20 Best Tampa Bay Softener For Well Water (2023 Updated)

We were a family of five that purchased a large water softener for our family home 30 years ago to the year 2020. It was time to remove the monster from our laundry room, and put in something modern, that is just big enough for two people’s water needs.

I did my homework, and also looked for a unit that can also use potassium pellets. Since we are older now, sodium intake is important to keep an eye on. This product was super easy to install myself, and program.

It is an EPA rated smart product too! It measures the water we used all day, and only cycles enough at night to clean the tank as necessary, so it uses much less water to clean itself now. I have my own portable tester, (they are cheap these days), and I started out with over 300 ppm of hard water.

Now it is down to 95, and I am still tweaking it, to see what it can do! I love new technology!.

I picked this model water softener based upon its four-star review. This first GXSF30V lasted almost three years to the day before it failed. I am trying again based upon the reviews and trust that the first failure was a fluke.

Before it failed, the water softener did a great job reducing the hardness of our city water. You could feel the difference in the shower, and just like advertised, you use less soap, shampoo and cleaning detergents.

There was much less scale build up in the dishwasher, shower head, and on the drip tray of the refrigerator water dispenser. The water softener was a snap to install the second one because all the plumbing was in place.

Very good instructions were provided. Set up of the electronic control module is easy as well.

Great unit. Easy to install. Easy to program and get it working. I like how when you add salt you can input the salt level and then it will monitor it for you. Mine worked great until one night during the recharge something blew out below the control panel (not on the input or output piping), filled the tank and overflowed into the basement.

I just happen to be up letting the dog out and heard the water running. I shut it off. Not too big of a mess. Will contact GE to make repair under the warranty.

Softener arrived in good shape. I had a plumber hook it up two days ago so it has not regenerated yet but water seems soft. It replaced a Kenmore so hookup was pretty easy. Had to use the old Kenmore bypass valve though since new bypass would require more time and change in fittings.

Be nice if they were all the same bypass. Disappointed the screen light stays on all the time. Seems a waste but not a big deal. Also would like a warning on screen when the softener is going to auto regenerate.

Nice softener so far. Thanks Eco Pure.

My EcoPure softener replaced a Sears unit that was still functioning after 18 years in service and for all purposes identical in design. The height of the new unit however was about 3/4″ taller so I did have to shorten my copper lines by that amount.

After about a day of being in service I discovered my copper line connections to the bypass valve supplied by EcoPure was leaking. After some studying the problem I noticed the bypass valve supplied by EcoPure had one slight variation from the original Sears bypass.

The new EcoPure bypass valve did not have pockets designed into the valve body to accept the O-ring connections that were supplied with my Sears unit. I removed the EcoPure bypass and installed my old Sears valve body with the O-ring pockets and everything sealed up perfect.

This will only be a problem if you are using Sears supplied connectors supplied with their softener from years ago. The new unit has only been operational for a few weeks but so far everything is fine.

Since the EcoPure is identical to the old Sears unit that served me well for so many years, I am confident this one will do the same. Along the way I did have to deal with their customer service department and they could not have been better to work with.

They were always very helpful with prompt responses to my questions. Based on my experience with EcoPure I have to give them and this unit the highest marks. Nice to have a softener that replaced my existing Sears unit with so little effort.

Keith.

Replaced a 17 year old Kenmore unit (bad circuit board due to corrosion/moisture) with an Ecopure EP31 model. Hookup is basically a mirror copy of the Kenmore though I do like the EcoPure control panel much better.

I was able to program in less than five minutes after reading the manual. The bypass valve can be flipped up or down depending on the direction of your water source. My only minor complaints were 1) the bypass valve connections were 1″ MNPT so you have to buy reducer fittings and 2) the connections are very close together making it a pain the the tail to apply teflon tape if you have big hands.

The EcoPure control programming allows for more options in efficient softening (less salt/less water, etc. ). The top housing has large openings in the back so you need to check weekly if you live in an area with mud daubers.

Keep them off the wires and board. I hope this unit lasts at least as long as my old unit.

I bought this through Lowes in Dec 2017 and it was installed in Jan 2018. At first it was great – worked as advertised and I would have given it a 5 star rating. I bought the required cleaner product at Lowes and followed the schedule as required.

I get all receipts and also logged the purchased on Lowes dot com. I met the warranty obligations. We live in a home with three full bathrooms but onloy 2 commodes are used regularly, the 3rd is a guest bathroom.

In commodes in the master bathrooms and in the lower level entertainment area the commodes re used on a regular basis. We started noticing a very fine dark substance on the bowl surfaces. When I opened one tanck, I found a very dark substance at the bottom of each tank.

