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“Works well, low maintenance”

Written on: 25/05/2012 by AlexFThomson (1 review written)

After we decided to get a water softener, we choose Harvey's because of the low maintenance / good performance. Installation was very straightforward and Harvey's were helpful. We had a sales visit to check requirements and offer a demo, and then the plumber arrived to install it. Fortunately there was space under the kitchen sink for the softener - it's a fairly substantial piece of kit even if it's small for a water softener. it took about 5 hours to install I think. The plumber was pretty good and made a decent job of it, leaving everything tidy. He installed a separate hard water tap for e.g. Drinking water or watering plants.

Once installed, there wasn't much else to know except when to change the water softener. That's about the only instructions we needed, and unfortunately the supplied instructions don't mention when to do it! There is a red line on the softener which makes it obvious when you know - replace the salt when the level's below that line, every few weeks. The first time though, I didn't realise and was continually monitoring it for when the salt would run out.

You'll need somewhere to store some salt, which you can buy anywhere. Beyond that, it just works... Occasionally you hear it making a small noise. Our water wasn't particularly hard to start with so we didn't notice a massive difference. The old lime scale didn't exactly disappear over the next fortnight, like we'd hoped, but everything does definitely stay cleaner for longer which is great. Bubbles in the bath are better too, and it is a small but pleasant improvement overall.

I'm quite happy with it, if not quite escstatic. If the water had been harder, I think we would have appreciated it more. As it, it's a 'nice have'.