Waterside MC350

We have had the MC350 for around six years. I noticed high water in the unit and excessive salt usage. I called an engineer and they came out and said new washers and seals were needed. We went ahead and at a cost of over £100 assumed that was it. We have now had the same problems again and had to have the same thing done again. I noticed this weeks the problem has re-occurred around a year or 18 months down the line. I'm now wondering whether it's better to bypass the softener and give up. I would purchase a new unit but it seems the problem will continue even with the new units.

We had a MC350 fitted four years ago, but never linked it to our high water usage since then, we are on a water meter with a long run to the house so thought we had a slow leak in the pipeage. Eventually a Thames Water engineer was called out last week. He told us the excessive use of water is due to the water softner discharging water, and that he had seen similar problems in the past few weeks. It appears that our water softner has been defective for some time and that perhaps we ought to have spotted this much sooner through salt usage and water overflow. I had assumed that the water level in the brine cabinet was meant to be to the top - the handbook does not mention what the optimum water level should be, only the minimum level of 150mm. We have no visual or audible alarms on the screen.

Having contacted Waterside, I am told that the nearest engineer is based in Maidenhead, nearly an hour's drive away, and that he will not be available for nearly four weeks. I wait with trepadation and note the comments of others on this web site.

I've had the machine for 5 years, it always worked well but a few weeks ago it started to fill up, similar problem to what others described here. I contacted BWT (they are the only ones allowed to service this machine) and scheduled a visit from a technician on the following week. I also contacted the marketing manager who has been active on these site, to share my concern that, given the numerous negative feedbacks, it wasn't worth repairing this unit.

The advisor was very helpful with the process and the repair was completed on time for a total of £145, including servicing, not cheap but at least it was done. The technician told me that at this point the machine should be OK for several years: on this basis I have no major complains (minor complain: cost of the repair) and in fact I found the advisor exceptionally helpful.

Hopefully you won't hear from me again!

I've had an MC350 for about 7 years now and it has just sat there and done its thing. First fault last month when the O ring between the valve head and the resin cylinder started leaking.

Got a set of two O rings form Wrekin Water Softeners, followed their instructions and replaced it no problems.

Other than that it's been a good bit of kit and I'd certainly have another one. The secret with this, as with all appliances is not to be afraid of it - its just plumbing after all and easily understood. If yyou understand how it works then you can fix it when it doesn't!

I only wish that I would have read reviews prior to purchasing. Whilst I would not now be without a water softener the MC350 was a poor choice of product. If I add up the cost of the original purchase + 4 service calls in 5 years it was indeed a poor purchase. The last time it was fixed 10 months ago and another £120, engineer had trouble convincing himself, let alone me that it's the norm to have a yearly service on the MC350 given the mechanical nature of the device.. At that time I said no more, time to cut losses and next time it breaks, time to drop it in the skip.

The common issue we've had throughout is excessive use of salt along with flooding chamber that will not empty itself.

Suggest you either buy the mc350 and Budget an additional £10 a month for service charges or look elsewhere.

I thought Culligan was a good make so bought their MC350 water softener about 5 years ago. It has never worked properly, uses lots of salt one month, none the next although our water consumption is stable. It has leaked for the last year, needed a new circuit board after 2 years. The salt alert sound randomly, whether it has salt or not and yesterday the head section blew off from its base, spraying mains water pressure until we isolated the unit. If it had not been located in the garage it would have flooded the house.

The general builders who were completely renovating a house for us got this unit fitted in response to our requests for a water softener.

Literally 2 weeks after the year's warranty ran out the unit started recycling constantly, it absolutely *age* salt (an entire 25kg bag in one week!) and the salt hopper kept flooding. The manufacturers came out to fix it (a bill of £180!) and fixed it...'up-selling' another year's warranty. The second warranty ran out a week ago...and guess what, the machine has started recycling constantly and yet again the salt hopper is filling with water.