I could take my finger and “write” in the film. I thought “where is this coming from?” I have whole house filter. I checked with the water district and they could not explain. Other neighbors did not have this problem.

Finally it dawned on me the charcoal particulate in the WHESFC Pro was the problem! I contacted Lowes/Morton/ecowater and they asked for proof that I had purchased and used the cleaner and I shared all the dated receipts, and they honored the warranty.

IT took several months to get someone in to swap out with a new one, and I was very pleased. I’ve have the new one less that a year and now have the same problem again. I am done with this prodict. I liked the concept but there is no intervention that the homeowner can do when this happens.

It is great as a softener, uses salt economically. The literature says either Sodium Chloride or Potassium Chloride. I had switched to Pottasium Chloride and programmed according to directions. When the installer came he said homeowners should not use pottassium chloride, but he would not say that the use of pottassium chloride would cause the problem.

This causes extra work for me to clean the tankes and for my wife when she cleans the toilt bowls. Terrible product. I have photos and may add them but I wanted to post my rating today.

The order process was easy and the softener was delivered in 8 days. I was concerned to see it lying flat in the FedX truck despite large letters on the box saying “do not lay flat”. But it was packed well, with plenty of padding, and my inspection found no indication of damage.

The Whirlpool WHESFC Pro is a perfect replacement for our Kenmore UltraSoft 400 which was installed by professional plumbers over a decade ago. I have zero experience with plumbing and do not have the skills to cut pipe or solder connections.

But the connections on the Whirlpool EXACTLY match those on the Kenmore. I unclipped the old machine and slid it out of the way. Replaced the O-rings with new ones provided, snapped on the new bypass valve, slid the new machine into place and attached it to the bypass valve with another set of O-rings provided.

I reused the old drain hoses using the new clamps provided and the entire install was complete in less than 20 minutes which included adding salt. The control panel was intuitive and easy to understand.

My only email to customer service was answered in just 62 minutes and to my satisfaction. I’ve tested our water and know it’s working as expected. It’s only been one week so I can’t speak to it’s longevity but as of now, I am 100% happy with this purchase – both the device and the retailer EcoPure.

We purchased this water softener for our home. My husband (very handy) did all the plumbing, hooked up the softener and went to test the lines. Barely any water was coming from our kitchen and bathroom faucet, but water was coming out of our tub faucet.

When we looked at the tub there were thousands of tiny beads running out with the water. We looked it up online and it says that there is likely a tear in the membrane. This manufacturing defect managed to clog all of our plumbing outputs and caused a lot of headache and time to go around and fix everything.

We had to buy new parts for our toilet and a new kitchen faucet because they were beyond repair. When we called the store they said they had 2 in store, but they were returns (what does that tell you).

We also had to purchase an additional clip for the fitting to go on the softener (out another $50). We are very disappointed as we thought whirlpool would have been a reputable brand to purchase. I do not recommend purchasing this product unless you want to spend countless hours cleaning up after their mess!.

Picked this up for a 10 year old home that we just bought. Every appliance/fixture had serious build up… Tapped off the main line (just downstream of exterior sprinkler line). Make sure to follow instructions as there is a sanitizing step.

Would definitely recommend getting a shark bite flexible hose connection that does 1” threaded to 3/4” pipe (push on). Cdn tire doesn’t carry it but HD does. The water has a noticeable difference now.

My water was 15gpg before hand. Much more efficient model than previous designs that ran almost every night. Don’t know if it’s due to covid but cdn tire had no Pex fittings in stock. Went to local emco to get 90’s etc….

This is long. Read or skim through it for some sage advice. Went in big financially, on this system (couple grand). We chose the salt free water conditioner, UV water purification option, and the whole house filtration system.

Plus also opted for the pre filter and post filter replacement program where they ship you filters in time to meet manufacturers replacement schedule. 1st issue, if you live in the 95125 zip code and surrounding San Jose, CA area, this system will NOT significantly reduce hard water deposits on your appliances and fixtures.

example: I have the Costco glass electric hot water kettle which I coincidentally bought brand new when we installed the Aquasana whole house system. The kettle has continually required once a week cleaning with vinegar to remove calcified hard deposits across the bottom of the kettle (heating element), and I can visibly see the deposits floating in the kettle water, after water is boiled/heated.

My system is less than two years old, I noticed the hard water build up in the glass kettle within the first two weeks of using the system. Talk about a blow to the ego. “Yes, I just wasted thousands of dollars on a system that doesn’t work”.

In my opinion, you are better off calling around to local plumbers and getting recommendations for water softeners known to work in your region. 2nd issue with the system is that I noticed a gradual reduction is household water pressure, especially when more than one water source is utilized.

