Any opinions on Kinetico softeners? (disregarding price?)

[Brian Elfert]

What are the opinions on Kinetico water softeners? Are they good units if you disregard the high price?

I got a Kinetico softener for practically free. I took it over to the local Kinetico dealer to be looked at. They called me back a few hours later and said it needed a rebuild for just over $600. I told them I would think about it and call them back. I knew it might need a rebuild when I got it.

The same dealer would charge well over $3,000 for a new unit, or about $2,600 for a reconditioned unit. They will subtract $500 if I didn't want the reconditioned one installed, but no warranty without install. I couldn't afford any of those prices.

[John Fabre]

They're the best you can buy, had mine since 1997. What model do you have?

[Brian Elfert]

The serivce guy told me the model number, but I forget what he said. The two tanks are real short. The whole thing is under 24". I need the small unit due to limited space.

[Myk Rian]

We've had one for over 20 years on our well system. The only problems have been the salt tank solidifying. Empty it and add new salt (potassium chloride in ours) and it's been great. Put a filter in line before it.

[Brian Elfert]

I went ahead and had the thing overhauled even though it cost about $650. What I really need now is an installation manual. The service guy went over a little bit of the install process, but of course they want to charge the $500 or whatever to install it so they aren't too helpful. I'm not sure if the brine tank needs to have water added at initial startup or not.

I'm not sure why it cost $650 since they put in at most 4 hours of labor. I gave the okay to do the repair and they called me about 4 hours later to say it is ready for pickup.