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My wife and I have wanted a water softner for roughly 12 years. We constantly have calcium scale buildup on our faucets, shower doors, dishwasher, washing machine, you name it. However the high cost to purchase and have one installed kept us from buying one. Recently I decided I was going to buy one of the big box store types and install it myself. To be honest I have done quite a lot of plumbing throughout my life, so I knew I could do it. After reading reviews on those softners I wasn't convined it was the way to go. I resorted to looking at full professional softners "Used" on facebook marketplace. During that search I saw an ad for new softners for sale and ended up here on Amazon. I was amazed to see the units were the exact units local companies were charging close to $5k to install. Under $800 to my door. How can I beat that? Even the used systems on facebook were that price or close to it. A quick investigation of my plumbing showed me I needed to install a loop for the softner, and I watched a few videos on youtube to get an idea of what other parts I needed for the install. Just a few hundred dollars more and I had my system installed and up and running. I'm now two regenerations in and we are starting to get soft water.If you have plumbing skills, or a good friend with some plumbing skills this can be done. The amount of videos online alone walk you through pretty much everything you need to know. We are very happy I made my late night purchase of this water softner.

How I rate: 1 star-don't like at all, 2 stars-it's ok (meh), 3 stars-impressed (I like it), 4 stars-pretty darn good (I love this), 5 stars-wow (indispensable in my life)Had this water softener system installed for 3 months now. Wanted to give it time to see how well it performed-if it would become a 5 star rated item or stay at 4 star. First off, my old water softener (a GE model from Home Depot) stopped working within 2 months and after trying to fix various things with it for almost a year-I gave up; and so it sat outside for 4 years. Fast forward, installation of the Fleck 5600SXT and 48,000 grain water softener tank was easy, setup was very easy, and regeneration was quick. How quick? Got it installed late afternoon before the sun went down, and was able to take a shower with conditioned/soft water that evening. Since it had been a few years dealing with hard water, we had to get used to soft water on our skin again. We all know that feeling-just too slippery at first, but you get used to it. Immediately I did notice a difference in how clean the clothes where when pre-rinsing by hand and definitely when the laundry comes out of the wash. For anyone who has had to pre-rinse baby poop or food out of clothes, you will appreciate how good this water softener works. I've read and heard over and over that it doesn't matter how good your washer may be if you have hard water-your clothes just won't be all that clean. It's true. Having purchased top of the line Samsung washer/dryer set last October and seeing how those darn food and baby poop stains just won't come out, this water softener system has made all the difference.Photos are attached to show a poop explosion on my baby's onesie, how it looks with just water rinsing, and how it looks with a bit of baby soap used as a prewash. Anyone who has hard water and has tried to wash out baby poop knows-that baby poop leaves a bright yellow stain and you're just thinking "it's ruined. just toss it. not worth trying to clean it out. didn't work last time. just toss it. wait, how much is all this costing me?" Again, this water softener has made a world of difference in our household water-no more white lime scale by the frig water dispenser, no more hard water spots by the faucets/mirror, cleaner laundry/clothes, and of course feeling cleaner after a shower or brushing your teeth!

