Home Improvement

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Deathwing

Deathwing

<Bronze Donator>
16,742
7,767
No, the soap would not rinse well *with* the water softener. After I broke it and bypassed it, showers have been fine and what I'm used to. Either way, I should probably just fix it. No idea if I can turn down the salt level though.
 
lurkingdirk

lurkingdirk

AssHat Taint
<Medals Crew>
46,658
214,815
If you over soften your water, soap is hard to rinse off. That's too soft.

Different parts of the country need water softeners. Where I live, the water is just stupid crazy hard. I put a new softener in 2010, and have been able to adjust it to what we think is perfect. Dishes come out clean in the dishwasher, shampoo and soap feel right in the shower, and so forth. Here's what I put in. Other than this, it was about 15$ worth of plumbing parts. If you have to hire someone, should be about 300$ labour tops, especially if you buy the unit yourself.

http://www.menards.com/main/plumbing...39186770688530

Anything over 700 for an installed water softener is you getting over charged for and over priced piece of equipment that will perform no better than a 300$ unit from your local big box store.
 
Palum

Palum

what Suineg set it to
26,556
41,361
Phoenix city water is the worst rated city water in the country (at least for hardness). Mine was 16 grains per gallon, the nominal scale only goes up to 10.

That's what I figured re: expensive ones, though.

Honestly I will probably install one myself at this point, the loop is plumbed I just have to run the electrical over a wall.
 
Gnomedolf

Gnomedolf

<Silver Donator>
15,796
99,179
Got the stair-step cracks in my stucco fixed and the entire exterior painted a new color. It looks great, but I can't get a good picture of it because my phone camera keeps adjusting the colors so that it looks entirely different than it really does. /jimmies rustled
 
Xarpolis

Xarpolis

Life's a Dream
14,652
16,343
Palum_sl said:
Any opinions on water softeners? All the 'big time' places like Costco, Ameriflow, etc. have given me quotes for 3K+ saying about how it's so great doesn't need maintenance blah blah, 5 year warranty, etc. None of them seem to have a real reason to say why I shouldn't get a cheaper GE unit for $300... I could replace it every 6 months and still be ahead. I guess I don't see the big deal in going through an extra 20 lbs of salt a month because of a less efficient timed or metered recharge cycle, it's what like $2 in salt?
Click to expand...
I have a Culligan softener, and I love it. I bought it around 7 years ago for $1800 (installed). I replace salt every 3 months. I use 40 lb bags, and alternate between 3 and 4 bags, using a total of 7 over 6 months. Bags cost me around $5.50/ea at Home Depot. Culligan uses salt crystals as opposed to salt pellets.
Having softer water is awesome. I'm never itchy after a shower, and I've only had it maintenanced once in the entire time I've owned it. However, I just scheduled for them to come out again. I noticed that I'm getting a slight green calcium buildup on my new faucets, so clearly my water isn't "soft enough". They told me that it's $100 for the tech to come out, plus parts if I need any.

We'll see how that goes.
 
Xarpolis

Xarpolis

Life's a Dream
14,652
16,343
Deathwing_sl said:
How big a deal is a water softener? Never had one until a bought my place a couple years ago. Made the shower water feel slimey and it took forever to rinse off soap and shampoo. So I tried lowering the amount of salt and ended up breaking it(unscrewed a screw in the dial and now it won't screw back in...). Am I dooming my water-based appliances to an early death?
Click to expand...
That whole "still soapy" feeling is just a feeling. It isn't the truth. The thing is, you're used to feeling the resistance of hard water on your skin. It took about a month to get used to the feeling of soft water, but I love it now. That lack of dry skin makes it so worth it.
 
Palum

Palum

what Suineg set it to
26,556
41,361
Installed today. $900 OTD, 10 year warranty and demand-based recharge unit on everything from a local company. Had to do a minor replumb to fix an issue that the previous plumber left in the attic but overall, happy. That $900 will save a ton down the road with shittied up appliances and sink/tub hardware.
 
P

Picasso3

Silver Baronet of the Realm
11,333
5,322
Contractor tearing off the old aluminum siding yesterday calls and says they're getting shocked by the siding. Track it down to an original circuit but it doesn't have any outlets on the exterior wall.
 
