All done. A neat, straightforward installation today by the Harvey’s Plumber. Thanks again folks for your advice.
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Whilst I can see the benefits I am a bit confused by the whole wifi/app thing for a water softener.
I can sort of see the benefit if the softener is in a remote location. But, this benefit must come with the need for a power supply?
For me the whole Harvey thing was that it did ’t need a power supply., and that was the main thrust of my sales guys pitch. A water powered, basic mechanical set up.
Of course the real benefit is that any data regarding salt usage and anything else it monitors is reported back to Harvey Central.
As you say, probably quite handy if the softener is in a more remote or inaccessible location, but for us, it’ll probably be just a useful reminder as we get used to salt usage. It just takes 4AA batteries so no external power supply needed.
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It’s totally unnecessary, like so much these days. Our dishwasher, tumble dryer and washing machine send us messages when they are finished. In the case of the tumble dryer it’s in the garage, so is quite handy. Salty lives in the garage, so the message that it needs feeding is quite handy too.
Don’t forget to adjust the settings in your dishwasher, and in washing machine if it has auto dosing like ours. You’ll also need half as much shampoo, soap and washing up liquid. The savings on cleaning products goes a long way towards the cost of the salt.
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Thanks Nigel. Our dishwasher is a bit too old for that, but I’ll check the washing machine manual to see what that supports.
So far, so good.
It will now take some time to see the full benefits as your pipes will gradually lose the limescale built up over the years.
We had a failure of our copper cylinder a short while after installation. It was where the pipe exited the cylinder. The plumber said it was likely that the limescale had been holding things together and as the limescale faded away it revealed the failure.
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Thanks Richard – yes, that’s a good point about the reduction in existing limescale. We didn’t get our existing copper cylinder changed when we had the heating system upgraded, so hopefully we won’t suffer the same issue as yourself, otherwise that’s the next job to do…
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Softened water is more aggressive than hard water, and some copper pipes (and presumably other copper goods) can be more susceptible than others potentially resulting in dissolution and eventual pinholing, so it could be that the water found a weak spot. (Quality of copper can vary.)
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We are in the process of designing the refurbishing our shower/bathroom. After a recent holiday with much softer water we started thinking it would be a good idea to get a water softener before the bathroom work. A quick google for local firm and back to this thread, we have decided on a Harvey twintec to be installed in a couple of weeks. I looked at salt prices and bought a few months worth from an Amazon supplier. Interesting for those who have ever been to Wroxham on the Norfolk broads where virtually every shop is owned by Roys of Wroxham……they sell a single 8kg pack for £5.99…..not a bulk buy. Just a bit of a drive for us.
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A good move Gary. We’re very pleased with our Harvey Arc.
The difference is quite surprising, not only in how it makes your skin feel but just the lack of lime spots. Everything just stays sparkling and clean without the dulling of the limescale. For the first month we did have quite a lot of scale detaching from the pipes so the tap filters around the house needed a few cleans but now most of it has gone. We have the curved mini blocks so I bought a bulk order. Harvey is not far from us so we’ll probably collect future salt directly from them. Usage is approx 4 mini blocks per month.
One other thing I’d recommend is getting a filtered tap for the kitchen sink, which connects pre softener. Lovely drinking water, even our dogs noticed the difference.
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