Actually on this subject can anyone recommend a decent water softener? The space around my furnance and hot water heater is pretty tight.

I have got a humidifier on the furnace, but it only runs when the furnace is actually running so there is an air stream for the vapour to go into. So if I depend on that I wake up to very dry air, the heat comes on and then I get high humidity, then the heat goes off and the RH slowly declines through the day (or in the middle of winter jumps up and down as the furnance goes on and off). Hence the reason I got a portable one, I got tired of faffing around with the thermostat and the humidifier. I have a hygrometer next to the TV and I can reach the humidifier without having to exert myself.

What I really want is for Calgary to relax their by-laws on AC units, I know we don't need AC that often but when you need it, you need it. All this crap about keeping the "setback" area clear is a PITA for me.

We used to rent a water softener and that was a steel cylinder that was only about 10" to 12" in diameter they came and changed it regularly.

We now own ours and it is about twice that diameter.

Sears has a number of them maybe one of these might fit your space, and Sears is usually pretty good quality.

Ours is a Kenmore 400 series, never given us any problems.

Never pay full price at sears, there is always a sale just around the corner, the sales people will often tell you when too. I think our $1400 softener cost us $750 or so, and that was a few years ago now.