Hard water

[Mark Forest]

One of my SFH is on a well. The water softener stopped working and a new toilet we put in has some rust stains in it. The local water softening company recommends a setup that will cost about $3K. I was just going to put in a home depot unit for about $300.00. What experience have you all had?

[Peter Sanchez]

1) You can get the hardwater stains out by draining the toilet, then fill it with white vinegar and let it soak.  Then it should come off easily with a toilet brush.

2) I would go with the home depot route.  I assume you are talking about a whole house filter, where you can install it yourself. If not, get some quotes. $3k seems like a lot to install a water filter. Take the model number of what they wanted to install and go to a regular plumber for a quote to buy and install it, not a "water softening company".

Whenever someone comes up with a specialized name, like "water softening company" instead of "plumber" I feel like I'm about to get hit up for a big bill.