Water quality - Softener necessary? (Tampa: house, buy, closing)

[ts_ohio]

Y'all, I heard that the quality of water is not that good in South Tampa area and that I need to get a water softener.
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I am negotiating with a seller and he says that he will deduct the cost of installing the following in his home from the agreed upon price

• Installing a water softener (Reverse osmosis)
• Installing surround sound in living room
• Enclosing the lanai with "bird cage" enclosure
• Solar attic ventilator

What is the average prices of these items in Tampa?
Any info is appreciated.

[MortonR]

Just to clarify, a reverse osmosis system is not the same as a water softener, and is considerably more expensive if it was a whole house system.

RM

[Mike1306]

The only thing UV does is remove biological contaminants.

Unless your well is contaminated you will not need it. If your well is contaminated you would want a new well.

Go with a softner, it should run about $500-$600 installed. Instead of paying $350-$450 for an RO System you can just get a Brita filter for your faucet, of course it is not as good but with the water softner on the house and the Brita for the faucet you will be ok.

Can't help with the other pricing though.

[MarketingGuy]

RO is just purification, not softening, as mentioned above.

Depending on where the home is, softener is definitely a plus.

[annesg]

Having a water softener is wonderful b/c it helps the water do its job on dishes and laundry, too. You can pay anywhere from $500-3500 depending on what you get.

Caging a pool sized area can cost $4000-5000--at least, that's the quote we got for a 24ftx15ft area. A smaller area will cost a lot less.

We got a quote for $2000 for surround sound--but our house is already prewired. That was for the speakers and sound system.

Attic ventilator was a couple hundred bucks, no biggie.

[algia]

Let me add that if you have a water softener your average water bill would be around $300 a month, no joke, in Hillsborough county.
We turned it off and my bill went down to $80!!!! something to consider.....

[Mike1306]

Originally Posted by algia

Let me add that if you have a water softener your average water bill would be around $300 a month, no joke, in Hillsborough county.
We turned it off and my bill went down to $80!!!! something to consider.....

Your softener was regenerating too much or you had too small a softner for the home.

Softner size is measured in grains. Grains being the amount of resin in the tank which softens the water.

If the softner is too small the softner will need to regenerate too often. The only time a good amount of extra water is used is when the softner is backwashing. Backwashing is when the resin is flushed of the hardwater particles.

A softner will use additional water but it should not be that much and the extra life it will give to your pipes and plumbing fixtures makes it worth it.

[Steven Hung]

I have a Kinetico water softener system installed at my house in mid Dec 2007. The water softener system with a chlorine filter and about 6 months of potassium cost me $4200 installed. So far my monthly water bill is about $30 in New Tampa. I cook every day, do two loads of laundry a week and run the dish washer three times a week.

[Andy CWS]

Originally Posted by Mike Peterson

The only thing UV does is remove biological contaminants.

UVs do not 'remove' biological contaminants. They destroy the DNA and RNA of micro-organisms making them non-pathogenic. The 'bugs' are still there, they are just not dangerous.

Ultrafiltration and RO membranes can remove them from the service water.

Andy Christensen, CWS-II

[maggiekate]

been here ten years, no water softner, water is ok. I just thought, water is water.

Wash, cold water, in the shower and out, however, culligan does seem to be a brand
people do use, or a sears kenmore brand. Doing the dishes, a real cheap kenmore dishwasher-I found a great quiet kenmore on sale
with a rebate, not ever the elite model. I do think it was about 650.00 and with the check-up plan, which I do not buy often. It is so quiet, I do need to listen. works great. Oh and that did include delivery, and to install, and take away.