Box Store Softeners vs. Softeners from a Water Company
- When you buy a pre-built box store softener from Lowes, Home Depot, or the like. You may or may not get assistance from an employee who has very little or no knowledge on how to correctly select the appropriate size and grain capacity of a water softener. In addition you need to know how hard your water is before you buy any softener. The pre-build box store softeners also have shorter lives, parts are usually cheap and often come broken and they are hard to work on. Warranty service is not reliable and never timely. They may do the job for city water that is low on hardness but cannot handle high hardness levels and water with other issues such as iron. Although you may think it’s the right fit for your budget, it’s usually not worth the many headaches it may cause you down the line.
- Buying from a water filtration company like Nova Water, LLC or other brand name companies may cost you a little more than the box store. However you will benefit from the quality of an industry standard filter. Quality parts, warranties worth having and well trained technicians. Water filtration companies support their products for a long time. It is very common to see posts from owners of these filters that have softeners running for 15- 20 years and they can have them rebuilt as an option. The shelf life of a box store softener is five years are best! And they cannot be rebuilt.
- Resist the urge to buy online. Buying a softener is NOT the same as buying a refrigerator or any other appliance. There are many variables that need to be considered such as water hardness, contaminants, daily water usage in gallons, just to name a few. Too often the online DIY companies recommend the wrong size or you think you are getting a better deal because they package items but did you really need all the items in the package? After you buy the softener online, now you still need to look for a professional to install it. Plumbers love to install these and charge you hefty fees, but they are not water professionals and most of the time don’t know how to program the system to your needs. Now you have a system that is not working to its fullest potential or giving you a good return for your investment.
- Avoid buying a softener from a plumber. Plumbers are great at plumbing but rarely know or care to know anything about water treatment. Can they run the proper testing to correctly size your softener? Will they set up your softener to your water needs and the needs of your household? Plumbers often just sell whatever the plumbing supply store sells and there is no science to it. If you are going to invest in a softener do you really want “whatever softener is at the plumbing store”?
- Local Independent Water Treatment Professionals like Nova Water, LLC offer industry standard softeners assembled from quality components like Clack control valves and structural resin tanks. They have no allegiance to any brand and offer a lot of softener for the money. They service what they sell.