This is my second Water Boss unit. the first lasted 10 years before an internal plastic weld failed. I installed the new unit myself, with no problems, a year and a half ago.

In most respects, the 950 model is a big improvement as it uses even less salt, is smaller, and has a built-in bypass valve.

The problem is the timer cannot be set to insure that the unit runs during the night when there is no other water usage. As a result, at times the unit starts to recharge right when the washing machine or shower are running, bringing hard water into the water heater. If the washer happens to be draining at that particular moment, it overflows the drain for a few seconds until the initial surge of water slacks off. I set the Water Boss to cycle at 2 am, which the old unit did faithfully. The new unit cycles whenever it runs out of soft water, when it should run at the prior 2 am when it is running low on capacity.

I called Tech Support, and the answer from two different people was "there is nothing we can do about your problem." Realistically, I can't be the first person to experience these issues. Not a customer oriented answer.

Update: June 2013 The unit continues to work problem free, so I ma changing my rating to 4 stars. I fixed the overflow problem by adjusting the drain adapter. It uses very little salt, I buy a bag every couple of months or so, although I just began a test to see exactly how much - I think it is quite a bit less than 25 lbs of pellets per month for two people. At this level, use of potassium chloride would not be very expensive.
My original review failed to note that this unit is completely different than my first one as it has been totally redesigned, and is much smaller.
I tested the sodium levels halfway through the cycle, and it appears to add about 50 mg per liter over reported naturally occurring levels- not a lot, IMO. I should have done the test using 2 samples, but didn't think of that at the time.

I have dealt with water softeners for 30 years now with 3 different water softeners. The 5 years since I purchased a WaterBoss 900 from Menards are the first 5 years where I have not had to touch the water softener to fix anything. The WaterBoss just runs, regenerates and uses about 75% Less Salt during regeneration. Prior to this I had a Kenmore, followed by the Sear's version of a Morton softener. After having so many problems, primarily with the regeneration systems, I purchased hardness testing kits to help troubleshoot the problems. Despite having no problems during the last 5 years I have felt compelled to test the water from time to time. Hardness is always undetectable on every test I have ever run on the WaterBoss soft water. The best day for those other two softeners was about 25ppm of hardness. As for Salt Savings, I used to stock up on 6 bags of salt to get through the winter and usually had to haul several more bags down by sled in the snow. I now get by with less then 2 bags for the whole winter.

With the other two softeners I was continuously pulling apart the regeneration systems to determine why the softeners wasn't working, but once after about 10 years of service the water dispersion tube that drops to the bottom of the softener pulled out of the regeneration valve allowing resin to escape into the water heater and water supply to the house. I discovered this when mesh screens on the aerators around the house plugged off with resin. During this time I ran hundreds of hardness tests before and after repair attempts.

I am guessing that I spent at least 1000 hours working on softeners over the first 25 years, until I got the WaterBoss, and then the work stopped.

Maybe I was lucky, but so was my neighbor, who also has had a maintenance free WaterBoss softener for 6 or 7 years. I bought mine on his recommendation, and I have not regretted it.

Item was sold beyond warrant-able period. (Must have been previous model). The case had a crack in the top (like someone had tried to lift this heavy device by the plastic housing).

Very easy to use - ands far (2 months) no issue. The positive about the system it is made in the USA- which is a big plus to me

I am extremely reluctant to post at this time but after about one month I will give an opinion. I am usually almost completely dependent upon reviews as to whether to purchase or not. I read all the horrible reviews concerning the Water Boss 900. I decided to take a chance because it just seemed to be perfect for my needs. I also spoke with two vendors who carry this item locally who assured me they have never had a problem with the product. I needed some other plumbing work done and had the Water Boss installed at the same time. It took him about an hour and a half to install and then we programmed it. He had never installed one of these before and was not competely sure he had programmed everything correctly. It appeared to work fine.

A couple of days later I decided to call and see both if I had it properly installed and if the horror stories about the customer service were true. I was connected immediately to a lady who talked me through the process. I set it up on the demand mode as I really don't care when it replenishes and it has been working fine. I go in every day to make sure that I don't have any error messages or problems. I will admit I keep my fingers crossed after the previous reviews.

I really never knew my dishes and laundry were not coming clean until I started using the Wate Boss. My dishes come out of the dishwasher sparkling without additives. I use one fourth the laundry detergent and things are clean and fresh. I put two bags of salt in to start and it is still over half full. I will estimate my usage will be no more than a bag a month.

I will continue to keep my fingers crossed but for the first month we could not be happeir. At one time I had considered installing the unit myself, I believe this could be a problem folks may be having. While he installed it in an hour and a half I would have taken days and may not have done it correctly. I will update this review if conditions change, but as of now 5 stars.