Please tell me about water softeners

[tenrillingtonplace]

I live in the UK in an area where the water is very hard. I’m currently staying in a country where water softeners are - apparently - standard. The water is so different and it’s making me think about possibly installing one. Has anyone got any advice please? Is this a DIY job? Where do they normally go? Can they go in a kitchen cupboard under the sink? Thanks.

We’ve got a Harvey’s one. Love it. It wasn’t a diy job - they send a fitter who works out where best to fit it and there’s bits of pipe added etc. (I guess if you’re good at bits of plumbing it might be diy??).
It could fit under the kitchen sink; ours is in the utility room / tiny loo. Ours is 48cm high, 44 deep and 20 wide - a bit like a large old fashioned free standing computer.

I’m in Spain with a water softener as our water is terrible. I had one in London too. They’re usually too big to fit under the sink and do need to be professionally installed. Mine has filters that need replacing every year. The tablets last a while and aren’t that expensive if you shop around. Our water is however still a bit rubbish but better than it was!

Ours is under our kitchen sink and was professionally fitted. It doesn’t take up as much room as I thought it would, there’s still space to store washing up liquid etc.

It has made a massive difference, so much easier to keep everything clean. We have an unsoftened water tap in the kitchen for drinking water.

I'm watching with interest. Will it work for all the wateroutlets of the house or just the kitchen?

We're planning on getting one installed. Big house so need a hefty unit so it will go in utility. Most of the house will have the softened water - so no limescale build up in showers, loos, central heating and appliances. However there will be an unsoftened tap in the kitchen (with a water filter) for drinking, and another for outside use as softened water is not good for plants.

Ours works on everything except the special kitchen tap.

I have the osmosis tap in the kitchen for drinking water (you'd probably die if you drank our tap water!!) A smaller unit wouldn't do the whole house I guess - mine is large as it does the whole house. I had a smaller unit in London but I think it only did the kitchen.

The newer ones are quite compact and ours is under the kitchen sink. We have a boiling water tap too, so drinking (cold) water comes from that. It covers the bathrooms too, so shower screens are easier to clean and you really notice when the salt is running low. I use less laundry detergent and shower stuff.

We installed a water softener around 5 years ago. It’s no coincidence that our current washing machine is our longest surviving machine despite having had a number of mieles.

It does all the water in the house, including the kitchen taps. It’s under the kitchen sink but does take up almost half of the cupboard.

You can choose and plumb it in accordingly. I think it’s usual to have an unsoftened tap option (as well as softened) in the kitchen, and outside tap needs to stay unsoftened.

The only annoying thing is that we have to get downstairs water to water the upstairs plants, as they don’t like softened water. Minor inconvenience though (and im thinking of using the water from the dehumidifier to water them with?)

Weve got one and hardly any signs of limescale anywhere. Dont forget the softened water also keeps the pipework to other appliances cleaner such as washing machine and dishwasher as well as boiler and central heating - so everything works better and lasts longer.

Got one. It's a godsend. No more timescale, furred-up kettles etc.

An engineer fitted the unit in a cupboard under the kitchen sink. We also have a tap for filtered drinking water.

Ours is outdoors, on the outside wall of our kitchen (at the back of a side return), covered with an insulated box that lifts off easily for access. So the pipes go out and back in again there. Saves space inside.

Do you mind me asking, how big is it?

Thanks for all the replies - really helpful.

We have one. It’s so much kinder to your hair and skin. Also, no limescale to clean. We get half a dozen bags of salt pellets delivered every year and top up as required.

We do have to run vinegar with every wash in the washing machine if using pods or drastically cut down on liquid as usual dosing is based on hard water.

Washing-up liquid bottle posted for scale

Thank you so much! My OH is very worried about washing up liquid storage, so that is reassuring.

Does that mean that your "main" tap in the kitchen is also softened? Reading these threads it seems to suggest not softening drinking water (but never quite says why not).

Drinking water taps are plumbed into the rising main just before the point where the water softener comes onto it, so the softener has no effect on the drinking water, which remains hard. That's the arrangement in our house.

We've had a softener for years and now wouldn't be without on. It softens the supply to the whole house, including to the upstairs bathroom, the downstairs toilet, the outdoor taps and the
kitchen sink (except for the drinking water tap). Our current one is a Twintec Minicurve (referring to the shape of the block salt it takes). Kettles, washing machines and dishwashers last so much longer on softened water (yes, you can put softened water in the kettle, I always have) and you don't need salt for the dishwasher anymore.

Thanks Topseyt123, so if I understand correctly you don't fill your kettle from the drinking water tap - this is what is confusing me? We only have one tap near to our kettle so then it would be filled with unsoftened water.

Not quite. A new drinking water tap is usually fitted alongside the softener. It comes off your rising main inlet before the point where the softener takes over.

You keep your current kitchen tap and it will kick in after the softener does, giving softened water. So you should have both.

We got one when we had our kitchen replaced. I think it cost about £1000 and the salt costs about £45 and lasts about six months, it gets delivered by a local company.

It has made a massive difference. You keep a hard water tap for drinking an cooking and we have one outside for the garden as well, but everything else is soft water. No more limescale! Definitely recommend.

I think it's something to do with the sodium but soft water isn't salty, it's the ions from the sodium which make it softer so I am not sure why it really matters!

It's apparently also better to use hard water on the garden (although we also have a water butt so use that water first to water the garden).

The dishwasher doesn't know it doesn't need salt so you have to ignore the red light being on all the time.

Ah OK. So if we chose to have it in a cupboard where the main comes in (not near the kitchen) this wouldn't be an option. Thanks.