Latest reviews about Kenmore 350 Series Water Softener

nmd123 says "nice!" about Kenmore 350 Series Water Softener

nmd123 — Thu, 29 Dec 2011 03:49:21 GMT

I like the fact that it is digital instead of the old pin version. Has different functions depending on how often you want/need to regenerate. It is a very nice and quiet unit.

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Ngw says "Kenmore 350 water softener has been a very good purchase.this" about Kenmore 350 Series Water Softener

Ngw — Wed, 28 Dec 2011 22:17:56 GMT

This was the first water softener we have ever purchased. It works perfectly....

jsheard28 says "Kenmore 350 Series Water Softener" about Kenmore 350 Series Water Softener

jsheard28 — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 15:34:22 GMT

My old Kenmore 200 Series water softener went out after 10 years and I purchased the new 350 Series as I had really good luck and experience. I can not say anything wrong with the 350 series softener. I removed the old one and installed the new one which saved me $100+ for installation. I would recommend this product to anyone looking for a great water softener at a good price.

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MorganAry says "Flooded garage floor" about Kenmore 350 Series Water Softener

MorganAry — Mon, 24 Jan 2011 21:57:30 GMT

We bought this water softener to replace an older Kenmore model. This one has worked a lot better than the older one, until now. After about 2 1/2 years, I walked into my garage to find the floor flooded. The brine tank was full and overflowing. The plastic top of the resin tank, which contains the gears and valves, was cracked and leaking into the brine tank. It was working good up until this point but, for the price, it should last longer than 2-3 years with only a one year warranty. I'm not sure if the other components are damaged from the exposure to the water. When I was removing the bypass valve to take the tank out and empty it, the connector that the valve fits into also cracked when I was removing the retaining clips. Expensive parts with cheap quality....

justsomeguy says "So far, so good...." about Kenmore 350 Series Water Softener

justsomeguy — Tue, 18 Jan 2011 15:54:17 GMT

as a novice i installed this in a couple of hours using Shark Bite couplings. no complaints so far. water is soft and relatively rust free....

pstrand says "350 water softener easy to install" about Kenmore 350 Series Water Softener

pstrand — Thu, 13 Jan 2011 17:51:52 GMT

Bought this to replace a Water Boss ************ that never did work right. Originally bought with installation, but when it could not be installed b/4 Xmas as promised cancelled installation, picked up at store, and installed myself. Installation very easy and straight forward. Good instructions. Excellent value compared to other installed softeners....

joemaclaw says "Get something else" about Kenmore 350 Series Water Softener

joemaclaw — Mon, 10 Jan 2011 16:01:07 GMT

I have had nothing but trouble with this unit. After about two years, a half dollar sized plastic retainer burst when we were out and flooded the basement. Even though it supposedly clipped on, it couldn't be replaced without a special tool, so it required a service call. Two years later, and now the unit has completely failed. My advice: definitely stay away from this unit.

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mandres says "Doesn't last" about Kenmore 350 Series Water Softener

mandres — Sun, 26 Sep 2010 18:37:18 GMT

First off let me say that we have had softeners in this residence for 40+ years. We purchased this Kenmore watersoftener (Intellisoft 350) in March of 2008 to replace a 14 year old softener. It seemed to work fine for 2 1/2 years and then I noticed that it had regenerated 3 times in a 24 hour period. The last time it regenerated it would not shut down and ran water through the system all night. In checking with an online tech I was told that the computer ($115.00) probably needs to be replaced. I think a $600.00 machine should last longer than 2 1/2 years. As I stated we have had several softeners here, they have all lasted longer than 2 1/2 years. I will not be buying a Kenmore to replace this one.

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redfish58 says "I love my softener" about Kenmore 350 Series Water Softener

redfish58 — Mon, 30 Aug 2010 19:26:25 GMT

I love my softener I use a half the soap now no more water lines and it takes most of the iron out.

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DennisJans51 says "Kenmore 350 Water Softener" about Kenmore 350 Series Water Softener

DennisJans51 — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 03:41:57 GMT

This unit is a replacement for a 14 year old Kenmore DIR Water Softener.

