Harveys Ultra Twin

I did much research on the water softener market before making a purchase and eventually after seeing several companies different products, I decided upon the British made Ultra Twin, block salt water softener.

It is neat, compact, very user friendly with no complicated electronics and only uses salt based upon how much water you use, which in our case is pretty low. Therefore the salt blocks last almost six weeks between re-fills. We had previously had a Permutit machine which used 25 kg bags of salt and which lasted over 25 years, but I was finding the salt loading increasingly more difficult. The new Ultra-Twin takes up two thirds less space in the kitchen cupboard than the Permutit and the quality of the softened water is excellent.

We had the unit supplied and fitted by A D Veale in Ipswich, Suffolk and have been very pleased with both the machine and the service from them.

J Wilton, Stowmarket, Suffolk

A water softner has been one of the very best home improvements we have ever done and I would now not want to be without one. The difference it has made to our water is considerable and when we go and stay with someone who doesn't have a softner, it is especially noticeable.

We have had our Ultra Twin for almost two years and it has performed well over that time and only uses salt in direct relation to our water usage. We had our machine fitted outside in a weather protect box as we did not want to loose any cupboard space and because it is non electric, their was no problem in putting it outside.

The Ultra Twin wasn't the cheapest machine we looked at, but it has performed well.

We actually bought this machine at a County Show last summer, as it was being offered by firm in East Anglia called A D Veale. It was on promotion as their 'show special' so the price was a little bit keener than usual. I have to admit that I was a bit dubious at spending a lot of money on a purchase from a show stand, as you are fearful of redress in the event of any problem, which ironically their was!

After getting the unit back home (we live in Bedforshire and the show was in Suffolk) and unpacking it, I was assured that the machine would fit directly onto my existing plumbing. We had an old Kinetico unit which had packed-up and the company that sold us the Ultra Twin also included new installation hoses. I removed the old unit and got the new one fitted ok, but setting up the Ultra Twin is not particularly straight forward and I didn't follow the instructions to the letter - The result was that it would not stop regenerating!

I contacted the company, who were based in Ipswich and explained what was happening, and to my surprise, they could not have been more helpful. The next day one of their engineers visited us and explained that because the machine is non-electric, it is very important that the set-up procedure is done exactly, as it uses mains water pressure to run the unit through its cleaning cycles and not a motor. I had in fact not done this properly, which had caused the machine to stick. The engineer reset the unit and went through the start-up procedure again and it has never missed a beat from that day. Because their are no electrics on the unit, their is nothing to adjust, so I have not needed to fiddle with the machine from that day on.

As a goodwill gesture and as the unit was brand new, we were not charged a call out, which we thought was pretty decent considering the chap had travelled from Suffolk, but I would advise anyone thinking of self-fitting an Ultra Twin to follow the installation instructions carefully. The company do typically offer an installation service, but because we were buying the unit as a County Show and I was confident that I could easily fit it, we opted to do our own fitting, which in hindsight, we should have really left to the professionals!

The machine has given us excellent softened water since installation (noticeably better than our old machine) and we have recommended the Ultra Twin to two of our neighbors, who have subsequently had them installed by A D Veale Water Treatment. The block salt is so much easier and cleaner than those old heavy bags of salt granuals.

V Hemmings

My parents bought their Softener a few months ago and were very pleased with it so the Ultra Twin came recommended, also as they helped me out with the cost they had a say in which one I bought. I am very happy with the decision, my water has improved greatly and although I had a water softener installed previously it clearly hadn't been working for some time. I can now feel the difference when I shower. The company that came out was the same as my parents and were very helpful and even gave my parents some free salt for having another softener. Their web site is watersofteninstallers.co.uk I hope this helps you, I would definitely recommend the softener and the service.

I bought my Ultra Twin softener because it was suggested by my plumber that the hard water was doing a lot of damage to my hot water system in my house. Had he not have recommended it, I would have probably never thought about installing a water softener! I chose the Ultra Twin because is was made in Britain and didn't need any electric.

Other than fill it with salt every month, I never touch it. The water is always silky soft and I hear it doing its cleaning occasionally if I happen to be in the utility room when it goes off. We have had it nearly four years and it has proven to be extremely reliable.

A D Veale Water Treatment, a company based in Ipswich did the original installation and they also deliver our salt every year and supplying our water filter cartridge.

All in all we have been very happy with the machine and my wife often remarks that she has never had to descale the shower head since the softener was fitted.

Ultra Twin Non Electric Water Softener.

After much searching on the net and making a few phone calls out of the local yellow pages, we were in fact recommended a company called A D Veale in Ipswich www.watersoftenerinstallers.co.uk which a near neighbour had used to install their softener.

They offered a selection of machines which impressed me and my husband as the other companies that I had contacted only seemed to be offering one type. We plumped for the not-electric type which uses the salt blocks as the machine was a lot smaller and our kitchen cupboards are limited. This wasn't the cheapest option, but we liked the idea that it was made in Britain and the leaflet on the machine was very informative. The machine also had a better guarantee than some of the others offered. We did have to wait just over two weeks for it to be fitted which was a bit longer than we had been advised when placing the order.

Once fitted, the machine works very well and although the salt usage was higher at first, it seems to have settled down and I don't really think about it. The clear see-through lid makes monitoring the salt very easy and as yet we haven't forgot to put new salt in before the old has run out. In the recent bad weather our power was interrupted on a few occasions and the softener was one of the few machines in the house that we didn't have to fiddle about with and reset as it is non-electric.

M Newsome