Or, when toilets are flushed and then you go to use the sink to wash your hands; you get a very noticeable drop in water volume from the sink fixture. I initially dismissed it out of hubris, but it is undeniable now and can’t be ignored.

What is causing the calcium and the gradual water pressure drop? Apparently, in the case of mineral deposits, the salt-free system/product technology has the capability to reduce the size of the mineral deposits so that they cannot bond to one another and it flows through the pipes in microscopic form, but when you reheat the water like, say in a 50-gallon water heater, tankless water heater, dishwasher, or electric water kettle (insert your own appliance here) the deposits reform and can become hard deposits.

(exactly what was the point in selling me this product when I stated to the sales guy that one of my specific goals was to prevent reduced product life caused by hard water deposit damage to my high-dollar appliances?) I don’t have the energy to discuss the water pressure issue with customer support to find out that “this is normal operation”, as I was told the calcium build up is.

So, the big question. What prompted me to buy this product? What tipped the scale in their favor? well, not having my own personal experience with this or any softner/filtration system, I went with Aquasana because I noticed that a prominent home builder in our area installed the same system I bought in some teardown/rebuilds in my neighborhood.

Then I talked to one of the home owners, and he said he was pretty happy with it (found out later –too late, later– that his wife is NOT happy with it. ), after talking to him I called and spoke with the company’s sales advisors and explained my goals: reduce calcium deposits and eliminate metals and chlorine from my drinking and bathing water.

The sales dept was upfront about the fact that this system (or any system for that matter), cannot guarantee 0% hard water, but they did promise to deliver a significant reduction in minerals from the municipality provided water to my household faucets, and removal of metals and chlorine after Aquasana treatment.

I have no clue what that math turned out to be, and it doesn’t matter since the proof of hard water is visible in the water. Bottom line, don’t make the same mistake I did. The next system I will install comes with high recommendations from plumbers and customers who live in the region where I live.

Do your due diligence and don’t just go with what the contractors are putting in. Often times, they are motivated more by keeping their costs low than by system performance. Ask to talk to the local plumber’s resident expert on home water treatment systems.

If the plumber you contact doesn’t have a resident expert, call the next plumber on your list. Hope this is helpful for folks living in my region to make an informed decision.

When purchasing a system Aquasana needs to do a better job of explaining how water conditioners work (versus water softeners). We live in Clearwater, FL, which is an extremely hard water area. We purchased a water conditioner in April 2021.

Within weeks there was noticeable scaling and mineral build-up on all surfaces. Water spotting on glasses and dishware as well as the shower glass doors. Sinks, tubs, and toilets were showing signs of scaling and extreme water spotting.

We contacted customer service and the representative advised us that we needed to use special cleaners designed to remove this type of build-up, which we did. Ultimately having a water conditioner ended up costing us much more in time, cleaning product, and unsightly appearance.

In short, it was a pain having to deal with the result of conditioned water. The problem got much worse and after 6 months we removed this system and went back to a water softening system. I contacted Aquasana and told them of my experience, they apologized but said I had gone past the 90 return period there was nothing they could do.

Technically Aquasana is correct, but it’s not right. I’m posting this to issue a warning. While their system may condition water, what comes out leaves all surfaces stained with water spots and scale build-up.

If you live in an area of extremely hard water, I recommend avoiding the Aquasana Water conditioner, because it doesn’t work. And to Aquasana – while you are technically correct in not offering any financial refund for a system that leaves unsightly residue surfaces without extra cost and effort, you now have an extremely dissatisfied customer, and I’ll continue to post this is any relevant review site.

I had to order a dual system because, per Aquasana, our home was too big for a single well-water system and the pressure would be reduced too far. Whatever, I was excited to have super-water. When it arrived, we had our plumber on standby – which is difficult due to everyone being crazy busy.

Unfortunately, the order was wrong and we were missing parts for the dual install and Aquasana added parts that I didn’t want/need. Then they charged me more to ship the missing parts. So, now I’m annoyed.

Of course, the plumber can’t get back for weeks. Once finally installed, I was excited all over again – however – there was zero discernible change in our water quality. It still tastes like “tap water” so we’re still using a Brita filter and there is absolutely no difference in the shower experience.

No softer hair and skin or less water spots on the chrome. It’s 100% the same – with less water pressure. I have no idea if there are less cysts, bacteria or “heavy metals” that Aquasana claims to remove – but the real-world experience has actually been a negative impact on our home’s water due to the reduced flow at the taps.

Other than looking cool in the basement, I would absolutely not recommend this system and will likely be changing it out once these filters are done. Wife = not happy.

