Hard water/scale inhibitors/filter/water softeners?

[Welderpaul]

We have hard water where we live and it slowly kills taps, kettles and any form of heating element. It's at the point where I need to do something about it.

As I see it there are two main options, either to use a water softener which requires salt refills, or use filtration. Reading around this a bit, the increased level of sodium in the (potable) water associated with water softeners isn't great for you. It also adversley alters the taste.

The manager at Plumb Centre flashed one of these scale inhibitors at me. Lots of flowery words and i'm not sure if it has a finite life span.. 'Water remains treated for up to 3 months'?

There is also then the scale reducer which is more pocket-friendly and fit-and-forget, but is it really worthwhile?

Any thoughts on the best way to start heading? Supply is a 25mm MDPE with good pressure, nice and handy to fit something straight after the stop tap.

 

[hotponyshoes]

The water softeners that pubs/commercial kitchens have are very simple and easy to use. Don't require much mantainance. I guess you can get a smaller version of the same thing. Not much do go wrong with them.

I can't say I notice any difference in the taste of the water. No idea about the health risks but I put salt on everything anyway..

 

[Blobber]

I didn't think you were meant to drink any artificially softened water? We had the type you put salt in but not for drinking, was OK but did reduce the flow and it failed after 5 years so it got binned.
We use a cartridge type filter for chemicals on the drinking water tap which helps but doesn't remove all the lime scale

 

[Pigeon_Droppings2]

When I looked into it the sodium softener wasn't to be used for drinking water. There's a resin bead system for drinking water.

Corrected my unfortunate mistype...the added salt ones are not for drinking water...at least that's what I was told.

 

[hotponyshoes]

I never thought to look that closely, maybe the ones I have seen are only plumbed into the glass washer etc and not the drinking water taps!

 

[Morrisman]

I never thought to look that closely, maybe the ones I have seen are only plumbed into the glass washer etc and not the drinking water taps!

I looked into them a few years ago and was told to leave one tap unconnected to the softener supply, specifically for drinking water.

There are a few gadgets you can plumb into the system that supposedly soften the water, through some sort of witchcraft, but they generally don’t work.

 

[winchman]

We have hard water where we live and it slowly kills taps, kettles and any form of heating element. It's at the point where I need to do something about it.

As I see it there are two main options, either to use a water softener which requires salt refills, or use filtration. Reading around this a bit, the increased level of sodium in the (potable) water associated with water softeners isn't great for you. It also adversley alters the taste.

The manager at Plumb Centre flashed one of these scale inhibitors at me. Lots of flowery words and i'm not sure if it has a finite life span.. 'Water remains treated for up to 3 months'?

There is also then the scale reducer which is more pocket-friendly and fit-and-forget, but is it really worthwhile?

Any thoughts on the best way to start heading? Supply is a 25mm MDPE with good pressure, nice and handy to fit something straight after the stop tap.

So the Plumb Centre one how does that work???? I suspect its smoke and mirrors

 

[RWD3M]

I fitted a Monarch resin bead water softener I don't know how many years ago, maybe 10 - 15 years! It does reduce the pressure/flow (actually, the recommended water pressure regulator does) and it does the whole house. I did fit a by-pass when I installed it JIC, and you do need to use food grade salt. Oh, and don't let it get clogged through forgetting to top up the salt, takes forever to sort itself out afterwards

Apart from that all good!

 

[Ross365]

I've had water softeners since the mid-1980's, and being a chemist by profession, they have been the salt-using type. The soft water from those is high on sodium and you must not drink it so you need to T-off a supply for the kitchen cold water tap before the softener for drinking.

They have become incredibly expensive to buy and most companies are only offering full warranties for 1 year. You can get problems with dirt getting in the brine rinse flow restrictor, but that should be a DIY problem if you visit You Tube.

 

[Welderpaul]

So the Plumb Centre one how does that work???? I suspect its smoke and mirrors

My thoughts too

 

[Welderpaul]

I've had water softeners since the mid-1980's, and being a chemist by profession, they have been the salt-using type. The soft water from those is high on sodium and you must not drink it so you need to T-off a supply for the kitchen cold water tap before the softener for drinking.

They have become incredibly expensive to buy and most companies are only offering full warranties for 1 year. You can get problems with dirt getting in the brine rinse flow restrictor, but that should be a DIY problem if you visit You Tube.

Shouldnt be a problem to tee off the kitchen cold, thats the only tap used for drinking water. Wouldnt then solve the problem of killing kettles but would help out elsewhere in the house.

 

[Bladevane]

My (perhaps faulty) understanding is that the views on the residual sodium content of ion exchange water softeners has changed. When we fitted our first one in the 1990s we were told it was not a good idea to drink softened water. Having fitted a replacement a few years ago it was not a problem, similary for our 2 daughters. I suggest you talk to a supplier of said softeners rather than go by heresay. One thing I can tell you, though, is that the magnetic or other "filters" do not work. They maybe will suspend the calcium rather than getting rid of it. You could try Wrekin Softeners - other suppliers are available.

 

[Bladevane]

Our supplier is Thames Water and their supply comes from aquifers filled up with water that has drained through limestone, so is very hard whilst meeting permitted sodium (and other) levels. You can view your own water supplier's "quality" level by visiting their website.

 

[Welderpaul]

You can view your own water supplier's "quality" level by visiting their website.

According to Yorkshire Water, in 2023 and based on our postcode, we are at 113 mg/l calcium

But then the drinking water inspectorate has us at 'very hard' over 300 mg/l calcium

 

[voipio]

The fairly widely recognised recommended daily intake of salt by the body is in the region of 5g, corresponding to around 2g of sodium. Softened water, from an ion exchange resin based softener, contains typically around 0.1g of sodium per litre. If, worst case, one's entire daily intake of water came from a water softener, a typical daily water intake of 2 litres would correspond to around 0.2g of sodium, so it might result in about 10% of the body's daily sodium requirement coming from the softened water.

The body needs sodium. Heart, brain, and muscle all rely on sodium, as do many other body tissues and processes. Without sodium, we would die. Luckily, the food we eat provides the majority of our daily sodium intake.

The bulk of the seemingly large amounts of salt that are put into a water softener, end up going down the drain, during, and at the end of the recharging process.

We had a water softener, and the water from it didn't have any discernible salty taste to it. We now live in a soft water area, but I wouldn't hesitate in installing a softener, if the need arose.

 

[Ross365]

I think there are specific groups that are at risk from high sodium and those include babies, children, people with high blood pressure (i.e. me) and other conditions, so that's a fair percentage of the population. I have my softener under the sink and I think the cost of putting in a separate non-softened drinking supply was no more than ~£5.

While a fair amount of brine does go down the drain, what alternative means of softening would you advocate? I think the ion exchange/salt systems have the lion's share of the market. I've never looked at reverse osmosis but suspect the cost of buying and operating will be unappealing.