Most of us have faced this situation at least once: We live in a hard water zone, white clothes turn yellow, faucets and showerheads look awful and clog up, our hair looks like a mop that's having a bad day.
We go to the store, spend hundreds of dollars to purchase a water softener and have it installed, and enjoy the wonderful sense of accomplishment ... until the unit runs out of salt and we are back where we started!
We replenish the salt tank, promise ourselves we'll do a better job at checking the salt level at least once every few weeks, and then we don't.
Let's face it, even though we walk by that salt tank every day in the garage, with our busy lives the last thing in our minds is to put away what we have in our hands to lift that lid and look inside. "I'll be sure to do it tomorrow...".
One day I decided I was through fooling myself, I needed something that would give me a visual indication that it was time to buy more salt.
My first idea was to just drill a hole in the tank lid and stick a length of PVC pipe through it; when just a stub stuck out I would know the level is low. Then I visualized the final result in my mind and decided that a 5 feet long pipe sticking out of my salt tank would make for the geekiest water softener in the history of mankind! A little red button popping up from the top of the lid would be just as effective, much more elegant and still less expensive and complex than the $100 plus electronic units in the market.
I summoned my technical advisor and we went to work on the design:
Together we came up with a simple and effective concept:
A simple, effective gage that tells us at a glance when it's time to buy more salt.
Another product that, if it makes our lives easier they might make other people’s lives easier as well.
Be sure to place your comments/opinions below and browse the web site for other ideas that might make your lives easier.