Absolutely second what BT said.

You don't start by picking a brand name - you start by understanding what's in your water. And well water, in particular, can vary.

1. Get your water tested by a reputable lab that's not trying to sell you water treatment.

2. Then say, "what type (not brand) of filter do I need to clean this up (if any)". This could be a water softener - or it could be a separate iron or sulfur filter. You might need a carbon filter - or you might not. You might need a ph neutralizer. You could need an R/O filter - or you might not.

3. Then choose the provider.

Kinetico isn't my go-to choice for anything unless the question is, "how do I remove dollars out of my bank account".

Our home came with a 30' well and a disconnected Kinetico water softener. I called around and found the company that installed it in the 80's. It was 2013 when I called. They walked me through how to check it, ordered the part for us and got us up and running. We don't use it much since we drilled a deeper (375') well, but it is still growing strong! No complaints from us on that brand! We also have high iron, but that requires a separate filter. We change it monthly or every other month - I forget.

The resin on any water softener will generally last 10-15 years -- sometimes a little longer. I don't know how much use Cyndy's softener above had, but I wouldn't have a lot of confidence in the resin bed of a 35 year old softener. And again, a good softener can be purchased for about $600 online now. Even if a "premium" softener somehow lasted twice as long, it's hard to justify spending $5-7k on a Kinetico.

Thanks.

Full discosure, I’m a Kinetico rep.

A kinetico system will be a larger investment up front, but it will pay you back over time. They use 70% less water and salt. Which means less money on bags of Morton and less wear and tear on your well pump system. Also less drain on that retaining tank since water sounds to be at a premium for you.

A Kinetico also doesn’t have the shelf life of other softener resin beds. Other softeners use hard, raw water to regenerate. A Kinetico uses soft, treated water from one tank to regenerate the other. its so much better that Kinetico warranties their resin, something most other softeners do not do.

"A kinetico system will be a larger investment up front, but it will pay you back over time. They use 70% less water and salt."

70% less water and salt than what, exactly? I would need to see proof that a kinetico system saves 70% of water and salt over a traditional softer using "usage" based regeneration and something on the order of 8# of salt per cu ft of resin.

And I'd really like to see those payback numbers - please post them, because I can't make it work. For example: I use 20 bags of salt a year @ $4 a bag =$80. Let's say for argument's sake your system saves 70%. Let's also assume an installed traditional system is $800 and a Kinetico is $3,000. That would take almost 40 years to pay the difference back without considering the cost of money or anything else. Of course that "payback" period is longer than the life of the unit AND longer than most people live in one house. The "payback" is non-existent. That $2200 difference invested @6% a year would be $22,628. in 40 years.

There is no "saving you money over time" with Kinetico - they are very expensive to buy and very expensive to maintain. Whatever "savings" there may be is minimal compared to the costs.

And let's talk about that warranty - since you brought it up. I understand that although parts are warranted, labor is not. Even simple parts are restricted to dealers. The cost of that warranty labor to replace the resin could easily cost half or more of the purchase price of a new traditional unit.

And why does it matter if the regeneration uses soft or hard water? The resin is exposed to hard water 99% of the time. That's its job, after all.