never done anything like this around the house before. He doesn't even mow the lawn. I was shocked when he said he was going to try it, but I wanted to see what would happen, so I said "Sure!" (My dad always did everything-- repair the cars, install toilets and faucets, patch the roof, take out the trees with chain saws, use a baseball bat to smash the gopher that was digging a nest in our house's foundation, etc.) (Smack insists that my dad treats him as a fellow "manly man" now that Smack's installed a water heater and a dishwasher. Not sure if there's any truth to that.) Anyway, if the water lines happen to line up between the old and new water softeners, it should be pretty dang easy to put in the new one. If they don't, you're going to need to learn about cutting and fitting pipe, or matching that PEX stuff up to it (if you're okay with PEX stuff). (We are now the proud owners of a mini-blow torch and mini-pipe cutter. I think he might've also bought another wrench on one of his trips.) We replaced our Water Boss with a Whirlpool. Meh on the Water Boss. The Whirlpool we got is an ultra-basic model-- does the job, no bells or whistles, isn't expensive, works just fine.