> as far as softening goes, (the quality of the rest of the pipes in your house (especially the hot water pipes) can be just as suspect as your hot water heater) it's cheap insurance. it preserves your pipes and your hot water tank. and it doesn't use that much water on recharge. it exchanges out Ca, Mg, preferentially, and Fe and Mn if you add a calcium chloride pretreatment tank. > they are sized based on how much water you use and how much and what kind of hardness you have. adding on a softener now can bring your pipes back over time, if they've narrowed from deposits. > you'll find that your soaps do a MUCH better job cleaning. at a much lower usage rate. > no. i don't work for culligan or kinetico. i lived with unbelievably hard water in IN and CT before i went the softened water route here in NH. there's no going back..... Consider the flow through capacitor for water softening. They used to make "home units" but I don't see the link on their web page anymore: http://www.flowtc.com/drg_home.html

"Jack Hammer" <waterchoices@gmail.com> wrote in message news:fb6d5ac7-6228-4196-a215-a09c64191c49@y5g2000hsf.googlegroups.com... > If you are looking to get the calcium out of your heater you should > determine > the age of the heater. If it's more then ten years get a new one. Ten > is the average life. I wouldn't take that 10 years figure as gospel. Most of the units I've "lived" with have lasted much longer. The unit in my last house was 33 years old when I sold it in 2006. The unit in my mother's house lasted from 1960 to 1990 before I replaced it for her. The new one is 17 years old and still going strong. The original was installed before 1946 so it was at least 14 years old when replaced. > I have in the past taken the drain valve off and split a copper pipe > length ways and > made a long thin scoop and dug out the calcium. > Vinegar will dissolve calcium but thats allot of vinegar. I would > never buy a softener again. > Not with the new saltless water softener. The saltless softener will > remove all the hardness > in your water heater and all existing pipes. You can see it on my web > site at this address. > http://shop.waterchoices.com/product.sc?categoryId=7&productId=95 The unit you refer to with your link is at least somewhat controversial. FWIW: http://tinyurl.com/2qalrn