Water Softeners and Air Filtration Systems - Failed EcoWater - fix or replace?

My 12 year old Lindsay EcoWater R30 EID system recently failed. Repairman says the motor is burnt out, and it needs a new disk. About a $400 repair.

My question is: is it worth repairing at this point? We've had zero problems with the unit in 12 years. Would replacing a motor and disk give me 12 more years?

If I'm looking at a string of repairs for the next few years, wouldn't it make more sense to put that money towards a new softener?

Our water needs now are less than they were 12 years ago. We used a lot of water in the last decade with 7 in the household. Now we're down to 3 at home.

The last report (from a dealer) I had years ago was 20 gpg of lime in the water. No other contaminants were listed in the report. Haven't testing recently.

I had thought about a consumer softener (for example a Sears or Waterboss) but more reading on the forums makes it clear these are not recommended. So the question is put the money towards a good model >$1000 or fix.

Thanks for any input.

I'm not an expert just been reading a lot here lately, but if you are able to do plumbing you can replace the unit yourself for $450-$1000 with an Autotrol or Fleck unit depending on size and model. If you can't do plumbing on your own check your local plumbing companies most will sell/install/service Autotrol or Fleck water softners. Around here they want $900 for a complete system installed.

Do some reading through the older posts here on water softeners and you'll find plenty of information. If you are on city water they should have an annual water report that tells you all about the hardness and iron levels of your water.

Based on the information here and the water report I replaced our rental Kinetico unit with a Fleck unit and installed it myself. We've been happy with it and for what I was paying in rental the new one will pay for itself in a year.

I agree that a new softener may be the better choice. Remember though, that going cheap canoften be very costly. Decide on quality for long-term reliability and trouble-free performance.

gsr,

I am gald you were happy with you results. I agree there are DIYer ways to save money and get satisfactory results.

I was curious when you said: "Based on the information here and the water report", that you decided to replace your Kinetico softener with a Fleck.

Of course, I would rather own than rent as rent is essentially 100% and one should not be misinformed that "service" is always free when renting. But it doesn't take this forum to provide that understanding.

Andy Christensen, CWS-II

Andy - I meant I was originally going to go buy a water softener from a big box store rather than rent then after reading here I learned I could buy a quality unit that would last for the same price as a box store model.

I was plenty happy with the Kinetico but to buy it outright would have cost $2200 vs the $460 for the Fleck.

Hi all,

I ended up buying a unit from OhioPureWaterCo. Same cost as the bigboys. Works very well so far.

Now, what do I do with the old one? The resin is 10 years old. The tank and parts are nice. Shall I just take it to the junk yard? Or is there any value in the parts to someone trying to maintain their old one?

- Brian