CARROLL WATER

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We are on well water and thought we needed a water softener and an anode replacement for our water heater because the water was leaving brownish deposits in the dishwasher and the water smelled funny. So we got an estimate from Carroll Water Systems and Atlantic Blue. The man from Carroll Water Systems came to our house, tested our water on a corner of the kitchen counter (we could not see what he was doing when he tested the water or the results of the tests), told us we had hard water with iron and tried to sell us an anode replacement and a $1,500 softener unit. The gentleman from Atlantic Blue came to our house and while he was setting up his test kit, told us that our assumption that our water might be bad could be correct - that we might need a water treatment unit because most homes on wells in our area do. He proceeded to check the water and told us that we did not need a water softener unit; that our well was producing water of extraordinary quality and that there was nothing he could sell us. He explained all of the tests to us and showed us the results. He said that the brownish discoloration in our dishwasher was probably just sediment from the pump and would probably dissapear soon (it did), and that the bad smell was probably coming from water in the traps (it was).

The work was done well. They were on time and courteous when they diagnosed the problem, when they installed the new units, and when they came out to troubleshoot. The system works fine. When they diagnosed the problem, they told me about replacing the neutralizer with the chemical pump + 25 micron inline filter. They gave me a lot of information, but left out a couple of important facts: you have to mix the chemical yourself and you have to change your inline filters more often. With the neutralizer we had yearly servicing and we changed the 5 micron filter once a year. With the chemical pump, we change the new 25 micron filter 6 times a year, and the 5 micron filter 4 times a year. Add that to the fact that for this chemical pump you have to mix a powdered chemical in 5 gallon batches at a time and add it to the tank (I think we do 15 gallons every 3 months). If they had given us a heads up about these issues we may have had them just install another neutralizer.