Water softener installation removes the calcium and magnesium that cause limescale, protecting your boiler, hot water cylinder, dishwasher, washing machine, and every tap and shower screen in the house.
London water sits between 270 and 330 ppm CaCO3 across most of the capital, classed as hard to very hard, with south and west boroughs at the upper end. At those levels limescale forms on the inside of a combi boiler heat exchanger fast enough to halve its working life, blocks shower roses within a year, and leaves the tide marks every London tenant knows. A softener fitted downstream of the rising main runs the cold supply through an ion-exchange resin that swaps the hardness ions for sodium, sending soft water on to the boiler, the cylinder, the bathrooms, and the white goods. A separate hard-water tap is teed off at the kitchen sink so drinking water stays unsoftened, which keeps the install compliant with drinking-water guidance.
We install WRAS-approved units from BWT, Harveys, Kinetico, and Aquasoft, sized against the manufacturer flow-rate tables for the bathroom count and occupancy. Block-salt units (Harveys, Kinetico) suit kitchen cupboards, tablet-salt units suit garages and utility rooms with more brine-tank space. We default to metered regeneration over timer-controlled regen, the meter only regenerates after a measured volume of water has been used, cutting salt and water use by 30 to 50 per cent on variable-occupancy households. Every install includes the softener, a hard-water drinking tap, isolation valves either side, a brine drain with WRAS air-gap, and a magnetic filter (Adey MagnaClean Professional 2 or Fernox TF1 Omega) on the heating return for the boiler-side protection that softeners do not cover.
Where this service applies
- South and west London boroughs (Kingston, Richmond, Wandsworth, Sutton) at 300 ppm CaCO3 and above
- Limescale on shower screens, kettle elements, and taps within months of cleaning
- Combi heat exchanger scaling causing kettling or secondary plate failure
- Reduced shower flow from a scaled spray plate
- Dishwasher and washing machine needing more detergent and softener to perform
- Bathroom or kitchen refurb where tile and glass finishes need to stay clean
- Underfloor heating retrofit, soft water reduces scale on manifold flow meters
- Sensitive skin or eczema aggravated by hard-water minerals
How we deliver
No surprises, no upselling. The exact path every job follows.
- 1
Site survey and unit sizing
We check the rising main, available cabinet or garage space, drain proximity, and occupancy, then size a BWT, Harveys, Kinetico, or Aquasoft unit against the manufacturer flow-rate tables. - 2
Hardness and pressure check
Hardness reading from the cold kitchen tap with a Hach test kit, dynamic pressure check, and a quick walk of the pipe runs to confirm the install location. - 3
Isolation and hard-water tee
We isolate at the stop tap, tee off a hard-water line to the kitchen sink for drinking water, and fit full-bore isolation valves either side of the softener body. - 4
Softener and drain install
Unit mounted level, inlet and outlet plumbed in 22mm or 28mm copper or compression, brine drain to the nearest waste with the WRAS air gap. - 5
First regen and commissioning
Salt loaded, first regeneration cycle run, soft-water hardness verified at the bathroom tap with the test kit (target under 50 ppm CaCO3), meter programmed for the household. - 6
Upstream-of-boiler protection
Where the heating side is unprotected we fit an Adey MagnaClean Professional 2 or Fernox TF1 Omega on the boiler return at the same visit. Softeners protect the cold supply, magnetic filters protect the heating loop. - 7
Handover and salt cadence
Walk-through, salt-refill schedule (typically every four to six weeks for a family of four on block salt), warranty paperwork, and a service tag recording install date and resin replacement interval.