I installed my own water softener. This was for 14 grains hardness from Calcium & Magnesium. At the same time, I installed one bypass valve and two shut-off valves so if anything goes wrong with the softener, I can easily shutoff the water into and out of the softener unit and bypass it all without needing to shut down the water for the entire house. The system has a meter and a clock so the meter triggers the backflush based on gallons of water usage and the clock then activates the actual backflush at 2AM. I had a basement sink right by the softener so I just ran the drain hose for the backflush into the sink. The cold water line for the kitchen sink and an outside faucet (also by the kitchen) bypass the water softener. The rest of the water for the house goes through the softener. We had no iron in the water which would have required a difference in the resin. The system is configurable based on the grains of hardness which are naturally present in the water.
I can taste no difference between the softened water and the non-softened water.
We use less soap for the laundry and in the shower. If you use the amount of soap or shampoo in the shower that you may be used to with hard water then you end up with crazy amount of suds and it may feel difficult to rinse it all off. It is a significant difference in how much soap is used.
The women with long hair who use the water in the shower say that they really like how their hair feels after they shower as compared to with the harder water. Personally my hair is too short to know the difference.
The reason for putting the system in was to extend the life of the appliances which includes the heating system (boiler) which uses hot water baseboard radiators.
