My previous water softener installed in January 1999 was not softening like it used to. The old system, it cost me $1,400 for a water softener company to install it. It was a mechanical timer and not based on water usage. I guess I could have bought new resin, and just the Fleck 5600sxt control head, but at the end of the day, a whole new system was only little more expensive. Received this item and installed in a couple hours (I had to redo some plumbing from the old system). I followed the instructions, did a backwash and turned on a faucet close to the softener. Turning on the faucet, without the aerator installed, close to the softener is important to flush out any resin that may be made it into the center tube during shipping. I called AWFilters support line to ask how to get rid of the resin in the center tube.
They were responsive and answered the phone quickly. The softener is performing great and it regenerated already based on the 7 day override that I set due to being on well water.

I live in a 200+ year old farmhouse with a dug well fed by springs and a nearby creek. The iron and manganese content are extremely high. Prior filtration system was a 10+ year old culligan that was no longer reliable. With that and one small pre-filter my bathroom fixtures- toilets, sinks, shower/tub- needed frequent cleaning. Again"”iron and manganese content were off the charts. Fast forward to this product.

Before I pulled the trigger I did tons of research. I probably put it in my amazon cart and deleted 10+ times before I finally told myself there was no better value or product to apply to my water issues. I'm so glad I made this purchase for the following reasons:

1. Install was a breeze- anyone who is moderately handy will have ZERO problem connecting to your water system. If you already have a softener this could probably be installed in less than an hour with the proper plumbing supplies.

2. Performance- I paired this with two added big blue 20" spin down filters which made my install a little bit longer than most who will just be installing the softener unit. Combined with the softener, my water is as clear as gin. It's literally like a miracle. My wife (who is the ultimate judge) is beyond pleased.

3. Value- look around to compare this vs. other options and I doubt someone will find a better value....auto-backwashing, programmable, high grains, combo softener & iron filter, etc. Compared to a culligan or some other retail option you will save thousands and have a more robust unit.

Overall, if you have HARD water I would highly advocate you give this a shot. I would also recommend you pair with big blue filter(s) installed before the unit. I've had my setup installed for 10+ months now without any issues (knock on wood!). It has transformed my water!

To begin with, this product was 1/2 the price as the cheapest softener from the two local stores and theirs started at 48,000 grain. The 64,000 grain, similar to this model, was almost $1500 + $200 more if you wanted one with an upper basket in the tank. I looked at the chain stores like Lowe's and Home Depot. Theirs were similar in price for the 48,000 grain and had to be ordered which would have taken 4-6 weeks for delivery to the store for pick-up. Installation was a breeze. As other posts stated it only took about an hour and would have taken less time than that if installed by a person that knew what they were doing. Being my first plumbing job I am quite satisfied and believe that this can be installed by almost anyone. After installation and a cycle was run through, the water tested at most 1/2 grain of hardness. The shower and sinks stay cleaner (no more rust), ice in the refrigerator ice maker is clearer, and this is the cleanest, best tasting water I believe we have ever had in this house and we have been in this home more than 25 years. I am very satisfied with this purchase and convinced my brother to purchase one for his home. I have had this softener about a month now and it seems like it will use less than 1 bag of salt per month for a family of 4. I especially like the automatic meter which tells the softener when it is time to recharge.

I bought this unit to replace a 15 year old softener. I have very hard water that stains everything either orange or black. Also have a sulfur smell to the water. The old softener did a pretty good job until the last couple of years until it kept getting plugged off and sulfur smell was getting worse. I had been looking at putting in just a iron filter ahead of my old softener until I found this unit that combines both softener and iron filter. It was very easy to install because it matched up to my old softeners connections except that this unit was taller. Fleck hose took care of that problem. The unit is very heavy and I had to enlist a grandson to help get it down in the basement. So far I am very pleased with the unit. Clear water without any sulfur smell. I still have a fresh water line to a separate faucet in my kitchen sink. When I run this water that does not go through the unit my white sink gets a black stain to it. I would recommend this unit to those that have very hard water.

I've had this for about 18 months and I'm extremely happy with it. I have high iron in my water, about 2 mg/L. My previous softener would frequently having venturi problems and had reduced flow due to iron fouling, even with iron out additive. The softener has been maintenance free, just add salt and iron out additive.