has three knobs, hot, cold and filtered water. The filtered water tap runs off the mains, through a filter, then to the tap. The filter needs to be changed, I think at three monthly intervals although there is a green/red light on the tap to tell you, but we do leave it a bit longer. Makes drinking water taste better and the kettle doesn't fur up so much and tea in particular tastes better too.
We also have a static caravan on the Suffolk coast and I had noticed that the water is hard. But didn't think it any worse then at home. Does it vary across Suffolk?

I live in the east of the country as well only consolation is it is hard water is better for your health even if it does make you bathroom look as if you have not cleaned for years!

Hi,
It is a water softener that fits to the mains that we are looking at. We have just had a 2yr old dishwasher clog up and stop with limescale so feel that in the long run it would be cheaper to pay out for the water softener than to keep replacing or repairing the appliances. Also we all suffer with dry itchy skin, so I think that our skin must resemble the taps !!! I am not sure about the health aspect - this is something else to think about now

BTW we are Norfolk, Norwich area

I've just had one fitted and already notice the difference. My hair actually feels clean now after washing it and not all dry and horrible. The price for the new ones was horrendous so I opted for a reconditioned one (still expensive, but not as bad) which allowed me to go for a higher spec. model. I've left the kitchen cold tap as hard water and the outside tap for watering the garden. The company I used are based in Norfolk (I'm near Dereham) - www.ukwaterservices.com - and also rent their softeners, so that may be an option for you.

I had a water softener in my last house and really noticed the difference when I moved here, so it was only a matter of time before I had one installed here.

> I live in the east of the country as well only consolation is it is hard water is better for your health

We live in Norfolk and have hard water too, although we don't have mains water (we have a borehole). Although lime scale is a pain, I don't like soft water :) We had a water softener already fitted in our last house in Essex and took it out :) I think that water softeners aren't recommended to be fitted to the cold water supply to the kitchen so you don't drink the chemicals/salt (probably doesn't apply to the Britax type as they don't use salt, I think). We run a dishwasher cleaner through the machine once every three months or so (cost about £1 from Wilkos) - this seems to prevent any problems (also the washing machine)

Thanks Pedlee, I have been on that companies website and intended contacting them after the weekend. Which model did you get, we are looking at the 2050 version as we are a big household with my annex as well, but I have no idea of the cost of this model as it isn't shown on the website - you have to call for a site visit and quote. Also saw that they have easy ways of paying. Did they give you the option of a recon one?

I have a Crown Duplex 500 which is basically the older version of the MiniMax M2. It's tiny and takes up very little cupboard space. It doesn't need electricity to run it (as many do) and apart from replacing the salt blocks pretty much looks after itself. I didn't want one like I had in my old house, which required tablets that came in 25kg bags. There are only 2 adults here, as well as 7 dogs.

He did give me the option of a recon one when he came to do the site survey, but it was strictly on a first come first serve basis and they aren't always available. I really couldn't afford the new one, so this seemed like a good option. I don't think they are necessarily the cheapest company but they are a small family firm which I liked.

Thanks again Pedlee,
We are a 5 person, 4 bedroom, 4 bathroom house and annex with an office and 5 staff during the week, so we need a biggish one ( this is as well as 6 dogs) But we will take advice from them when we arrange for the site visit. It helps to have a company that someone else has used instead of a name on a website that you never really know if they are any good. We were looking at the Kinetico 2050 as that is for large buildings, however it all depends on price. Are they reasonable on salt usage

Can't comment yet on salt usage, as I've only had it for a few days. :)

I'm sure they will advise you on the best model for your situation. I was surprised at the cost of them to be honest, as when you do a google search they seem to start at around £350. Looking further into it I found I wasn't getting quotes for much below £1500 (including installation). In the end I paid £700 for the recon softener plus installation on top.

I think it a case of you get what you pay for, I heard that anything under £499 is not worth getting although I could be wrong. But with the size we need I was expecting around £1500, but if they have a recon that would be well worth considering. Thanks very much for your input it helps a lot