I am very pleased. I installed it myself and wanted to make a couple plumbing changes. Even with that the installation went quickly. There have been several improvements since the last model such as improved water flow and a much more compact (lighter) power supply. This softener also has the salt level monitor that was only available on the top of the line model 14 years ago.

The manufacturer who makes the Kenmore line has been the same supplier for many, many years and is the top of the line in this price range. Very few moving parts and any part that contacts hard water or salt is made of a non-corrosive material. Very first class indeed.

My water is about 32 grains hard with less than 2 PPM of iron.

Hope this review helps a customer make a decision.

By the way, we have the maintenance plan coverage. We have had free service on several items over the years and when the old unit finally died, it was replaced...

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sugarbeetp says "Very Happy!" about Kenmore 350 Series Water Softener

sugarbeetp — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 17:20:06 GMT

We replaced an ancient monster of a water softener with this Kenmore 350. We are VERY happy. Trips to the store to get salt have been GREATLY reduced. The auto-regen is working fine so far. With only 2 adults and 0 children and at a 25 grain setting we have only gone through about 40 lbs of salt in the 3 months we've had it. It regens once every 7-10 days. The major flush of the resin bed at the end of the cycle is so much better than our old softener. It removes most if not all of the salt off of the resin, leaving the water soft but not salty tasting.

Only one small negative, not with the softener itself, is that the plastic fitting of the quick-install kit that is sold separately for this model (at a very high $70) broke in two. We opted to purchase instead a mixture of copper, PVC and flex hose fittings and compression fittings and made our own kit at about half the cost. Which is a good do-it yourself option rather than pay for installation. I recommend making/buying a kit rather...

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twofootroper says "Garbage if you have to use rust remover salt" about Kenmore 350 Series Water Softener

twofootroper — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 02:45:59 GMT

First off let me say I've been in the plumbing buisness for 33 years. That being said,This softner is JUNK. I have one that is only 3 years old. The electronics in the head have been replaced twice and now for the 3rd time they are bad. Only this time it's extended warrenty is out so I'll be replacing it with another, but not a Sears product. You see, if you need to use a rust remover type salt, it corrodes the electronics in the head. Sears neglected to tell us this. The manual also says nothing about this. The only way I found out was from the last repair man and he said if it happens again they wouldn't fix it. Even under warrenty. DON"T BUY ANY OF THESE TYPE SOFTNERS!!!!!!

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tking says "YOU CAN INSTALL EASY AND FAST" about Kenmore 350 Series Water Softener

tking — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 13:08:48 GMT

I bought this sytem inTampa Florida from my local Sears store.Talk about No hassel shopping with a knowlegable salesman working in the appliance department. Not only that, but all models are displayed for you too look at and touch. I was on a mission, you see I didnt tell my wife about water softners for our first 10 years of marriage and had been renting one for a couple of months.The hardness of my water in New Tampa is 14 grains, typical city water.I really liked my Kinetico system , but it was costing me rent of $72.00 a month. She was hooked on the soft water and I had to replace the now returned rental softner.I Found the 350 in stock on Saturday night 1/16/2010. Bought it on sale,( I saved $ 200.00 ) Went to ***** for a couple of parts, ( 2 elbows, 3 valves, some glue and 1 piece of pipe) I INSTALLED IT ON SUNDAY JUST READING THE OWNERS MANUEL.Just about anyone could do this self install. GO FOR IT.

HAPPY IN TAMPA

TK & LK

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timas says "Great softener. Very pleased with it. " about Kenmore 350 Series Water Softener

timas — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 15:04:29 GMT

We previousely had a 10 year old Culligan which sprung a leak and fried the electronic board. There is no way to repair a Culligan on your own, so I decided to go with Kenmore. We realize how badly our old softener was performing when we installed this unit. Water is very good and contains a lot less rust. The salesperson was very knowledgable and helpful. I opted to have it installed since I hate to plumb and was also very please with the plumber who came out to do the work. The price was figured up front and I had no surprises. He had the old one out and the new one installed in less then 90 minutes. There are a lot of options for the display. However, our old softener would display a REGEN when it would run that night. I don't think this one does, or I haven't found how to set it to do that.It was really good to know when it was going to run. That is the only complaint I have about it.

