Water softener installation in London
London sits on a bed of chalk, which is why the water reaching most taps is hard enough to shorten a boiler's life, fur up a shower head and leave a white crust on anything it dries on. A water softener tackles that at the source instead of just wiping away the mess it leaves behind. The Ninja Plumbers team sizes softeners correctly, fits them, and keeps servicing the units already sitting under people's sinks.
- Gas Safe registered and fully insured
- DBS-checked engineers
- Emergency callout available 24/7
- Price agreed before work starts
- Workmanship guaranteed
Monday – Sunday, 7:00 AM – 10:00 PM · Out-of-hours emergency? Call 020 3576 5825
Get a price for water softener installation
Three details get an engineer moving. The rest is optional.
Thanks — we’ve got it
We’ll come back to you on the number you gave us. If it’s urgent and you’d rather not wait, call 020 3576 5825.
What's included
- Water softener installation, sized to the household
- Bypass valve so the house still has water during servicing
- Drain and overflow connections done to regulations
- A separate hard tap kept for drinking and cooking
- Servicing, resin checks and repairs to existing units
- Scale reducers where a full softener will not fit
Worth knowing first
A bit of this might save you from needing a callout at all — we'd rather you knew it upfront.
London water really is hard
Across most of the Thames Water supply area the water is classed as hard to very hard. That is why kettles fur up in months and shower screens never look clean. It is not your cleaning — it is the water.
Where it goes decides how easy the job is
The unit needs to sit on the rising main, positioned after the stopcock but before anything else takes water, and it has to be within reach of a drain. Most houses end up with it under the kitchen sink; a garage or utility room works out simpler wherever the main pipe already runs through one. Let us know roughly where your stopcock sits and we can normally give you an answer over the phone.
You should keep one tap unsoftened
Softened water carries more sodium, so the guidance is to leave one drinking tap on the hard supply for drinking, cooking and filling a kettle. We fit that as standard rather than as an extra.
Salt is the running cost, and it is small
Block salt is easier to handle than tablet salt and most machines take either. A typical household gets through a few pounds a month. If someone quotes you a softener that never needs salt, they are selling you a scale reducer, which is a different product.
Common questions
Will a softener protect my boiler?
Yes, in the sense that it stops fresh scale building up inside the heat exchanger, which is the component hard water damages most expensively to replace. What it cannot do is strip out scale that is already there — that needs a separate descale.
Does it need a drain?
Yes. Softeners flush themselves on a cycle and that water has to go somewhere. It is the constraint that usually decides where the unit can be installed.
Can you service a softener I already have?
Yes, including ones we did not fit. Most problems are salt bridging, a blocked injector or a valve rather than the resin, and those are all repairable.
Will I notice a difference?
Most people notice soap lathering more and the shower screen staying clear. If you have very sensitive skin you may notice that too. What you will not notice is the scale that stops forming inside the boiler.
Part of our water supply & treatment work
If it turns out to be a repair job rather than a new install, this is where that's covered.
-
General Plumbing
Taps, toilets, radiators and pipework. The jobs that never quite get done.
More on General Plumbing -
Boiler Service
The annual check that keeps a boiler safe, efficient and inside its warranty terms.
More on Boiler Service
Other appliance work
Need water softener installation in London?
Let us know what’s going on and whereabouts you are, and we’ll give you a price before any work starts.