Hello!

We very recently purchased a 30 year old home, with what turns out to be
a completely failed 25-yr old Culligan water softener and what appears
to be a "disadvantaged", 15-yr old Culligan Iron Filter. Our main
concern initially was a water pressure problem which was easily resolved
by bypassing the iron filter. We later discovered that the softener was
not using any salt, and was completely inneffective.

We haven't had our water independently tested, but we have had a few
separate tests that are mostly consistent with each other:

Well water
23 grains of hardness
1.5 - 2.5 ppm of iron (independent - culligan)
300 (somethings) of dissolved solids

We've had a couple of people come out:

A local independent water softener company came out, tested our water,
and suggested a Osmonics softener, installed for ~$900. The brochures
make a point of saying they use Autotrol valves, which seem to be
common, so servicing the unit should be no problem in the future. He
advised that the softener should be able to handle the amount of iron in
the water, but if we wanted a new iron filter he could sell us one for
$1700. There was no pressure to go with that immediately, however.

The next day, the local Culligan salesperson came out and ran a battery
of tests on our water (all the while looking at our existing equipment,
shaking his head in disbelief) and recommended that we replace the water
softener with a Culligan unit ($1499) and either do a major overhaul on
the current iron filter ($500, not guaranteed to fix the pressure
issues) or buy a new iron filter for $1900. He said that anyone who
told us that their softener could handle that level of iron was lying to
us and wouldn't stand behind their products when the unit failed in a
few months.

So, who's telling the truth? The indepdendent dealer has been around
for decades, several generations. My grandparents have a conditioner
(on city water) from them and have had no problems with them, so I am
inclined to trust them. I'd appreciate any suggestions on these subjects.

Thanks!

Ben