Looking at the Rheem from home depot or the A.O. System from lowes. Looking to help get rid of the scaling from washing the dishes and the build up on the water dispenser from the fridge. I searched on the forum here and really didn't get any answers.

Anyone have any info on these?

This is on the list for 2023 for my home improvement checklist and seeing if I should do it or not.

BobVilla:
Whirlpool WHES40E 40,000 Grain Water Softener.

Culligan Water Softeners
I like the service since I quit DIY this long ago

BuyersGuide
EVO Whole House Water Filter and Salt-Free Softener Combo MODEL NUMBER: E-3000

Consumerratingsguide + Mrwatergeek
Aquasana Whole House Well Water +
https://rb.gy/nf2lnf

Consumer Reports
Nothing found except filters

FWIW, I just installed the Rheem 42,000 grain unit. I also installed an iSpring sediment filter and an iSpring whole home filter. Overall, install was pretty easy, aside from figuring out a layout that worked with the whole home filter. Pretty immediate, positive, results. Haven't had it long enough to speak to it's longevity, but I'll answer whatever questions I can.

BenTheGoodAg said:

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FWIW, I just installed the Rheem 42,000 grain unit. I also installed an iSpring sediment filter and an iSpring whole home filter. Overall, install was pretty easy, aside from figuring out a layout that worked with the whole home filter. Pretty immediate, positive, results. Haven't had it long enough to speak to it's longevity, but I'll answer whatever questions I can.

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I'm looking at that exact one. The $600 one that had remote water shutoff. Do you know if you can turn off the automatic regen? I don't have a drain in my garage so I was just going to run a hose out to the street when I wanted to regen it.

If you're talking about this $600 unit, the shutoff valve wasn't included - looks like they list it as "optional" on the HD listing.

I don't think there's a way to turn-off the automatic regen. I flipped through the manual and the settings, and it looks like you can: 1 - set the time of day it regens, 2 - have it regen in the next cycle at that set time, or 3 - regen immediately.

I have a fleck softener and Ao sediment filter. The line between the sediment filter and softener has some orange in it. I'm guessing I need to add an iron filter.

Welp, I might have to go with the other one due to that.

htownag10 said:

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BenTheGoodAg said:

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FWIW, I just installed the Rheem 42,000 grain unit. I also installed an iSpring sediment filter and an iSpring whole home filter. Overall, install was pretty easy, aside from figuring out a layout that worked with the whole home filter. Pretty immediate, positive, results. Haven't had it long enough to speak to it's longevity, but I'll answer whatever questions I can.

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I'm looking at that exact one. The $600 one that had remote water shutoff. Do you know if you can turn off the automatic regen? I don't have a drain in my garage so I was just going to run a hose out to the street when I wanted to regen it.

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I have a different softener but I ran PVC from the softener through the wall into the laundry room drain, with an air gap adapter to share with the washing machine drain hose. Just a thought.

I wish I could do that but the dining room separates the laundry room and the garage. Not the greatest layout when they built this house.

As I recall, there's no difference between the AO and Rheem. The guts are essentially the same.

Home Depot previously carried Whirlpool but it's now Rheem. Those units are identical except the exterior housing. I had a Whirlpool until it failed in early-November. T&P when that happens because it's a giant mess. I replaced it with the Rheem because the connections matched my plumbing (since it's identical to the Whirlpool).

I've owned 4 (I think) Whirlpool/Rheem units. Only one failed catastrophically. The others died in a more subdued manner. Anticipate having to replace them about every 4-5 years.

I think the real question with a retrofit is whether you want to simply plumb it to the hot water loop (easy) or also to the cold water. If the latter, you'll use more salt, reduce the overall lifespan of the unit due to the # of regen cycles you'll run, and increase the install costs...but benefit from a better experience.

What does catastrophically mean?

Asking for a friend…

I apologize if this is a bit elementary and you understand how a softener works...

With the AO and Rheem units, there's a cylinder inside (it looks like a scuba tank) that contains billions of tiny polymer beads...about the size of really coarse sand. The supply side water flows through this tank, over the beads, and the minerals attach to the beads "softening" the water.

When the seal to this cylinder fails, all those beads - billions of them - get flushed into your home's plumbing. You then get to spend a day flushing every line in your house. Every toilet valve gets to be rebuilt or replaced. Every sink, tub, and shower line gets to be flushed until all those little beads get removed from your lines.

If you cross enough fingers, your washing machine and dishwasher won't fill up with them. If they did, that would suck.

That's a "catastrophic failure".

ETA: A more subdued failure is when the board dies or one of the tiny valves, diaphragms, etc. fails inside and it's a PITA to find, order, and replace it. The unit just stops softening and it becomes a giant paperweight.

Got it, thanks. I'm tracking with you, but great explanation. I think a whole house filter would prevent the beads from spreading to the house - just a thought, if you can swing it.

Not what I had in mind - thinking more of a leak issue.

I was going to start a new thread but decided to piggyback on this one. We are looking at a whole house water softener. Our water is awful and seems to be getting worse. We had Ecowater out to our house and got an estimate from them. Seems high but we have a large house with 4 people. I guess we need to get more estimates. Any suggestions on companies to look into or do we try to go through HD or Lowes?

Yes, I would do a softener. No, I would not cheap out on it.

If you are into DIY or want to pay for install, you can call Aquapure. I think a few ags work there or can hook you up. I had them get a twin tank setup for me, a sediment filter, and UV filtration system for about 4k. Does not include install, which I wanted to handle myself. It has digital Clack valves on everything. The sediment filter is a media/backflush style so no maintenance on it either.

I cannot speak to box store brands, but considering they have a triple digit price tag, I cannot imagine them being a quality item that is going to last for more than 7 years.