Anderson Water vs. Culligan?

17 years ago

I live on a 20 acre farm in WNY with well water. My water has lots of iron in it and turns my toilets and bathtubs orange.

I am doing major remodeling in April, re-doing the kitchen and both baths, and think I should put in a Whole house filtering system so my new bathrooms and kitchen do not turn orange.

Had Anderson out last nite, he spent most of his time bashing Culligan since I told him Culligan was coming later this week. And of course, since I didn't sign on the dotted line last nite, I wouldn't get their "best" deal. Oh well ...

He tested my water, yes iron content is high, and I also have "iron bacteria", and hard water. No real surprises except I had never heard of iron bacteria ...

Culligan is coming in a couple days, though I hear their system uses sodium and I don't need more sodium in my diet.

Anyone use either of these 2 companies and give me some feedback? The quote I got from Anderson was for about $5K for a whole house system ...

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Comments (5)

formulaross
17 years ago
I wouldn't buy from either one of them, or Kinetico, for that matter.

I've bought several water softeners over the internet from the same firm with great results. The powers-that-be don't want names mentioned, but I would be glad to forward the name to you privately. Anyway, if you google 'Clack WS1' (probably the best softener valve on the market) you will most likely run across their website. A typical softener can easily be under $1K delivered to you. Some assembly is required, but you or a handy friend can do it, or you can hire a plumber if you like. You should get an independent water test (any reputable softener firm will want accurate data to work with) and it sounds like your iron content may need extra treatment. Still, the cost is going to be very reasonable (I'll guess well under $2K) compared to the sharks you have been talking to so far.
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alop
17 years ago
Regarding Anderson Water Systems. Steer clear of these folks. The customer service, the proficiency of their technicians, and the quality of their system components are seriously lacking. Although I do my own plumbing, the wife committed to their system because I was too slow in getting a system installed. They installed the system incorrectly resulting in destruction of the captive air tank and also required the pressure switch to be replaced. PVC connections were overtightened resulting in the cracking of fittings that I had to replace. The cheaply made timer control assembly seized and shattered plastic parts (from the gears) spread like scrapnel around the basement. When called about a defective reverse osmosis pump, the technicians blamed the house current for its failure to weasel out of the warranty. I gave up and bought a RO pump on Ebay and it has worked fine for years now. The only guarantee you will experience is a run around, overcharging for service calls and exorbitant parts prices. Example - $75 for a small PVC injector that they broke by overtightening no less! I agree with formulaross. I replaced the Anderson system with a system from Ebay and it has performed flawlessly at 1/5 the price. Be aware that this company is now hawking home gererator systems. Also from WNY, I feel your pain about the water quality! Good luck.
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Living with well water is more comlpicated than living on a water system and requires some routine maintenance. I would accept the highest tested levels as average and use them. In general an ion exchange water softener will successfully treat about 3ppm of iron, no more. Kinetico does offer models that are designed to treat higher iron levels and, of course, they cost more. Kinetico has been around a long time and has an extensive dealer/service network and a large and loyal customer base. One rarely sees anyone posting about problems with their Kinetico softeners. Culligan has been around a long time also but are complained about more often on these forums. ECO has also been around a long time. ECO, Culligan, and Kinetico are all proprietary desihns and parts and service are only available from their respective dealers. If you have a good dealer that doesn't matter but if you have a bad dealer... with real estateit's location, location, location, and with water treatment its' DEALER, DEALER, DEALER. Ask lots of questions. Softening the entire house or just the water heater (bad idea)? Warranty, parts & labor or just parts, how long and on exactly what? Install, permits required, licensed plumber? Routine maintenance and costs? Do they stock parts? Response time for emergency (water leak) calls? If they don't explain things to your satisfaction that is a good indicator of how you'll be treated after the sale. Ask your neighbors if they have any water treatment experience. They might tell you who's good or who to avoid.
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User
17 years ago
When Culligan does testing for you, make sure they tell you the grains of hardness and ppm of iron in your water. Then you can start looking for a softener that can handle the iron. Some of the softeners on the market use a cheats resin that can only handle one ppm of iron. The better ones will handle up to ten Ppm. I this should be listed as part of the specs for the softener system.

I agree w/ the other posters that you should avoid purchasing from Culligan-they are over priced. But, there may be a local water treatment company that can help you for a much lower price if you aren't comfortable installing your own softener.
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droppler525
15 years ago
I have worked in the water treatment business for a large municipality for 15 years. Ironically, I have a well at home. There is such a thing as iron bacteria. The big water treatment companies told me that I had 12ppm (parts per million) of iron, when my own testing gave me results of less than 2ppm on 3 seperate samples. The $3500 to $5000 systems I was told I needed were not necessary. I bought a $500 Water softener and put a GAC (granular activated carbon) filter after it. My choice was a WaterBoss softener with potassium pellets. I use Anderson's Peptifer to remove the iron from the resin during a backwash, but I'm sure that Iron-out would work well too. WaterBoss also has an IF model to remove higher levels of iron (higher than 10ppm) that gets plumbed in before the softener. I'm not sure if WaterBoss is the best softener, but it seems to be working well for me.
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dginnetti_aol_com
13 years ago
do not i repeat do not get anderson water....they were here last week to do their maintenance..within a week my water was hard and squeaky, not soft and smooth..i called them right away and told them of the stituation..my dishes had a saltwater residue on them...gave me a song and dance about it had to be hot water tank...my husband drained the tank, just so they couldn't come back to us and find fault..after paying the maintenance fee they charged me a service call...269.00 later...the tech did find a blockage and still gave me the run around and blamed hot water tank and saying i was using too much soap. which i do not..after having them since 1997 and always had my yearly check-up that i find i didn't need yearly with only 2 people..so that was another rip off....don't have anderson...i can't comment on culligan cause i have not dealt with them...
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Anderson Water vs. Culligan?

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formulaross

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