I don’t know about you guys but I’ve made up my mind on these things. There’s just no justification for the old style softeners, these salt free water softeners do the job more efficiently and in a more environmentally friendly manner – talk about a no brainer!

Now the hard part, which softener to buy… Obviously price is a concern and I’ve found a couple of pitfalls for you to avoid. First off, it’s really true when they say you get what you pay for. It’s soooo much better to pay a little extra today and avoid costly repairs later.

The consensus seems to be that Kinetico makes one of the finest saltless water softener lines out there, actually a whole range of models so you can suit most situations. Expect to pay a little more for the equipment, but, repair bills? No, there won’t be any issues from what I’ve heard but if there are it’s most likely going to be covered. Read everything carefully, of course, but these guys have a solid reputation in the industry. Oh, and some models don’t even require electricity in addition to requiring no salt – that’s pretty green.

Your second option, and really nothing to sneeze at, it Culligan. Yes, THAT Culligan. They’re famous for their water for a reason so you can expect these models to perform well. Although not as well known for reliability these are highly regarded by customers, an odd paradox. Although they may be reportedly less reliably than other models, for whatever reason, customers report being happier with this model than customers of other models report of their supposedly more reliable ones.

I hope that made sense…

The third, and in my opinion leas desirable option would be something like a Clearwave or other "in-line" solution. These are cheaper individually and if your only having a problem with say a dish washer or hot water heater being fouled up it could make sense. The cost is much lower, but you’re going to need to buy one unit for each appliance requiring soft water… usually a whole-house saltless water softener system is far more efficient. Installation costs can really spiral out of control when you’re installing multiple units (with multiple electrical connections…)

That time really adds up fast.