If you live in London, your water's almost certainly hard. Most of it comes in at around 250–300+ mg/l as calcium carbonate, because it's spent time soaking through chalk and limestone before it gets to you. A whole-house water softener sorts that out where the mains comes in, so every tap gets softened water (apart from one drinking tap, which we leave hard on purpose). We fit them all over London and the Home Counties, from our base in Chiswick.
Why bother with a softener?
Hard water won't hurt you. It's just a pain to live with. The calcium and magnesium in it are what turn into limescale when water's heated or left to dry. Take them out and you'll notice it fast:
- Less limescale. No more crusty taps, cloudy shower screens or bits floating in your tea.
- Happier appliances. Scale builds up inside boilers, cylinders, kettles, washing machines and dishwashers. Soft water stops new scale forming.
- Less cleaning. The descaler can go to the back of the cupboard.
- Nicer-feeling water. Soap and shampoo lather properly, and plenty of people say their skin and hair feel softer. Plenty of families find soft water more comfortable at bath time. It's not a treatment for any skin condition, though, so if skin's a worry, have a chat with your GP or health visitor.
Not sure how hard yours is? Pop your postcode into our water hardness checker for a rough figure (it's a guide to what's typical locally, so check with your water supplier for an exact reading).
How installation works
1. Free survey and water test
We come round, test your water and have a look at where the mains comes in and how your pipes run. Then we work out where the softener can go.
2. Fixed-price quote
One clear price for the kit and the work. No surprises.
3. Fitting, usually in a day
Most installs are done in a day. Typically:
- Finding it a home. Usually under the kitchen sink, or in a utility room, garage or cupboard near the mains stopcock.
- A bypass valve. This lets you take the softener out of the loop, say during a service, without losing your water.
- Drain and overflow. It needs a drain and overflow for when it flushes itself through.
- A hard drinking tap. We fit a separate kitchen tap with unsoftened water for drinking and cooking.
Before we go, we'll set it up for your water, check for leaks and show you how to top up the salt and use the bypass.
Choosing the right system
We don't push one brand. The right softener depends on your house and how you use water. Here are the main choices:
- Metered or timer. A metered softener regenerates based on how much water you've actually used, so it suits busy, changeable households. A timer unit regenerates on a fixed schedule. Simpler, but it can waste a bit of salt and water.
- Non-electric or electric. Non-electric units are usually compact, run on block salt and don't need a socket. Electric ones usually take tablet salt and have a control panel. Our guide to block salt vs tablets vs granular goes into the pros and cons.
- Size. We size it to how many people live there, how many bathrooms you've got and how hard your water is. A typical three-bed terrace needs less than a big family house with three showers going at 7.30am.
What about drinking water?
Softening swaps calcium and magnesium for sodium, roughly 46 mg/l of sodium for every 100 mg/l of hardness taken out. With London water, that can get close to the UK legal limit of 200 mg/l. It's also not recommended for baby formula. So we fit an unsoftened drinking tap with every softener. If you'd like filtered, low-sodium water instead, reverse osmosis with its own kitchen tap is another option. See our drinking water options and can you drink softened water?
Where we work
We cover all of London inside the M25, plus Surrey, Kent, Essex, Hertfordshire, Buckinghamshire and Berkshire. Most of our installs are in West London (Chiswick, Kensington, Holland Park, Notting Hill, Hammersmith, Ealing) and East London (Shoreditch, Hackney, Bethnal Green, Stratford, Canary Wharf, Walthamstow).
Looking after it afterwards
Day to day, a softener mostly just wants salt. We'd also suggest a yearly service. We check the settings, clean out the brine tank and make sure it's regenerating properly. More on that on our water softener servicing page.
Fancy getting started? Fill in the free quote form to book your survey, or give us a ring on 020 3633 6064, Monday to Friday, 8am–6pm.
Frequently asked questions
How long does a water softener install take?
Most are done in a day. We'll confirm at the survey.
Where will the softener go?
Usually under the kitchen sink, or in a utility room, garage or cupboard near the mains stopcock. It needs to be on the incoming mains, near a drain.
Do I need a plug socket?
Not always. Non-electric block-salt softeners don't need power at all. Electric tablet-salt units need a socket nearby.
Can I still drink the tap water?
Yes, from the drinking tap. We fit a separate unsoftened tap in the kitchen with every softener, so you've got hard water for drinking, cooking and baby formula.
Do you cover my area?
We cover all of London inside the M25, plus Surrey, Kent, Essex, Hertfordshire, Buckinghamshire and Berkshire.
