You can find a lot of useful information in water softener reviews but you should keep in mind that most of these reviews were probably not written by people who have actually installed them or used by the people reviewing them. These reviews can still be helpful, but you will want to keep a few things in mind while making your decision on which water softener to get. I relied on water softener reviews before I purchased one online and did a self-install. The review was not inaccurate, but there were a couple of things that I would have liked to know ahead of time.

Fortunately I did get a water softener that worked well and had all the features I needed. What kind of threw me, and what wasn’t covered in the water softener reviews, was the importance of things like having a bypass (even if one is included in the unit) and to think seriously about drainage of the waste water.

If you’re cutting into an existing system you should have some plumbing experience or at least be willing to learn. This is also a point that you won’t find in most reviews. You want a bypass setup so you can do maintenance on the system without shutting water off to the house.

The reviews are generally pretty good at giving you the differences between digital and purely mechanical units. The electronic softeners are generally more expensive up front, but can be less expensive in the long term. Since the digital units track water usage they will regen less often and keep you from having to add salt as often.

While you’re working on your plumbing system you want to be sure to isolate the water that goes into your house from the water that feeds your sprinkler system. There’s no point in wasting money spraying softened water onto your lawn or garden. This type of water is not good for growing things anyway.

Before you spend the money on the hardware and installation you want to be absolutely sure that hard water is your problem. Usually people decided they need a water softener based on orange stains on fixtures and deposits in the plumbing. If you have these signs, and if your neighbors also have softeners, then it’s a pretty safe bet you need one too.

But if you want to be absolutely sure, you can submit your water for testing. Testing kits are usually available from your local hardware store or from online testing labs. This will give you absolute certainty with the added benefit of learning what other contaminants may be in your water.

Not all water softener reviews give you the whole story. They may not be hiding things, but they may not know the whole story. Find out why it’s important to be able to get water softener parts.