Kenmore Elite 420 Series Water Softener Reviews


www.sears.com


Rating Summary | 77% of reviewers recommend (20 out of 27)

Installation can be difficult...

Kenmore Elite 420 Series Water Softener — 

Since this is Sears' most expensive water softener, one might expect the kit to include the fittings needed to connect the 1" lines to the typical 3/4" home plumbing setup, but such is not the case. Most home supply stores only have 3/4" and smaller fittings. You might need to get them from a real plumbing supply store - and try to find one open on a Saturday! The service-bypass valve looks cheap and is just plastic with rubber O-rings. If you install this using the ball valve option instead, use rigid copper compression fittings for the threaded connections, especially when attaching the separate whole house water filter (not included in the setup, so you'll have to purchase it separately), which has plastic connections. The all copper setup will require at least 4 feet of rigid copper 3/4" pipe, about 8 elbows, 3 ball valves, 2 1" female to 3/4" adapters, 2 male 3/4" compression fittings, 2 3/4"T's, Teflon tape and the someone who knows how to make the necessary solder sweat connections. You will also need at least 2 bags of nugget salt, 40 pounds each. Count on installation taking about 5 hours. Don't forget spare filters. Expect to spend about $200 in extra parts and supplies, not including labor. Complications involve finding all of the parts and doing extra plumbing if the home is not already plumbed for a potential water softener connection (as mine was) to the water line and gravity drainage line for the 2 hoses.

Kenmore Elite 420 Series Water Softener

is recommended by DoctorJ
Posted on May 11, 2007
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