Even a decent softener lasts a long time. You may have a small part on the head fail here and there, that any local shop can fix on the cheap, but the resin in the cylinder/tank lasts a long time, 10,15,20 years depending on usage.
You need to calculate your water hardness, grains per gallon, then your approximate gallons per day, multiply the two to find out how many grains per day the resin tank will capture. Then divide by the resin tank's grain capacity.
In my area we are HARD, 20 gpg, if we use 200 gallons per day, that's 2000 grains it captures. Using 40,000 grain softeners, we have to recharge every 10 days.
You can get the specs about how many lbs of salt per recharge a unit consumes, then figure your cost, but it's so cheap I have never figured it. I think we get 3 charges from 40lbs, lowes sells them for $6 a bag, so $2 a charge as a guess.
You will never descale anything again - and you can dilute your tm chems much more, so in the end you'll save $
We use all in one 40k units from our local plumbing supply disty - $600. Easier to charge, less expensive.
