Looking into water softeners (Corpus Christi: buy, tax, softener)

[BlondeAggie]

Beginning research on purchase/installation of water softener. Had a Kinetico rep come out yesterday and was quoted $4,500 ~ no reverse osmosis included .

Based on research thus far, the quote was waaay off base for solving the water hardness issue with a quality water softener.

Looking for experiences of people in the Corpus Christi area.

[jbtx]

Let's face it, Corpus Christi city water tastes like crap, we wash and clean with it and use it to water the grass but we don't drink it.

I have an Watts Premier RO filter system under the sink which provides about 15-20 gallons of drinking/cooking water per day. My family can't tell the difference in our filtered water from bottled water bought from the store. As I recall the unit cost about $300.00 with tax and shipping.
Filtration Systems - Reverse Osmosis - Premier

[Dr.Mcninja]

I drink the water every day. While it isn't glacier water, I don't find it to be terrible. I've had worse lots of places (well water in Va, anywhere in Fl, most other countries. )

As jbtx states, a simple filter makes it taste better. If you're worried about lime scale in the shower/washing machine/dishwasher, that softener can make a difference. I just don't find them necessary.

[jbtx]

One thing to remember, drinking water that is filter processed by Reverse Osmosis has very little in the way of necessary mineral content left in it. We get most of our essential vitamins and minerals from our food and drink. If you are drinking nothing but bottled/filtered water you probably need to be taking a mineral supplement.

[Dr.Mcninja]

Ferguson sells water softeners for significantly less than RainSoft or Kinetico. It all comes down to whether you buy extended warranties or not.