I decided to try this softener over the Fleck that I installed in my daughter?s home last year. After reviewing the literature for the Tier1, there were several features that I found interesting over what Fleck offers.

The Tier1 bypass assembly is much smaller than on the Fleck. I disliked the Fleck bypass so much that I built a bypass out of PVC on the wall behind the unit. The Tier1 bypass is more compact. The programing of the Tier1 is simplified as well.

Other than these features, the units are very similar. Some may prefer Fleck for the reason that it gives you more access to detailed programing such as reserve capacity management, control of regen cycle and a lot of other minutia.

There is also a more compact bypass that can be purchased for the Fleck. On the Tier1, you will need to attach the 1? adapters with a couple of red clips. This seems impossible to do. After talking to the vendor, they explained that you just have to press hard and they do go in.

The instructions don?t explain this very well. Programing is very simple compared to the Fleck, but you don?t have access to all the minutia available on the Fleck if that is what floats your boat. I have this softener up and running now for 5 months and it works great.

Each regen gives me about 2500 gallons of soft water that will last over a week in my household. Salt usage is very low, and I?ve only added one bag of salt since I initially installed it.

I purchased this because it seemed like a good deal compared to a comparable brand-name smart valve water softener. I installed it without any problems and it works great! It seems to be of high quality, but of course, time will tell.

Once I got the softener dialed in it has worked great. Nice to have the water set and working good again.

If you read the instructions carefully, follow them meticulously (new manual version is great), this is a straight forward easy install. The digital setup for the control head is a little bit of a learning curve, but again, the instructions are pretty clear.

You need some basic plumbing skills to install this correctly, but if you can do that, then the install is fairly easy. I downloaded the install manuals from the website ahead of time, read them thoroughly to familiarize myself with all the parts and installation.

That helped. Everything arrived by UPS in excellent condition, and some of the parts were already assembled, saving me some time and trouble. We’ve had a water softener for many years, and this unit provides great quality softened water.

The price is very fair considering the free delivery. I did have to call customer service one time about an EXTRA part they sent me, and found that service to be quick, friendly, and helpful. It’s a nice looking unit too, very clean and neat in appearance.

I’m very pleased so far. Remember, don’t rush the install or the unit setup, follow the instructions to a T, and you’ll be very happy with this unit.

This auqasure water softener is a real piece of garbage I paid over $700. And it was very hard to program I finally got it to work after trying 2 hours working with it and than after less than 3 months it stopped working and discharging water for several hours I tried every on the keyboard but no availability I finally unplugged and put the bypass valve to on so that I could have water I’ve made several phone calls but no availability only emails requesting a 100% refund including prepaid shipping back to them but they basically refused to give the prepaid shipping label only the refund return shipping is probably going to cost me $200 to 300.

Easily or more remember a gallon of water weights over 8 pounds once you buy their garbage your stuck with whether good or bad this is a very evil 😈 😈 😈 😈 😈 wicked company that only cares about money not you the customers take the money and run water softener co.

should really be their name think 3 times and look at all the reviews on line before dealing with this company carefully research this company if this was a caring company they give a 100% refund and prepaid return shipping why should I have to pay for return shipping when their poorly designed , engineered and built product failed in less than 3 months William stewart.

I have used this system for over a thousand gallons and noticed the difference after about 400 gallons. The water doesnt not leave heavy dry spots. Easy to clean faucets and shower doors. Definite difference from before with spots on glass.

Purchased from Lowes with Teflon tape, and 2 SharkBite 24-in 3/4-in Push-to-Connect connectors. Because I previously had a water softener, this installation was very quick and easy. I just cut the copper water lines, pushed on the ShareBite connectors, and was up and running in just a couple hours.

The electronic control board (controller) was not “mounted” on the softener. It was just laying loose on the top but still had the 2 wire connections holding on. This ultimately caused an issue “home not found” during the installation.

After unplugging the controller from the power and trying again, then still getting the “home not found” message, I realized the issue was because the control board sensor (I’m guessing a magnetic sensor reading the timer wheel), was not in the correct location (not even close to the white rotating timer wheel).

I could see the control board just needed to slide onto bypass valve\timer assembly so that the white timer wheel would rotate through the controller sensor protruding from the controller assembly. Viola, sliding the controller in place resolved the “home not found” issue and the rest of the installation was just “following the book”.

One item we didn’t realize was that we didn’t have to wait the entire time for the first manual regen (30 minutes). After my wife read the instructions to me again, I realized we could have continued skipping each step in the regen until we go to “brine refill”.

Not a big deal, just waited 30 minutes longer than we needed to. I’m disappointed that AO Smith didn’t include a hose clamp for the drain line and didn’t include the overfill drain hose (just include another hose the same length as the drain line), and the overfill drain hose clamp.