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Lyle says "Great water softener" about Kenmore 350 Series Water Softener

Lyle — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 21:49:32 GMT

I have been using this water softener for several years. It works great! It is trouble free and efficient. It is easy to maintain. The owner's manual has all of the technical information needed to diagnose and fix any problem if it ever does occur. I have had no problems. I installed it myself.

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svm says "Flood Risk - Weak Valve Body - Expensive Parts" about Kenmore 350 Series Water Softener

svm — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 18:53:43 GMT

We have had this softener in use for about 22 months. It has worked well and used a reasonable amount of salt.

However, after only 22 months the plastic Valve Body (part 7082053) broke at the input/output connections allowing the bypass valve assembly (7271262) to pop out, flooding our shed and back yard and wasting many gallons of water. I'm just glad the unit is in an outdoor shed instead of inside my house or the damage would have been catastrophic. The unit is not designed with this type of failure in mind and the flood of water overflowed the brine tank and soaked the unprotected Timer unit (7288552), damaging it.

So after less than 2 years I am looking at a minimum of $180.00 ($63.74 for Valve body and $115.99 for Timer) and probably more if any other electric parts like the motor or switches were also damaged. Even the little black clips used to connect the Bypass valve to the Valve Body cost $5 each. This is ridiculous for a unit that cost over $500 not even 2 years...

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dbh2 says "Works really great, wouldn't go without one again!!!" about Kenmore 350 Series Water Softener

dbh2 — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 17:44:59 GMT

I didn't know what I was really missing before we got our softerner but I wouldn't ever go back. Before we had our softener our dishes and silverware were always cloudy and gritty. We knew they were clean but they never looked clean. Since having our softener installed our dishes look and feel clean, not to mention that when taking a shower now we are using less soap. I think ordering from Sears was super easy and we just ordered online and went and picked it up from the store and had a friend install it for us. It works great in the month that we've had it and hopefully for the years to come.

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DHilliard says "Poor design features have created several severe leaks!" about Kenmore 350 Series Water Softener

DHilliard — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 21:27:59 GMT

We bought this unit as a new install in our new home approx. 5 years ago. In those 5 years we have experianced 3 different componet failures resulting in 3 major water leaks, two of which caused water / mold damage to our new home!

The water quality was always suspect at best and the system used excessive amounts of salt...

After the third failure, we gladly had this unit removed to the dump and have since replaced it with a far superior product NOT made by Kenmore!

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GPfromIL says "Well worth the money---works great!!!" about Kenmore 350 Series Water Softener

GPfromIL — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 21:10:46 GMT

Since we live in an area with extremely hard water (the township is even named Limestone Township) we MUST have a water softener. Our old water softener (not a Kenmore) got so outdated that when it started to leak around the o-rings (yet again) we found out that parts were no longer available. That company left brochures for several different models but they were WAY too expensive for us.
I went online to compare prices and could actually get a better price elsewhere---but, those places did NOT offer their own customer service/repairs. So, by process of elimination, we decided to go with the Kenmore model (Kenmore 350 Series Water Softener)
This should have been our decision from the very start because we have a house FULL of Kenmore appliances!!! (I'm not kidding either: washer, dryer, refrigerator, freezer, microwave, water filtering system and hot water heater.)
We had a plumber come out to uninstall our "dinosaur" and then hook up our new water softener (I know my capabilities---and I...

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rstinnett says "If You Live in a Hard Water Area, This Guy Is A Must!" about Kenmore 350 Series Water Softener

rstinnett — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 23:32:20 GMT

We had a 12-year old Kenmore water softener that finally decided to give up the ghost earlier this year. Since we were so impressed by how well our previous Kenmore worked, we decided we'd head to Sears to see what they had available.

Truth be told, water softeners haven't changed much over the years. They are still the same basic design and work pretty much the same way. We found out, much to our relief, that the water softeners from Kenmore can re-use the existing fittings! We thought we'd have to get a plumber out to hook this thing up -- but nope, it fit perfectly on the old fittings. Talk about a convenience!

We got the 350 because we have a family of 3 and a hardness of 20. It works well for us, recharging about once every 4 days (we have a teenager who loves to run the water!). It's quieter than our older one and seems to use very little salt -- a plus!

Overall, we couldn't be happier with the purchase. We look forward to getting another 12 years out of this one...

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