Columnist Muriel Stevens: Hard look at water softeners

Wednesday, March 31, 1999 | 9:57 a.m.

Lately, it seems as if I'm being followed by the dark cloud of household breakdown. I barely replace one appliance before another bites the dust.

The latest to go is my water softener. Due to the hardness of our water, a water softener is, for most of us, a necessity. Without a water softener, clothes do not wash well, dishwashers leave spots on glasses and skin gets dry and itchy.

I'm very good at choosing new kitchen appliances, but not so good when it comes to choosing stuff like water softeners. When I moved into my condo, I kept the monthly soft water service and the rented softener the previous owners had.

It didn't take long to realize that while convenient, this was an expensive way to have soft water. The time had come to buy my own and let the maintenance people put in the salt.

I'm much wiser now than I was then. I didn't comparison shop before buying. I needed a water softener, Sears had one on sale, so I bought it. My softener conked out just after the warranty expired. Sometimes household items last well beyond their warranties, but never forget -- warranties are based on probabilities.

Before going shopping for a new one I got a bid from a plumber I know and trust. Including installation, the price was $950. It was a top-of-the-line product from a well-known, reliable company and it came with a decent warranty, but it was a lot of money for a water softener for a one-person household.

A service call from Sears was $60. I'd already paid for a service call for an ailing television set, only to learn it couldn't be repaired. I didn't want to have this happen again. That same day, Sears advertised a water softener for $449.99, supposedly reduced from $609.99. This was half the price I'd been quoted.

The salesman told me it was not a reduced price, but rather a "special purchase." Not quite the same thing. Special purchases may not be up to the standards of regular merchandise and there is no way to comparison shop. I rarely buy special purchases.

That $449.99 price was only the beginning of the actual price. Installation was $111. There was an additional $25 for an installation kit that was not included in the installation price, and an additional $18.50 for a permit to install it. The grand total was $704.50. Not too much lower than the plumber's bid for a larger and better water softener.

There are advantages, though, to shopping at Sears. After weighing all of my options, I called the Sears help line to learn if there was anything I could do, without a service call, to assure that my old softener was beyond repair.

A very helpful woman walked me through the process that the service person would do. She suspected that I didn't need a new unit, but needed to clean the venturi, a k a the filter. If it's clogged, it won't work. And, I learned, the salt itself could form a hard bridge that prevents the salt from falling into the water. All it takes is a poke with a stick to dislodge it.

Armed with this information, I gave it a try. The venturi wouldn't budge, not even with the aid of a strong helper. But, I could hear the motor running -- a very good sign. I didn't poke the salt. I'm opting for a service call. For $60, I'll let the repairman poke it. If I'm lucky, that will be all it needs.