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Who here knows about water softeners?
I’m building a new home and we have hard water around here. I want to save our brand new plumbing and fixtures from being loaded up with deposits from day one. I’ve never used a water softener before. What’s the best route to go?
You might want to refer to this prior thread. When we got our current house, the previous owners used a water softener service with a rented softener. We ultimately chose to purchase outright, and got an Aquasure system.
You'll want to ensure that you have a hard-water tap (possibly with additional filtering if you suspect organic chemical or nitrate contamination) in the kitchen for drinking, since most ion exchange systems leave ~40 ppm sodium in the soft water output.
Thanks! I read that thread just now and learned a bit. Interesting about a hard water tap for drinking. I hadn’t thought of that. I drink water from the filtered spigot in my fridge door but the mineral buildup in the fridge plumbing is an interesting challenge. I was already assuming the sprinkler system would get its water from before the softener to ensure I’m not going through all that salt and spraying it into my yard.
What other taps might need to be hard water?
Hard water taps inside the house are really for direct consumption - humans, pets, house plants... I don't know enough to comment on fishtank requirements.
We live with the hard water minerals in the 'fridge water, sprinkler systems, and outdoor faucets. As you say, outdoor consumption is too intensive to expend the salt and softener lifecycle time. We haven't had mineral deposit maintenance problems yet for the outdoor systems or 'fridge. You'll definitely want to use softened water for laundry and dishwashing though, especially if you have any sensitivities to detergents.
Oh - we use soft water for the drip coffee maker. The sodium content in softened water isn't that much of a health threat for a few cups of coffee. We learned to our dismay that mineral deposits quickly destroy the innards of a coffee maker. Even monthly vinegar cleaning couldn't keep it from burning out.
Ah so this is very interesting. It’s almost like there needs to be a list of soft vs non-soft taps. Certainly doable in a new build (but how much added $$$?). How do people retrofit these systems in existing houses though?
Our kitchen hard water tap was a straightforward installation - a 3/8" plastic line running from the well inlet side of the water softener directly to a small add-on tap at the kitchen sink. Same for the 'fridge water line. There's a little more detail here. If you're feeling like sinking more money in, you can add a reverse osmosis system to get the benefits of softened water without the sodium. But I grew up on well water and prefer the taste of the mineral content.
We bought one for about £1,000 (installed with first years salt) around three years ago. It is without a doubt the best purchase we made that year (the second being a good quality dehumidifier).
We opted not to have a hard water tap. After hours of research, we determined there was no health risk to drinking the softened water, and in our opinion it tastes better. Do your own research on this.
The benefits are endless, but honestly, it's hard to beat the feeling of a shower in soft water (it leaves your skin feeling kind of oily, in a very good way). You need less shampoo, less condition and less soap. You don't get limescale or other mineral build up in your sink, showers or bath tubs. You don't get build up in your pips. Shaving soap froths up and lubricates better.
I cannot comment on fish tanks / aquariums as we don't have one, and therefore I did no research in that area.
Thanks for all of that! I’ll be talking with the builder soon as I’m sure he’s dealt with this as well. Your review is about what I was expecting.
As far as a fish tank goes…some other poster mentioned that but I don’t have a fish tank. If I ever did I would condition the water appropriately. Thanks though!
I'm mostly just following because I know nothing about home building -- if I were in your position I would (1) look for local fish hobby people and ask them how they do it and (2) ask the municipal water treatment engineering people