GE Appliances 30,400 Grain Water Softener - GXSF30V

I had a whirlpool salt softener that was 40k grains and 8 years old.....it was still working but unbeknownst to me, someone had changed the salt setting down to 12 a few years back and I thought it was not working....well, it was working but not properly because someone changed the salt setting........so I bought this to replace it. I set it at 25 and it works great. It will take time until your hot water heater fills completely with the softened water, but cold should be ready to go after installation. I had a plumber switch this out for me in my softener loop. Immediately after and for 2-3 days, my water smelled and tested like acetone and I could not figure this out! I was scared to use the water. FYI, this was the pvc glue that was used and it took 2-3 days for it to completely cure? and wash away. Yes, I let the cold water run for an hour, but the taste/odor was still there until a few days later. If this should happen to you, just know that you have to wait a few days, and I would NOT NOT NOT use the hot water during this time as you don't want that in your hot water heater!! My plumber happens to be immune to this scent as he works with it every day. I happen to be hyper sensitive to it. It does go away though! UPDATE! I just had a different plumber add a whole house sediment and charcoal/chlorine filter to the softener loop which is all pvc. Those need to be added BEFORE the softener. This plumber waited the CORRECT amount of time for the pvc glue to cure before turning on the water, at least half an hour. The result is there is NO primer/glue odor or taste in the water at all!! Make sure you give the glue plenty of time to cure and dry or make your plumber give it the correct amount of time before turning on the water. So, it works good. If you need to adjust the salt hardness level, just know that this model only allows you to do this in increments of 5 above 25. I have it now set at 25 and my next option higher would be 30. At settings below 25, this changes in increments of 1 (10,11,12,13...) My hair no longer feels like straw and my shower is CLEAN. I can't live without a salt softener. There are just way too many benefits and the water does NOT taste salty. My appliances and fixtures will last forever without leaking or premature failure. Clothes are cleaner and not stiff. I could go on and on all day about the benefits of a salt softener, and I tried one that wraps around your water lines.....straight back to the salt softener for me!! This was the cheapest replacement I could find and my whirlpool was working still after 8 years which is very similar to this ge. Update: This has been in use for about a month now. The thing I like most abut this unit is it has a display of when you will run out of salt! love this! I have the salt level on 2 and it is expected to run out in 90 days! This does NOT waste the salt. I would put the salt higher than 2, but I don't want to get a salt dam or salt bridge, so I just check it every few weeks and will add another bag when it looks too low. For those of you who may be worried about adding salt to the water, this does not. The ion exchange happens in the softer's filter and it does NOT add salt to the water on any tap in the home. I tested the salinity of the water on all taps against the outside tap that is not connected to the water softener and the salinity is the same, 170ppm. Tested against a neighbor too on the same city water but without a softener, their results are 182ppm of salt. That is just what the city gives us, which is under the federal recommended standards of 200ppm. I do have an RO system in the kitchen, but I have that mainly for the fluoride, but the salt reading at that tap is 20ppm or lower depending on how long it runs.

I'll be happy to amend this review if GE does a 180 on their customer support. Too long; didn't read: expect GE to do the absolute bare minimum to resolve any and all warranty issues. This water softener lasted about two months before it threw up a "Err 1 Call For Service" message on its screen. I called GE's "customer support" line from the manual. The first rep was nice enough. What I was expecting was some sort of walkthrough for self-diagnosing the system and checking for mechanical failures. What I got was "let me set you up with one of our local servicing representatives to schedule a time to come out and service your unit." I got an email confirmation... the appointment was through a local water filtration company in town. I thought "great!" After a week with no phone call, I called back GE and let them know that their service provider had not reached out to me. "Did you call them?" I was asked by the rep. "No..." [because why would it be my responsibility to follow up with YOUR third-party service provider]. "You should call them and ask when they're coming out to service your unit" I was told. This was the beginning of a growing list of the buck being passed down the line by people who simply couldn't be bothered to try and help. So I called this local company and asked if they had received the email from GE. In so many words I was told "I don't know why they do that [insinuating this wasn't the first call they had received about GE devices]. We do not and have never repaired GE products. We don't even install them because they're junk. The parts are impossible to service or replace. I just took one out of a customer's home the other day that had broken down." I asked "so you're not under any sort of contract with GE for warranty repair work?" He replied "absolutely not and I don't know why they tell people that we repair their products." Called back GE. Explained the situation to a third different rep who apologized for the trouble and created an advanced ticket for service. I was then contacted by a fourth GE rep who told me, in so many words, that they do not have a service provider in my area who can repair the unit. I need to seek out a repair servicer on my own, pay up to $250 up-front for any charges (the softener costs ~$450), and I will then be sent a check to cover my expenses. *If* any charges will exceed $250 then I must reach back out to GE and receive authorization first before GE will cover any additional repair costs. A little bit shocked... I was not expecting that sort of response or passing of the buck in such a grand fashion. I replied to the email pointing out where the warranty documentation *clearly* says that all parts of the softener are covered under warranty for one year with *all* costs paid by GE for parts and labor. At this point the email has turned into a bit of a pissing match... the rep replies back saying that "if you read further, it says that you may [key word here] have to pay any trip costs associated with repair including delivering the unit to a repair facility or paying for a servicer trip." Unbelievable. I was then told "just contact a plumber, have them repair the unit, and then let me know what the charges are up to $250 and then let me know if it goes above that." So if you aren't following the meaning here... what the rep is saying is that it's very likely that you may pay $250 up-front for repairs that will at least be reimbursed, but if costs rise above that then either YOU have to foot the remainder of the bill for your two month old $450 water softener or you're stuck with a unit that doesn't work. So to recap, GE will do the absolute bare minimum to make attempts to repair this unit under warranty, and I would certainly expect this to apply to all of their products. If you don't live in the same town as an authorized GE servicer then you will have to do the leg work of finding someone to repair the unit, and only then will you receive a reimbursement of approximately 60% of the cost of the unit brand new, despite the warranty clearly stating that all parts and labor are paid for within the first year. They don't even offer to send a pre-paid shipping label to have it sent to one of their servicers, which almost any other company will at least do. I guess the guy from the local water filtration company was right - these softeners are garbage and built to fail. Save yourself half a grand and go with literally any other company than GE who will actually provide a warranty for their product.

This water softener is a replacement. I had the exact same unit for ten years with absolutely no issues. All I ever did was fill it with salt. Then one day it unexpectedly filled up with water and would not drain. I could have purchased the parts to repair it (from Amazon), but research made it evident to me that water softeners are only good for ten years in Arizona. The fact that GE is still making this exact model 10 years later tells me it must be dependable and a good seller. This made replacement very easy. I did it myself in about 2 hours. I'm 72 years old. Saved $$$ on a plumber. Got it delivered in two days with free shipping. Couldn't be any happier.

Our water softener hasn't been working right for a while now and we decided to purchase this one to replace it because the fittings were about the same as the one we currently had (same brand). We did that in hopes we could just swap them out without needing a plumber. The item arrived quickly, however, when we unboxed it it looked like it was pretty beat up in transit. We were able to hook it up, not as easily as we had hoped but still got it done without needing a plumber. After hooking it up, we were all ready to try it out andy husband noticed something didn't look right inside. Here the entire casing that protects some of the parts in the internal area was all the way cracked. After looking at it for a little while he thought maybe it would be fine and that it wouldn't matter if it was cracked. Luckily, we went ahead and filled it up and it has worked perfectly since. (Approx 1 months now.) We contacted Amazon about the damage and sent over pictures and they did offer us a discount. Hopefully it keeps working properly because our water is nice and soft again!