I fitted one when we built the house 9 years ago. I fed unsoftened water to the outside taps (a waste of money to soften), the cold kitchen tap and a tap in the ensuite after reading the ‘you shouldnt soften your drinking water’. Have since concluded that’s nonsense – soften everything (see extract from manual below). If you’re really worried about taste have a separate tap in the kitchen (or a 3 way). I’ve also fed unsoftened to our fridge which has a Brita Purity Quell filter.
The sales and marketing off them is highly dubious. Ours came from East Midlands Water Co. and it’s one of their Blue range/10L and I think we bought it at ideal home or some other show. I cannot work out the relative benefits of their models or why some are so expensive. Ours looks like the £1400 model but we paid nothing like that for it (and I can’t work out from their site how it’s better than the £500 they sell). They claim the powered ones use much less salt than the unpowered, but then they sell those as well. You definitely want one that regenerates on a meter rather than a timer.
I’d just buy from Screwfix if buying again. This £500 model seems like all anyone would need
https://www.screwfix.com/p/bwt-water-softener-14ltr/62242
Running costs are going to depend on how much water you use. But for 2 of us I dont think I’m going through more than one 25kg bag of salt per year – <£25 at the moment from Screwfix
6. Drinking water
Your water softener installation must include at least one drinking water tap that is not
fed by the water softener.
It is recommended that individuals on a low sodium diet should follow the Department of
Health’s advice that water from a domestic water softener should not be used for
drinking or cooking. Softened water contains a small amount of sodium. It has been
calculated that 1 pint of softened water contains a similar amount of sodium as two slices
of white bread or ¼ pint of milk.
Water that is used for mixing powdered milk for babies must only be taken from an un-
softened mains tap as some powdered milks and softened water both contain sodium for
which young babies have a limited tolerance.