Joeboo

Joeboo

Molten Core Raider
8,157
140
I wonder what the next 5-10 years will bring as far as mobile devices and their batteries...will the 3.6A USB be enough to be future proof for quite a while? I don't think too many current devices use more than 2.1A max to charge, but I wonder if that will ramp up in the near future?
 
P

Picasso3

Silver Baronet of the Realm
11,333
5,322
If a revolution happens in 5 years you could be out 50 bucks and a few hours.

I give this deal two trumps down.
 
A

a_skeleton_03

<Banned>
29,948
29,763
Yeah it's such an easy swap out and cheap enough that I don't think I will worry too much. It's a rental but I always leave upgrades in my rentals when I leave. Usually a faucet and a couple shower heads later.

Next I need to figure out what lighting I want to go with (that I will take with me) to integrate with my Amazon Echo.
 
lurkingdirk

lurkingdirk

AssHat Taint
<Medals Crew>
46,658
214,815
a_skeleton_03_sl said:
Yeah it's such an easy swap out and cheap enough that I don't think I will worry too much. It's a rental but I always leave upgrades in my rentals when I leave. Usually a faucet and a couple shower heads later.

Next I need to figure out what lighting I want to go with (that I will take with me) to integrate with my Amazon Echo.
Click to expand...
I got a bunch of those outlets, too. Mine were just a little more expensive because everything is run on 20A in this house, but still worth it. I have one beside everyone's bed, at the desks, and by the television. Don't need any charging cubes in this house!

As far as lighting goes, you're looking for something to control from your device? I'm slowly changing all my lighting over to led. I changed my under counter lights to led strips, and they're great. Nice and bright without providing any heat. There are lots of led light bulbs that aren't too expensive that connect with various devices, what application are you looking at here?
 
A

a_skeleton_03

<Banned>
29,948
29,763
lurkingdirk_sl said:
I got a bunch of those outlets, too. Mine were just a little more expensive because everything is run on 20A in this house, but still worth it. I have one beside everyone's bed, at the desks, and by the television. Don't need any charging cubes in this house!

As far as lighting goes, you're looking for something to control from your device? I'm slowly changing all my lighting over to led. I changed my under counter lights to led strips, and they're great. Nice and bright without providing any heat. There are lots of led light bulbs that aren't too expensive that connect with various devices, what application are you looking at here?
Click to expand...
The Echo can control the lights in your house.

I know for sure that the Philips light work well with it.

Amazon Echo - Control connected devices

I need to research and see if it works well with anything else.
 
Xarpolis

Xarpolis

Life's a Dream
14,652
16,343
The guy from Culligan came out today to maintenance my softener. Looks like over the years, there was an excessive buildup of (something, I don't know what) on the inlet nozzle of the brine tank, that was causing the salt water to not properly flush through the system during the recharge cycle.

Anyway, he cleaned that and the hose out, and now it works flawlessly once more.

At least that's what my wife says. I'll find out for sure once I get home tonight.
 
K

kaxfenix

N00b
248
0
Sigh .. about to close on a new build and discovered that There isn't any decent "wired" broadband providers here... I am going to have to deal with I guess tower services? Rise broadband seems to be the only decent choice..

Being a cord cutter this may severely suck. I am worried about data caps etc..
 
Borzak

Borzak

Bronze Baron of the Realm
25,456
33,213
You can always turn around and flip it. Agents here use the term "cable ready" which means it has cable wiring and jacks. Does't mean cable even serves the area.
 
Palum

Palum

what Suineg set it to
26,556
41,361
So I'm redoing the spare bedroom. Painted yesterday and this morning, furniture is coming in next week, just have a few more decor pieces to pick up.

I saw an LED electric fireplace at Costco and thought it would be pretty cool for the wall in that room to add some ambiance, but I'd rather just not have heat to save some cash since, well, it's not really needed most the year and I have a heat pump anyway. Anyone know any company that makes them on the cheap? The least expensive ones I can find simply decorative are from Napoleon and cost more than the actual heater/fireplace units.
 
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