I know this hose and 2 clamps would add about $2 to the total cost of the unit in manufacturing, but is it really worth saving $2 in manufacturing and miss the opportunity to fully satisfy your customers (who just spent hundreds of dollars on your product)? A missed opportunity AO Smith.

Purchased this as a replacement for a softener installed by builder. We had no experience in installing previously. The owner’s manual was clear on everything except explaining that the regeneration only occurs when needed, not every night.

I assumed it would take place each night at 2:00 a. m. I checked on it for two nights, then called in to see why it didn’t regenerate each night. I learned why from a very understanding service man! Perhaps state that regeneration only happens when necessary in bold type.

The only other suggestions I would have is to include clamps for drain line and possibly short videos on installation. All in all, the installation went pretty well, and the service line was good.

Installed this unit 03/26/22. Easy install, easy setup. Do yourself a favor and install it yourself if possible. I easily saved 1000+ dollars and it legit took me less than an hour. I could notice a difference in the first day with the cold water.

The GPG in my area is high at around 18, so a softener was a must for me for preventing hard water stains in sinks, faucets, and showers. Will also tremendously help our water appliances like dish washer and washing machine.

The unit also comes with some at home test kits to find your water hardness. So far so good. I will update my review if any problems arise.

We Bought a whole house (WH) water system which includes a salt free softener. I also bought a Reverse Osmosis System (RO) for under the sink. The installation instructions for the RO system are terrible, and for the WH system very marginal And don’t buy the installation kit for the WH system, that would have been useless.

Your connection needs will be very dependent on your situation. And the price they want you to pay is probably three times what you could buy what you need at the local hardware or plumbing store. The WH system was tricky to install, but not a big deal.

However, the Reverse Osmosis instructions were a nightmare. And when I called about the RO installation, what I was told was useless or a waste of time. For example, I called to say that I could not find 5.

25% percent unscented liquid bleach to clean the RO holding tank per the Reverse Osmosis System Installation instructions. I looked in several local cities trying to find 5. 25%. I could find 4% and 6% and 7%, but couldn’t find 5 1/4%.

So when I called I was told any non scented bleach would work. Great. So, I ramp back up to finish the project and per the instructions saying to pour 1/2 tsp directly into the tank I tried to. It literally says “POUR.

” That didn’t work. The tank neck was blocked. So I called again. I actually first called the manufacturer of the RO system and was told “we don’t deal with end users. ” Shocking. When I reached SpringWell and explained the situation I was told that 1) you don’t have to use bleach to clean the tank (now you tell me? Would have been great for you to tell me the first time), and, 2) if you do use bleach you have to have a way to inject the bleach into the tank under pressure because there is a membrane in the tank neck.

So, Springwell knows this, but I guess chooses to do nothing about the documentation. It is not shocking that the branding for the company making the RO system can only be found in one place, buried on the bottom of page 13 of the Installation, Operation, and Maintenance manual: “Manufactured FOR Nelsen Corporation BY MICROFILTER Co, ltd.

“.

So in my case my GE GXSH40V was very simple to install, and worked perfectly for 2-years. Then the problems began. The motor that runs the rotor head started to get stuck. So I troubleshooted it, unplugged, reset, and it worked again.

Then, it started happening 1-2x per week where it would begin a cycle, fill the brine tank completely, then rotate and get stuck in some sort of flush mode that would run all night long. The brine tank however would stay filled the entire time the system was flushing.

It is now to the point that the rotor will not do anything but go in circles (opening/closing the valves) until I receive and ERR code. Which in my case says ERR3. Oh, and in case you’re wondering, the brine tank stayed full until I had to manually drain with a cup and bucket myself.

With GE providing little to no help when I inquired about parts and servicing plumbers, I knew if I called someone out myself, the plumber’s fee would cost more than the price of the unit did. So, I went ahead and shut the GE down (2 years later) and opted to buy a new softener from a different company.

I purchased this unit for around $500, then paid $1,500 to have it installed by a master plumber. 2 years later it gets stuck regenerating. I followed all the instructions in the owners manual and it’s still stuck.

I call three plumbers and each says to call GE Appliances and they’ll help me find a licensed repair tech. I call GE and they tell me sorry you spent $2k on this we don’t have anyone in your area who fixes these.

You can try calling a plumber and when they get there have them call our technicians they only talk to licensed plumbers. Which obviously plumbers are not in the business of appliance repair. So I’m out $2k for this purchase and now get to go buy a different unit.

Awesome customer service GE!.

We recently had this water softener installed after buying it at Home Depot. Given the complexity of our heating and plumbing system we had a plumber install this and he did a fine job and it seems to work OK.

