soft water

[Saddler]

My hot water heater just went out and I had the guy who installed give me a bid for the installation of a soft water loop. His bid was a grand which was double what I had hoped.

Besides making less work for the RO membrane, what are your opinions on soft water. Does it really extend appliance life and reduce spotting, soften clothes, etc.? The sticker on the unit that I was looking at had some ridiculous claims - that I would be saving $835/yr. on soap alone each year by cutting usage in half. Huh? Who spends $1700/yr. on soap?!

 

[vanillagorila]

thats a good question, I know I sure don't use $1700 a year on soap. lol

 

[Alto]

My dad has a soft water unit at his home. When I first moved here I stayed with him for a few weeks, and I can definately tell you that the soap goes waaaaayyyy further with soft water. I would say you could probably use 1/4 of the soap. When you wash your hands with soft water it almost feels like there is still soap on your hands when you rinse them. Also when you shower your hair feels cleaner and smoother etc. The only thing I dont care for is the taste of the water, so I would either drink the RO water or get bottled water. Many people say they cant taste the difference but I definitely can. It is a little weird feeling like you have soap on your hands when you wash them but you get used to it, and learn when you can stop rinsing lol.

And I think when they are talking about saving so much on soap its an estimate for a family of 4-5 on all soap, from dishwasher to clothswasher, to shampoo, to body soap etc. A family that size with that much laundry, and that many showers could easily spend 1700 in a year on soap.

 

[JeffKirk]

We had a soft water sys. installed about three years ago.
The $'s may be off but the clames are right on. I work with heavy equipment, outside all day, My clothes are horable when I get home. We use one tablespoon of liquid detergent for a large load and they come out soft and clean.
The way it was told to me is that most of the soap you use now goes to cleaning the water!
A when you take your next shower wash and rinse your hair, then put just a dab of shampoo in your hand and see how far it goes in your hair.

I wont live with hard water again.

Now finally I got to give someone advice instead of just asking for it all the time. LOL

 

[kirstenk]

I have had both and prefer soft water.

 

[30reef]

Soft water is the only way to go. Clothes come cleaner and whiter, dishes emerge from the dishwasher spot free, you feel cleaner after showering and if you wash your car with it, it won't spot nearly as bad. Soap goes a long way with it too. FWIW, I put in a soft water loop from the water main by my front door to the garage where the softener is located.It's about 90 feet round trip. I used 1" schedule 80 PVC and connected to copper main line w/threaded unions after sweating a threaded fitting onto the copper line. I also included some ball valves at various places to isolate the unit and provide a bypass loop should the softener or the plumbing develop a leak. I spent about $300 in materials not including my labor, which took at better part of a whole day. I also installed a utility sink while I was doing this. I ran the drain through the wall and into the cleanout behind the washing machine.

I was just thinking of the price of copper pipe these days, if your plumber is making the loop with copper pipe, then $1000 is probably right on the money. A 10' stick of 1" is about $50, slip fittings are 4 or 5 each and slip/thread adapters are about 10 each. It adds up fast. That's why I did PVC.

 

[Kentanner11]

Heres my question: If I were to get a WS (water softner) on my house, and I dont use any filtration methods (RO/DI) just chlorine remover would that do something to my tank? (as in the WS, not the not using the RO/DI)

 

[30reef]

You would still need to use an ro/di to make aquarium water. Let me rephrase that statement: You're better off using an ro/di for your aquarium water. Algae control is difficult using tap water, and certain corals are sensitive to chemicals commonly found in tap water. Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but I think a water softener works by replacing hardness causing minerals (calcium etc.) with sodium. It will not remove other contaminants in your tap water. I have checked the TDS of my raw tap water and water from the softener and they are both similar. (1200-1500) A good ro/di gets that down to 0.

 

[Kentanner11]

I know the whole use a RO/DI, lets just say that im talking "hypothetically" and that I didnt. would you need to take an extra step because your water is softened? (besides the chlorine/etc. remover)

 

[30reef]

No, I believe a chlorine remover would do it. (Amquel) If I had a fish only tank, I wouldn't be afraid to use dechlorinated softwater. I would also run large amounts of carbon.

 

[bajabum]

Carbon filters would take the bad stuff out, but you would still be adding sodium ions to your tank. I have a softner and RO with a high silica membrane. I use lime to drop silica and phosphates out. Silica is still a problem. I should say hair algae is still a problem. Going to try phosgaurd on the silica before I breakdown and go DI.
How it affects the tank tends to depend on how you handle calcium. If you can keep calcium carbonate high, it minimizes phosphate and silica. If you use 2 part you get no help.

 

[army67romeo]

I got a pulmer friend that good he works on rich house ..
he might do some thing on the side ...

Ill see if i can get a whole sale price one the soft water sys