I am looking to get a water softener for our house we just bought there is a ton of rust in the water and it has a very foul smell. The water is horrible:( ! I am not sure which brand to go with. Does anyone have any suggestions?

I did some looking around and ended up with a Whirlpool from Lowe's last summer. I tried to find a model that didn't have the digital electronic controls, but didn't find any. If there is a problem with them, I suspect the average home owner doesn't have a chance of fixing it. I have seen some real horror stories on the appliance forum here with the newer dishwashers and washers and even stoves refusing to work when there was a problem with the controls. I bought a simple, basic softener. I figure the more expensive models with more features are more likely to be problems.

I think both Lowe's and Home depot have little test strips to determine how hard your water is and how to program the softener.

For the iron, you need to use special salt. Water softeners remove minerals, not odors. Our water smells terrible. We use an activated charcoal filter ahead of the water softener which does a good job on the odor. It also collects iron oxide particles. You will still need the iron out salt for the dissolved iron.

Did you install it yourself or pay a plumber to do it? And if you did it yourself was it easy or difficult? Thank you for your help

Moderation Note: Merged follow-up question into this thread.

I installed it myself, no big job. Partly how hard will depend on the type of piping you already have. If PVC, it is quite DIY friendly as long as you follow directions and use a primer. Copper can be a pain if you don't have experience sweat soldering. There is a quick, easy way around that, the Shark's Tooth coupling. It just slips over the copper and any other similar sized pipe making a reliable connection. They are expensive and I don't thing Lowe's and HD carry them. Ace Hardware does, as well as pumping supplies. Post back if you want more help and working around copper. You should take the supply to the outside faucets off before the filter. No sense softening that water.

You will want a filter too. I never see much rust in out water, but sometimes when I change the filter, it is completely covered with fine, reddish brown particles. A whole house water filter is the best place to stop any solid particles. You can pick a housing up for less than $20. If you have dissolved