My problem has been that I am very unsure how to actually run this and the instruction manual focuses much more on installation than on operation. This softener works very differently than one at our previous house and possibly as most of the operation is automated it isn’t clear to me what is and isn’t happening.

It isn’t clear to me if I should add more salt after the first run and the fact that the water doesn’t cover all the salt in the holding tank is totally different than my prior experience. The instructions in the manual and online don’t really seem to walk an “amateur” through the operation of this water softener.

A second problem has been when the cycle runs the water splashes all over the floor as it is such a high pressure release. I extended the drain tubing to try to shoot it further down the drain but it still splashes up.

I am going to use decking paint to paint and protect the floor and have a sheet metal pan built to catch any flooding and direct it down the drain.

For the first few years, I was very pleased with the Water Boss that I installed in my home. It worked great & did a fine job. Just after the warranty expired the piston got “stuck” in the recharge mode.

Since it is installed in our vacation home I did not realize that the unit was malfunctioning, and for about a month, it continued to run non-stop, discharging water full force straight down the drain.

Instead of my water bill being $50, it was $1500. I contacted Water Boss to discuss my plight, and I was ignored. The mechanism was not reliable to prevent “sticking”, and simple minerals in the water is enough to eventually cause the piston to stick.

My misfortune was that it stuck in the open position, ultimately costing me over $1000 in water and sewage bills. This company has no business being in business. The least they could do is to take responsibility for the garbage equipment they produce.

If you think I am the only one that has had problems,search complaintsboard dot come (it’s about the 900 model,but the same company).

Great product but hire a knowledgeable plumber! We installed our first system when we lived in New Jersey where we had a great plumber who researched the product and read the installation instructions before starting the job.

Done right the first time. Thoroughly enjoyed salt free soft water for years. When we moved to Florida, we purchased the current version which includes a carbon filter and hired a plumber who said he knew what he was doing, but clearly did not.

This system is not a “one day job” because the carbon filter needs to be filled with water and “soak” for a minimum of 48 hours before continuing with the installation. Our plumber tried to do it all in one day, so we immediately had carbon in our water and had to quickly bypass the system, flush all of our water lines and get him back to finish the installation correctly.

Ouch, but works fine now. Last week we had our third system successfully installed because we took the time to educate our plumber in advance, emphasizing to him that it can only be done as a two-step process.

If your plumber has never installed this system, take the time to download the installation instructions, familiarize yourself with the process and insist that s/he read them thoroughly before showing up on the job.

It’s an awesome system, but make sure your plumber can read and follow instructions.

I purchased this unit as part of the Black Friday promotion. The only issue with the purchase is that both online and over the phone with customer service I was unable to use my Apple Card. I missed out on quite a few rewards dollars due to this.

Regarding the unit, the instructions to soak, flush and reset the carbon media were straight forward. I performed this process in my garage and a bonus in purchasing the self install kit is that you can utilize one of the hoses opposite of the hose bib to direct the water into your utility sink (if you have one).

I had read other reviews asking for another hose bib but this is a nice work around. I allowed the PC1000 to soak for around 10 days. I mounted and assembled the system in a mechanical room that was approximately 50 feet from my water main.

Due to this fact, I hired a plumber to run copper 50 feet to the mechanical room and 50 feet back to the water main. They built a really nice bypass at the unit as well as at the main. The bypass at the main is the same one featured in the This Old House episode where Richard installs a standalone PC600 (I think it looked smaller than the PC1000 that is included in the PSE2000 that I purchased).

After the water was connected, there was a small leak at the neck of the PC1000. We hand tightened and after observation no issues. After completing the Nature Soft soak/flush, there was no milky white water observed.

Also, maybe due to the length of the soak, I didn’t notice any gray or black water once the unit was put in service. As others have stated, it may take some time to notice the conditioned or softer water but I noticed right away that the water felt different in my hands just watching soap.

I kept a fair amount of the water prior to install (due to the plumber having the water off) and comparing taste pre and post there was a difference. I will continue observation as it was literally just hooked up a few hours ago.

The main driver of our purchase was so many sinks in our house and only being able to drink or get coffee water from one of them. The secondary driver was the scale buildup we noticed and wanting to try and mitigate that without a salt system.

I just filled my water bottle up from the basement bar sink and the water tastes as good as it did from the fridge filter before.

We purchased the PSE2000. Upon inspection and doing some research we realized that the installation kit was the way to go because otherwise we would be piece mealing together a bunch of smaller pieces and it would look like hack job with lots of potentially leaking joints.

