I wholeheartedly recommend installing a decent water softener, such as a kinetico Compact. They are expensive upfront but they will last a lifetime. If you take my father's as an example his is 25 years old and still going strong, so if you took the £1000 purchase and installation cost over that time it's £40 a year (+ salt). Ours takes about 10 bags of block salt over six months with frequent use.
Here are some advantages:
- Our washing machine and dish washer are bright stainless steel after over eight years. You'll not have to call out an engineer for a scaled up problem.
- Our central heating boiler got quieter and quieter and more efficient as it de-scaled the tank and pipe work.
- Our sensitive and delicate dry skin cleared up within a week and has been great since (we can always tell when we're on holiday in a hard water area).
- Less detergent required in washing machine, washing up etc.
- Bathroom stays cleaner, no limescale build up.
I personally think it's a complete no brainer, even if you have to scrimp and save to install one, you won't regret it.
I'm not affiliated to any water softener firms or anything like that, I just think our Kinetico has been brilliant.