Great product and customer service

Moved into a new home and had a soft water loop installed. Figured I would install one myself as I did in the past. Found the reviews and ratings on this unit and decided to buy it. Although it takes up a much larger footprint that your typical water softner, like GEs etc from the big box stores, I decided to give it a try. After having soft water in my last home for 17yrs, then having regular city water for a short time, people don't typically understand once you have it, you never want to go without soft water.So, lets get to the review. First of all, the price was right, and shipping took about 14 days. The packages arrived at different times. It says that on the brine tank box, but who knows when the next box would show up with the rest of the parts. That was 2 days later. First thing I noted was that they provided a pre-filled brine tank with the lid secured to prevent spillage. Next, they also provided the upgraded; metal bypass valve setup. I will get to this in a minute, because this causes several issues now compared to the standard valve. The instructions, well, they stink. Like others have mentioned, you end up scouring Youtube looking for videos that will help you understand which parts and methods of assembly apply to your unit.This is another strange thing, my valve unit is labeled an 5800LXT on the sticker. And the instructions for the 5600SXT you find on Youtube are sort of helpful, but you need to end up figuring out several things on your own. Like how the salt tank tower and parts are connected and are held in place. Could find this info nowhere, but being mechanically inclined, figured it out finally. Also, the waste valve is in a different location, the opposite side of the head, not next/around the side of the brine connector like most videos shows. Maybe it is a good thing and they improved the valve, but it makes for more confusion. The instructions provided were useless is the short of it.Now, back to the great metal upgraded valve. This is where my entire time and frustrations lie. Took me two days and a few trips to the big box home store to get adapters/fittings and the most important part, pipe dope. Well, it has female threaded inlets, instead of the male threads on it. What does that mean? Instead of just getting a Sharkbite flex water line with a rubber gasket (see photo that attach to my PEX water lines I use on the one end, very convenient and 2yrs later works with no leaks still, new home builds use this) back to the water lines. You can attach it right to the valve, you now need to go find a 3/4 to male to male adapter. Lowes happened to have them, not Home Depot in my area. They are brass. $8/ea. Another issue I have is that my water loop is about 5ft off the ground? Why? I don't know, but I required a 24in and a 18in connectors for the more expensive metal reinforced connector tubes from the loop to the water valve on the unit. I couldn't just use a single 3/4in Sharkbite from the water line directly to the valve head due to height. Now I have like 40in of stainless lines, which ends up being very heavy on the plastic valve the metal bypass attaches to. So I had to rig a bungy and put it around the two water lines that happens to be next to my drain for the system in my plumbing so it will not pull down on the rubber gasket/inlets on the unit and break something, see photos of that. 2yrs later, still holding and working fine. Maybe I will design a nicer metal one that looks better, but now it works and I'm confident it won't pull the thing off the gasket.Back to the metal magical valve. Since I had a Sharkbite and then an extension with rubber gaskets, they all assembled easily. Sharkbite was a breeze. Paid $9 for a PEX cutter, trimmed it and cleaned it well. Popped it on, no issues with those connections. Sharkbite is genius and it doesn't leak, you can trust these things. But if you want a hard plumb pro job and have PEX, just plan on $400 for a a plumber to do that. I called, the cost is ridiculous and any real savings you get from buying through Amazon/online is gone if you have to pay some overpriced plumber nearly the same cost as this unit. So hope you can figure this out on your own, otherwise, plan on a $1000+ water softener. Also, I have had no issues with the lines that have a Sharkbite connector or with rubber extension braided lines with gaskets on them. I used some teflon tape on the 3/4in adapters and they didn't leak. But the new metal amazing bypass valve with female threading is another story! OMG, since the valve has a 1in inlet female connectors, I had to use 2 brass adapters that goes from the 3/4 water lines to 1in valve head (see photos, what a rig). The video you see of the plastic inlet/bypass unit is not the same as the metal. So this is your predicament now.Also, since I had to use 2-24in lines as extenders that connected to the valve and sharkbite 3/4in lines, this required the adapters as well. Why standard sizing isn't used at the manifold/metal inlet is a terrible design. Most water lines in a home are 3/4in, it makes no sense why there is even a 1in inlet. All I know is that it now created this adapter/pipe extension rig for mine to connect. As a DIYer setup it worked in the end. But not pretty. So the valve might be better overall as a design, but it makes for some headaches in my case and multiple trips to the store to get it to work. Plus, my long connection from the loop to the valve head. I'm not a plumber and never worked with PEX, so if I wanted something different, it was going to cost me. So I continued onward. Now, I should have known this with the large 1in size brass adapter with no rubber gasket, but I only had teflon tape on hand, so I tried that first for the adapter connection. I then connected my extension tube and then the