So, first lesson. get the install kit. finished project looks so much sleeker and neater that what we would have cobbled together and so much easier to join the tanks. We put the 2 tall tanks on one wall and the sediment filter on the adjoining wall so we had to get an elbow for the corner that was also a reducer.

we found this at Lowes online so there was a week delay waiting for that part. The brass reducer adapter that joined the inch sediment filter threads to the house pex supply pipe kept leaking so we had to re-do with more tape and pipe dope.

now it is watertight. Prior to purchasing this home we knew we wanted a catalytic system because all the faucets were all encased in mineral deposits and the glass vessel sinks were constantly covered in white sediment that had to be scrubbed off with CLR bathroom cleaner.

Now. it is a whole new world. no encrustation on the faucets, there is minimal mineral deposition on the glass sinks and what is there just wipes right off. Bar soap and shampoo lather right up in the shower and rinses clean in no time.

much less mineral deposition on the dishes and glassware as well. We spent a large chunk of money on this system at it is worth every penny. Being environmentally conscious people we are so happy to not be using salt and electricity.

BUY THIS PRODUCT.

Water is soft. Install wasn’t bad, but the valve control module took some extra finesse. One annoyance is that the lid to the salt basic in loose and not sealed quite as snugly as you’d expect. But the biggest problem is the Smart HQ app that is supposed to control the unit.

After day 3 I can’t do anything but open the app. If I click anything the app shuts down. The recommendation from GE support was to download the Comfort-GE app instead of the Smart HQ app, but it does the same thing.

Further inquiries with GE support yielded this reply: “The app team is aware of the issue and working on a fix. Please be on the lookout for any updates to the app. Thanks, Ian Tier 2 Tech Support GE Appliances | Connected Home” Assuming that the app would work I could rate the overall experience better.

However, the poorly developed telematics and inadequate support land me at 2/5 stars.

It’s a solid water softener. A few weeks in and (besides the app crashing until there was a new update) no problems. The area where I live has some of the hardest water in the USA, so I’m happy to have soft water now.

Though I think the hard water tasted a little better. The only “smart” features are that you can shut off water to your water softener, it tells you water usage of previous days, and it tells you the estimate of when you should refill with salt.

There is sadly no way to adjust any of the settings from the app. Being able to remotely shut off water is probably a good thing in an emergency.

I’m no water softener expert. I’m a pretty handy guy and installed this myself. I went to Home Depot intending to purchase a different model, but this was all they had. Thinking itd be nice to have access vía wifi to the device, I bought it.

Set up was easy enough. It came with an electronic water shut off valve, but frustratingly did not come with anything to connect it to. You’ll have to purchase a separate 1” x 3” long (Male on both ends) nipple if you want to take advantage of the valve.

As for the app, it’s mostly not very useful. You can see your water usage over time, and shut off the water valve. You can receive a low salt and flow issue notifications as well. You are not able to adjust your hardness levels or initial or schedule recharge.

After initial setup, getting the hardness setting correct was difficult without actually testing the water with a hardness test, so to be able to adjust this from the app would be nice.

It took me a while to do the study about how to choose a good water softener and understand the chain of water treatment process from filter to softener to RO. My old Kenmore model was left by previous homeowner without proper functionality for many years.

During my search for a good water softener, I met different recommendations in different shoping places turning out to be either very cheap or extremely expensive ($3000 to 6000 including instalation fee etc.

). In the end, I chose GE GXMH3101 based on its unique features including water softener and filter in One, blending adjusting knob (this is especially attractive to me because it can let you decide what hardness you want you water to be treated.

) as well as its white color perfectly fit for any house hold for aethetics. Another most important feature which is really helpful for me is that this model has 100% adaptability to my old version of Kenmore.

I installed myself easily to just replace the old kenmore and connect the new GE model without any problems. All the bypass valve, installation adaptors, dementions are the same as the parts of Kenmore (I guess maybe this is the best strategy by GE as a marketing to REPLACE Kenmore populoar years ago! What a smart strategy!).

Our family can feel almost immediate experience in shower. The water is very slippery contrast to my previous very sticky feelings. My hair is easy to comb and slippery. From self-installment to customer experience, I feel very good so far.

One thing I just want to point out that GE should have a clear description of how much salt be stored in the salt tank for beginners. It only says at least a quarter of the salt tank be filled but we do not know how much should be the best level for the first time.

Should I store 230 lbs in full or should I put half of 230 capacity? I felt confused when I first put salt in the tank. The other thing was that when I received the model from Amazon, the resin bed tank was displaced from the normal position.

The bottom of the resin bed tank is inclined to the corner of the salt tank. It took me a lot of time and labor to make the resin bed tank back to its normal position. Luckily enough, the device operated normaly so far.

