Anyone familiar with Westinghouse?

[I know nothing]

Hey all!

Noob here. I was thinking about getting a water softener. My co-worker bought a Westinghouse Progressive Revolution a few years back, and he's pretty happy with it. But from my limited research, they're REALLY expensive, and, well, I can't really find any info on the web about them. I mean, I know who Westinghouse WAS, and have a half-decent idea on who they are today, but there isn't a lot about their water systems. At least that I can find.

I was at a local home show a few weeks back, and Westinghouse and Kinetico were both there. Any thoughts? Looking on the boards here, it looks like the consensus on Kinetico is "works well, but pricey and you're at the mercy of the dealer for parts and service." Oh, and for reference, my water hardness is somewhere North of 10. The Westinghouse guy did a test that had it around 18, but I bought a testing kit at Home Depot to try it myself.

Thanks!

 

[Bannerman]

I doubt W produce any of the water treatment equipment they offer. While their controllers appear similar to Clack, they are likely a knockoff produced offshore for an inexpensive cost to W.

While some proprietary brands offer high quality equipment as you mention, those brands are usually not recommended on this forum as there will be limited availability for support, service and parts. Proprietary brands are typically only sold and serviced by that brand's dealer network. Although their most local dealer may setup a sales booth at your local home show, are they actually local to your area or will you need to pay an excessive travel amount for after warranty service?

If you are currently experiencing problems finding information on W's equipment, what do you expect will happen when you require service and parts in the future, especially if their water treatment division doesn't take-off as they anticipate and few dealers contnue to support their equipment?

If you review this forum, you will find Fleck and Clack water treatment equipment is consistently recommended as they both have a long history in water treatment and offer reliable, quality equipment which is supported for decades by most local generic water treatment professionals throughout the US.

Since this is a DIY forum, if you are planning to install, program or maintain your softener yourself, it would be advisable to obtain a Hach 5b Total Hardness test kit to periodically test and verify the raw and softened water hardness yourself.

 

[Sponsor]

 

[I know nothing]

I doubt W produce any of the water treatment equipment they offer. While their controllers appear similar to Clack, they are likely a knockoff produced offshore for an inexpensive cost to W.

While some proprietary brands offer high quality equipment as you mention, those brands are usually not recommended on this forum as there will be limited availability for support, service and parts. Proprietary brands are typically only sold and serviced by that brand's dealer network. Although their most local dealer may setup a sales booth at your local home show, are they actually local to your area or will you need to pay an excessive travel amount for after warranty service?

If you are currently experiencing problems finding information on W's equipment, what do you expect will happen when you require service and parts in the future, especially if their water treatment division doesn't take-off as they anticipate and few dealers contnue to support their equipment?

If you review this forum, you will find Fleck and Clack water treatment equipment is consistently recommended as they both have a long history in water treatment and offer reliable, quality equipment which is supported for decades by most local generic water treatment professionals throughout the US.

Since this is a DIY forum, if you are planning to install, program or maintain your softener yourself, it would be advisable to obtain a Hach 5b Total Hardness test kit to periodically test and verify the raw and softened water hardness yourself.

Thanks for the reply! Yeah, W doesn't make the system. I think it's LeverEdge. Or maybe they're just another distributor/middleman. The L website lists a bunch of downstream companies that they supply products to (Westinghouse, GE, Nuvis, et al).

I'm not much of a DIYer (yet?), but I did ping a local plumber to see if they recommend anything. My house is almost 50 years old. As near as I can tell, the water comes straight in under (in?) the slab from the street. I don't have a garage, so the unit would have to be placed outside. It looks like a Fleck system can be had for under $1000, so it might be cheaper to hire a plumber to do it, and then I can fix/replace anything that breaks.

The non-electric aspect of the Kinetico appeals to me because it's one less hole to drill into the house. How well do these things hold up being outdoors (Fleck, etc)? My buddy's W system survived the bad cold snap we had hear in January last year. It was around or below freezing for a month. The Kinetico guy says that the 4040 will work fine outside.

 

[MangoDan]

Thanks for the reply! Yeah, W doesn't make the system. I think it's LeverEdge. Or maybe they're just another distributor/middleman. The L website lists a bunch of downstream companies that they supply products to (Westinghouse, GE, Nuvis, et al).

I'm not much of a DIYer (yet?), but I did ping a local plumber to see if they recommend anything. My house is almost 50 years old. As near as I can tell, the water comes straight in under (in?) the slab from the street. I don't have a garage, so the unit would have to be placed outside. It looks like a Fleck system can be had for under $1000, so it might be cheaper to hire a plumber to do it, and then I can fix/replace anything that breaks.

The non-electric aspect of the Kinetico appeals to me because it's one less hole to drill into the house. How well do these things hold up being outdoors (Fleck, etc)? My buddy's W system survived the bad cold snap we had hear in January last year. It was around or below freezing for a month. The Kinetico guy says that the 4040 will work fine outside.

The Westinghouse uses a Clack valve. One reason I chose their product was their lifetime warranty on the entire system. Beat out anything else I looked at. Also, from what I understand they have been in water treatment for over 20 years.

 

[ditttohead]

Lifetime warranty, I write these warranties for many companies and they are basically worthless. I am not saying theirs is but common sense has to come into play. Most lifetime warranties I write include many simple disclaimers that negate the warranty the day after they are installed, or simply state they guarantee that the company will be able to repair the system for the lifetime of the unit, you of course are responsible for all labor and parts costs. They will also simply state the labor to repair the unit is so ridiculous that they easily pay for any parts. I could go on but you get the point.

 

[Tommmie]

We inherited the water softener when we bought the house 18 months ago. I called the company whose label was on the tank and they sent 2 young men out who gushed all over the device. I wondered why we needed it.
The readout on the front of the device has a green/orange indicator line. It was nearly all green, the device being relatively new. The young men informed me that when the line got totally orange it was time to renew the chemicals Or perhaps minerals? I know they said carbon but beyond that I didn’t pay attention. Items inside the main stainless steal barrel.
It woke me in the night making a terrible noise and I went to check it out, I noticed the line is nearly all orange now. I called the company again and they sent a technician out. He did some fussing around and I paid no attention as we are in quarantine here and I stayed across the garage from him.
Yesterday I noticed the line is still orange and that’s after I paid them $205.65. That’s for a service call and $90 an hour billed in 15 minute increments. I called them today and they basically said that all he did was test the water to make sure the machine was still working. They further said that they have no idea what it would cost to, “renew,” the innards of the stainless steal tank but there is as much as $3,000.00 worth of stuff in there that could all of some need replacement. Bills of $1,000.00 are not uncommon I understand. To find out what it would really cost for them to do all of that would cost me an additional couple a hundred bucks to have the dude come back out again and charge me $90 an hour to do some testing.
When the young men were here they said that there is a bi-pass valve on the back of the unit which diverts the water around the unit. Does anyone know if that’s true? I can find no information on line about it. I want to turn it off and see how bad the water is without it.
I thank you in advance for any help you can offer.

Tom

 

[ditttohead]

Post some pictures of your system.