Lol. I hear ya. Thanks for pointing that one out to me - I haven't done as much research into RO units as I did the softeners. I guess I'll get an education on how to do some actual plumbing in the next couple weeks... I'm bet the guy used a saddle valve in my basement when he installed my humidifier a year or so ago...I'll check that out. This post was edited by Jlmurph2 on Fri, Apr 26, 13 at 11:03

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.

There used to be other companies that always referred customers back to the local dealer for support, but I think this business model will continue to decline. With continued expansion of purchasing over the internet, folks are now used to having direct information available, and they do not want to go back to a local dealer for advice. This model also puts the company at the mercy of local dealer quality and support, and the company has to absorb any ill will created by working with a bad local dealer. Bruce

Jake, I agree with you totally as far as overdoing with home water treatment. I took the Kinetico bait, hook, line and sinker. I wanted to make sure my water was safe, but I am on domestic water that meets or exceeds all federal standards and the Kinetico system was way overkill. That is my point. If you have a Kinetico salesman test your water, you will be told you need a Kinetico system and they are way overpriced as far us purchase price and long term costs. My experience with the K5 and Kinetico water softener I installed in 7/2012 started with a kiosk at Home Depot. I sent in a water sample and of course I was told I had hard water and would benefit greatly from a K5 and if I buy a Kinetico water softener at the same time, I get a 10 year warranty. We know how that story goes. It can be helpful to have a water softener and maybe you need a water filter at the sink for drinking water. The point is to have your water tested by someone who does not profit from selling you something. It is required for domestic water to be tested and to meet federal guidelines, and it is free to find out the results of the testing by the local domestic water provider. Once you learn about your water from an independent source, then do your own research to find out what you need, if anything, to clean up that source to your liking. The plumber I hired is from our local area and knows our water test results. He is familiar with the 3M system, which more than handles our water purification needs. I reviewed multiple Amazon verified purchaser reviews for the 3M system before purchasing. It is not perfect, but it is a reliable system that is user friendly. There are no Amazon reviews for Kinetico water softeners or K5s because of the proprietary Kinetico marketing scheme that locks the consumer in to one dealer that charges whatever they want to service the overpriced Kinetico system. The Kinetico dealer lives 2.5 hours away and knew nothing about the local water test results, but he did know how to recommend a $5000 Kinetico system, which I purchased. Unfortunately I learned that Kinetico is all about the sales and not about the follow up customer. service. Lesson learned about people's expertise online. None of us know each other and I assume that AIW and Jake are actually different people, but there is no way I have to prove that. We have to trust each other somewhat and online communication makes it easy to hide behind fake names and multiple personas. Bottom line is buyer beware. If it sounds too good to be true it probably is, and there is no such thing as a free lunch.