I was concerned that the displacement of the resin bed tank could have caused damage to the tank neck and may have caused leakage. (GE customer service, please add on a description about what is normal position of the resin bed tank and whether the neck was installed already or not.

) In general, this is a great family product for water softening.

I’ve just had this water softener and filter installed a few days, but I love it already. The compact size is so much better than previous softeners I’ve had before. My previous home had one that (only 3 1/2 years old) was a large round tank separate from the cylinder that softened.

I started with 2 bags of salt, thinking it would only that amount. There is plenty of room to add more. I’ll be off to the store today to get more bags. I like that it tells you how long the salt will last.

MUCH easier to program than the last one I had. This one also costs less than many others on the market. My plumber charged me less than he quoted when he was done because he said it was easier than he thought it would be and took less time than anticipated.

After a couple years of renting the house we live in, we decided to buy it. Just before we bought it, the dishwasher went out due to the insanely hard water in San Antonio. Shortly thereafter, the hot water heater went out – same issue.

Thankfully the owners of the house (good friends of mine) agreed to help me replace the appliances, but the second time they asked me to price a water softener so they could help purchase that, too. I opted to pay $300 extra for the integrated water filtration system instead of purchasing a reverse-osmosis system separately.

I’m so glad I did. The plumber didn’t tell me how to work the thing, (at least I’d had salt ready!) so I just thought “set it and forget it,” but after noticing the dishes were still cloudy from the hard water, I investigated.

I hadn’t “charged” it yet. I did so, and the salt level started steadily going down over the next few days, as I started seeing my glasses were absolutely clear, and squeaky clean!! I’ve never seen anything like it! not to mention, soft hair and skin, and great tasting water!! I will make this appliance a life-time “must-have!” Thanks GE! P.

s. the picture I posted is a before and after picture, with before on the left and after on the right.

This is my 5th whole house system, so please understand that means I have spent $20,000 on Pelican equipment over the last 15 years. They used to blow me away with their customer service, just unbelievably good.

I haven’t needed a new system for almost 4 years (I move often and own 3 homes). The sales rep was absolutely as stellar as they always have been. Robert gets 5 stars. Everyone else gets ZERO! They missed two parts on the shipping and we had to call repeatedly and hold 15 minutes every time and now the package shows delivered and it is not here and I have ben here all morning.

I imagine Pelican is still about the best water filtration product on the planet, but if Pentair thinks they will ever get another penny of my money, they are mistaken. I do not think they will care though or I would not have been on hold for 15 m minutes repeatedly after just spending $4000 for the 5th time with a company.

I bought a Pelican WF-10 Iron/Manganese Filter & Salt-Free Softener whole house system and installed it about 6 weeks ago. Our house is on well water, and we had issues with water hardness, iron staining of all of our bathroom fixtures and appliances like our dishwasher and washing machine.

We also had an issue with a sulfur smell in our water that turned off guests staying at our place, and we had always needed to use a filter pitcher or similar to get ok tasting drinking water. I received the system and spent about 8 hours overall installing it after soaking the carbon media for a couple days – everything went smoothly and the directions provided were great.

As soon as I finished installation and put the system online, the difference in water quality was a night and day difference. The taste of the water from any faucet was immediately changed and tasted great.

My family is still getting used to the fact they can fill up cups from any faucet in the house. Also gone is the sulfur smell in the shower or faucets. The biggest change is NO RUST STAINS in our toilets, bathtubs, showers, and sinks.

The dishs in the dishwasher are also noticably cleaner. There is still a slight film on glasses but that is easily wiped off. before they were just cloudy. A little bit of rinse aid in the dishwasher fixes that issue now too.

Overall we are VERY impressed and happy with this purchase. The purchase experience was also very good with some great support on the phone for helping make the purchase decision and followup through delivery.

I would recommend anyone that has poor home water quality issues purchase a Pelican water softening and filtration system.

I have been very satisfied with the system. It replaced a salt-based system and I am thrilled not to have to pay for salt or lug those heavy bags around any longer. The system will pay for itself without the cost of salt in about 5 years.

The water is different from the salt-based system so do not expect it be the same. The only issue I have with the new system is I had to use a different detergent in my dishwasher, or I do have spotting with the new water.

Pelican has recommendations on what detergent to use and there is a ton of info on the web about saltless softeners and what dishwasher detergent to use. My system did come with a defective component and it had to be replaced.

Pelican was going to send out the replacement part overnight and it ended up being shipped ground. Pelican shipped out another replacement part overnight apologized and provide a discount to help cover the cost of my installer to come back out.

I do recommend using an approved installer. I would not have been able to remove the old system and replace by self. I recommend using Pelican for referrals to installers in your area.