As consumers we often hear of a product that seems too good to be true, but unfortunately, in most cases it really is too good to be true. However, sometimes a product lives up to it's hype and I found some products that did.

Here's my personal story as a consumer. My wife whom I love dearly, is very organized (which is a nice way of saying OCD). She really likes to clean (“like” may not be the word but we will use it for the lack of a better term) and uses a LOT of water in the process. We had an older washer that was around 3.2 cubic feet capacity. Since we started our life together we have been using this washer. Our monthly water bill was $120-$140. This seemed very high to me at the time but I had no way of knowing for sure because there was a change in our household so I just paid the bill and moved on.

Recently, however we had a leak in the washer and after investigation I found that it wasn't cost effective to repair it. So my consumer journey began. While looking at washers I had several friends and sales people help me make a decision. Of course price was a major factor in my decision but I was also interested in saving some money on water usage. After some research I decided to go with a 3.4 cu/ft, HE (high efficiency) washer. The sales person told me that it would use half the water as an old washer. I took it with a grain of salt but was hoping for the best. We installed the new HE washer and used it for a month and my water bill dropped to $35. I was truly shocked! We didn't change anything else, just the washer. The water softener and RO system usage were the same but because the washer didn't use as much water the softener didn't regenerate as much so I saved money on salt as well. I was able to cut my water usage 75%. This is outstanding! The other thing good about this HE washer was that because it uses less water, we were able to decrease the soap dosage which also provided a cost savings. This product changed our lives.

I definitely would recommend a water softener to feed the washer for a few reasons. Without a softener we would have to use more soap to combat the hardness and the longevity of the washer would be decreased due to calcium build up. We have very hard water at our house (25 GPG or 425 mg/L-ppm). Before we had a water softener, we would have to replace the water heater about every 18-24 months. This was very expensive and quite frankly was breaking my back to remove a water heater from the basement that was full of lime (usually around 200lbs). I have had the softener now for about 6 years and I am still using the same water heater. I drain it periodically as before but now, to this day, I don't get any calcium deposits when I drain it. So again, here is another product that “really works”.

I have had the RO system installed for 5 years now and other than the yearly filter change, it has performed without a glitch. I am still using the same membrane by the way and I am producing water at 17 ppm TDS. Our feed source is over 350 ppm. So I am getting a very good reduction for a membrane that is over 5 years old. We have crystal clear ice (other than a little bit of air trapped in the middle) and great tasting water. Everyone asks for water to drink when they come to my house because it is so refreshing. We have five dogs at our house and a college basketball player (my son) and teammates that enjoy our RO water as well. Once again, another product that works!

People always ask “what kind of water treatment would you have?”, so here is what I have; Fusion Professional-Grade Metered Water Softener Aquapurion Permeate Pump Reverse Osmosis System We have city (municipal) water as a feed source but again, our hardness level is very high here. I am in a position to get whatever water treatment I want at cost, but the items above are all I use. Why? Because that is all I need! So in short, HE washers “really work”. Water softeners “really work” and RO systems “really work”! If you have any questions about my personal experience, please give me a call. If you would like to experience the same water treatment success as I have, give us a call and we'll get you set up for success as well! 1.800.608.8792