So it seems to me that this company is cynically manufacturing this junk with parts that fail a little over the 12-month mark in order to keep you tied in to an expensive annual warranty.

I now face getting this joke of a machine ripped out and replaced with something decent. Oh, and I notice that their Marketing Manager is replying to these reviews with a pathetic attempt at spin....my advice mate is don't bother because as a Marketing Manager you're as much use as a fish on a bicycle and people aren't interested in your media statements, they're interested in getting the company to acknowledge and fix a truly shoddy product!

THIS IS AN UNRELIABLE MACHINE WHICH BREAKS OFTEN.

Furthermore the manufacturer's guarantee is not worth the paper it is written.

I have such a machine installed in my house and broken in less than 2 years, upon calling their service, they are asking for a call out charge and cost of repairs.

It has also been using salt in excess in comparison with a previous system I had. Most faults are due to its electrical timer and motor. My older system had a mechanical timer and is still working at my previous house after 20 years.

I WILL NOT BUY ONE IF I WERE YOU. I WISHED I HAD ACCESS TO THIS REVIEW BEFORE I BOUGHT MINE.

We've had the MC350 for about 6 yrs now. There's been a damp patch below where the overflow exits the building for the last 5 yrs. Constant dripping from the overflow has been the least of our problems though. About 2 yrs ago there was water in the lid area (thankfully dripping into the main salt container through the small drain hole). This was being caused by the PLASTIC!!? blend valve starting to fail: the 'screw-on' black plastic retainer had started to break down & was cracking. Phoned Culligan- the chap was helpful in getting me to isolate the unit IMMEDIATELY as if this 'went' we would have mains water pressure spraying everywhere; he arranged for a new blend valve to be sent to me, which I replaced. Fast forward to yesterday & I get a call from my wife (I am 2500 miles away at work) telling me that there was 2 inches of water in the downstairs of our house. The same poorly designed PLASTIC blend valve had failed; not just in a 'hairline crack in the plastic' kind of way- this time the valve blew off, spraying water everywhere. Carpets ruined, furniture damaged, damp everywhere.

These countless reviews based upon the Waterside MC350 / MC250 are very interesting and only seem to confirm my own findings based upon my 12 years experience with these machines. I must however be up-front and say that I have been in the water softener industry for many years and have sold and installed many hundreds of different manufacturers machines over the years from North Somerset, through Wiltshire, Hampshire, Berkshire, Gloucestershire, Oxfordshire, Suffolk, Norfolk, Essex and Cambridgeshire.

Being an independent business gives you the advantage of spec'ing the right machine for the right job or so you hope and not being tied to any specific manufacturers product that you HAVE to sell can therefore allow you the free reign to choose the machine that is best suited for the purpose, with the criteria varying from the size of the space available for installation, the capacity, the flow rate (peak water demand), and the price etc.

Over the years I have come across countless (and this is no exaggeration) numbers of consumers who have purchased a Waterside MC250 or currently the Waterside MC350 fully automatic water softener in good faith, (typically recommended by their local plumber) and have ultimately had very disappointing results. We regularly get enquiries asking if we repair them. Although of course we can undertake servicing to most of the Waterside machines, I tend to advise against costly repairs because ultimately the problems with these machines never seem go away and on going repairs always appear necessary. The bottom line to anyone reading this is that the Waterside MC250 / MC350 units are unquestionably unreliable and problematic water softeners and I say this with 'no slant' as the profit margin for us is actually better than many of the other makes we sell! But unfortunately I have witnessed flooded kitchens, overflowing water softeners, excessive manufacturers repair bills and tried too often in vain to repair enough of these machines that simply never seem to work consistently and never deliver consistently softened water as a good quality machine should do. All in all, their are plenty of other machines out there to choose from, depending on your requirements and circumstances. If you need any further independent advice (or have had a Waterside machine that is causing you problems) our contact details can be found on our website - www.watersoftenerinstallers.co.uk