APEC SOFTENER-HE-45-FG Water Softener, Treats Whole House 4-6 bathrooms, 45K Grains, Luxurious Spa Quality Soft Water, Highly Efficient Digital Control Microprocessor

what our customer say this product:

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1. Uncle Ike Verified Buyer – 13 March 2024

   Advanced skillset required to install this unit. What you get in two boxes is really like a parts order to build a system. A lot can go wrong here, tiny little parts that must be installed correctly. When the unit is in regeneration mode the water to the house will be off. My previous unit did auto bypass and allowed hard water to pass during regeneration, set at 2AM this should not be a problem for most people. The unit has a pair of one inch pipe threaded male attachment points. I used a pair of female pipe threaded PVC connectors with teflon tape and PVC pipe compound, Not tight enough both leaked, tighten to no leak and days later at different times both split and flooded the floor causing a lot of damage. My solution was a pair of female galvanized steel couplers, then connect to those with a male PVC fitting. Once successfully installed the unit does a good job and produces soft water.
   

2. Bluegrass82 Verified Buyer – 14 June 2024

   Does an amazing job. I’ve developed really bad psoriasis and eczema over the last few years and the water hardness has gotten worse since we bought here. Lately it’s been very painful with cracked, dry, and painful areas of skin that look all splotchy, and irritated. We got this installed by a plumber and the system is simple to set up with a brine tank and the filter tank along with the electronic valve. The valve lets you adjust the hardness level, according to the water in your area, and it took a couple of days before I noticed a difference but it is astounding to me what a difference this has made. My skin is now soft, no more splotchy, irritated, or red areas, and is no longer painful. My wife loves what it’s done for her hair, making it softer and having to use less shampoo and conditioner. Oh, that’s another thing, since the install we’re using about a 1/4 of the amount of dishwasher detergent, soap, shampoo, dish soap, etc. because the water is so soft and any type of soap or detergent lathers so well the typical amounts are just overkill. Even if you don’t have a skin condition, do yourself a favor and get a home water softening system, it makes a huge difference for such a simple thing that can affect your quality of life.

   

3. Heywood Verified Buyer – 11 January 2025

   Strictly a review of packaging, not installed yet For something that weighs ~100 lbs APEC could do a better job reinforcing the bottom of the box for shipping. You can see where UPS dragged the box wearing through to the tank support. I literally watched the driver wrestle this off the truck and drag it up the walkway. A couple more layers of cardboard, reinforcing the corners or a square of cheap OSB on the bottom would go a long way. The salt tank comes in a separate box which was adequately packaged with the electronic valve inside it.

   

4. Bob F. Verified Buyer – 1 March 2025

   I installed this in October and had a few issues with the installation that ended up being more of my problem but could have avoided if a) they had an installation video and b) if the installation manual was in color or at least wasn’t open to some interpretation as to where certain parts go. My main issue was installing a little “Line flow controller”. Just a tiny red rubber gasket piece where it reduces the flow pressure to the brine tank. (See photos) You put it in by fitting it on the end of a pen or screwdriver and push it into place. Unfortunately at this point in the installation, with the softener hooked into the plumbing, you cannot see down the hose connector to see if it is indeed in place correctly…and it can easily fall over when withdrawing the installation tool (pen/screwdriver). If that happens and you don’t notice, you will have a brine tank hose malfunction as the water pressure will push the hose out of the brine tank holder and you’ll get sprayed all over the place during a regeneration. The company support was responsive, but they were unable to diagnose the issue (and I admit it was my installation that created the problem) which I discovered only by taking the brine hose apart and re installing from the beginning. Anyway thought I’d just add this in case anyone else runs into the problem. System is working fine now and gives me good soft water. Easy to setup regeneration/water softness through the control panel. Installation would be a breeze if it was a little bit clearer for the DIY novice. I’d give it 5 stars if they had an installation video and color instruction manual.

   

5. Chris M Verified Buyer – 3 April 2025

   The softener seems to be doing a decent job. I’m on a well and took my hard water down to 25 roughly. I emailed the company about the hose not fitting straight into the brine tank fitting and never received a response. I ended up modifying the tube myself. Instructions are okay but could be more clear. I set the unit on 175 for water hardness and it regens every 603 gallons and takes about 34 minutes. Overall I’m happy with how it performs just wish there was more support from the company.