adapter to the metal valve on the head. Then, I put the valve in bypass mode and slightly turned my water back on to the house, sure enough, multiple drip leaks on the 3/4-1in brass adapter piece. They were slow, but not good! So much for teflon tape. I tried to re-tape the adapter with a thicker wrapping of it and got it down to a single very slow, every 5 minute drip on one of the inlets. But this made me very nervous obviously. So, I decided to go run up to HD and get some pipe dope. I bought the RectorSeal T plus 2, and several other brands, like regular putty, one dope in a tube etc. Just to be safe. But I went/started with the RectorSeal T plus 2 that is in a 4oz. can, it is a white paste with a small brush attached to the lid. I came back home, disassembled the brass adapters (see photos of end look) took the teflon taper off, then used the pipe dope on the male threads as it directs. I re-assembled the adapters to the head and extension piece,turned the water back on and no leaks. It has been 2 days (updated 2yrs now) the brass to metal valve head adapter is has not leaked. Finally I feel confident that the pipe dope, due to the fitting size, was required. It is too large for teflon, plus the metal to metal connector with no rubber gasket is a problem. So keep this in mind. Also, there is no such thing as a 1in male flex water line that goes from 3/4 to 1in; male by Sharkbite. It doesn't exist, if so, they are like $120, no joke. I was about to hire a plumber if the pipe dope didn't work just to finish the job and hard plump it up. The metal valve does seem like an upgrade, but it causes an entire connector issue and makes a once simple connection in most videos a giant PITA. Especially if you need to make an extension as I did for the connection. Of course, use the right sealant on them. Pipe dope from the start. Don't even bother with teflon tape. Never again am I'm using that garbage.Another thing with this unit, it should be a simple plug and play. Well, try finding where the AC/DC adapter plugs in!! I kid you not, I thought I was blind or missing something, it is hidden by the brine line on the back of the main circuit board, very hard to see. But found it after several minutes by following wires on the control head and eliminating where it could possibly be. Next, the programming. This is easy, go into program mode, set the time, hardness, recycle time, like 2AM overnight, and forget about it. Put your salt in and get the brine tank assembled and connected, and just watch and make sure you are getting soft water in the next day or two. Then ensure you are using about 1 bag of salt a month. I've completely forgot about this thing since, never touched it except to add salt every few months, like two bags at a time. When you first plug it in, the valve makes a noise and resets, set the time, hardness, salt level and runtime, and save the settings with the manual run/recycle button. After that is done, just press and hold the manual recycle/run button on the bottom right for 5 seconds, and it starts a first cycle. It is plug and play. Guess after 15yrs, they figured it out like other softener brands have! I've had other Pentair products, like pool filtration, salt pool systems etc..they are in general not reliable for more than a few years. So we will see how this thing does in the long run.Also, make sure you run all the water in your house, hot and cold valves wide open to purge all the nasty brine solution and initial rinse of the cycle. Took a good 10 minutes of running everything to purge all the piping in the house and hot/cold lines until it has runs clear. Nobody tells you that!! Now that I ran two manual cycles, then it has run the scheduled overnight cycles, by day 2, all the water lines in the house are producing nice soft water. The unit now has the reserves ready for use and we have soft water once again! Thank you soft water Gods!! BTW, I have a Rennai tankless water heater setup. That doesn't seem to be an issue at all. Normally a hot water tank would have to turnover the water in the tank/mix to get soft hot water as well. No issues after two days, I can feel the soft water immediately now and huge difference.Overall, for the price, I don't think it gets much better when you compare it to the big box store units at the same price. The only real complaints I had was the multiple trips to the store for parts, the footprint of this unit, completely terrible instructions, the metal valve and adapters needed. I think I have about $100 into the PEX cutter, Sharkbite, extensions, adapters and pipe dope total. Then about 3-4hrs of my time. Still better than the $400 a plumber will likely charge you. Skip the teflon tape, you will thank me. Finally, as it should be, it is a truly set it and forget it unit. Make sure to test your water hardness, then just monitor the salt level once a month and add a bag of salt. That is all we require in our area. $6/mo plus the extra water for cycling/making soft water is inexpensive to save your plumbing and keep water stains from ruining all of your appliances, pipes, dishes, cups, shower glass etc.. That is how it should work and the Fleck is doing a fine job thus far. Sorry, long review, but hope this helps some people along with the photos to get an idea of the connection issues. Once setup, it requires basically zero maintenance. Also, lastly, I will say, it seems my water pressure has been fine. With PEX, our water pressure is 80psi inbound in the house, the softener doesn't seem to have causes any water pressure loss and flows well. Shower heads are still blasting water upstairs. Good luck.

Easy to Install can you give more of advice once we’ve had it in for a while it’s only been in for a week. I wish it would come in 3/4 piping rather than an inch since that’s what comes with the house.