Water Softener?

[Eastwickwitch]

We're just starting a big renovation project & the plumber has strongly recommended we install a water softener.
The promise of cleaner shower screens, kettle not full of deposits & soft towels is enticing but there must be a downside?
Is it hard to get salt? Is it a nightmare to service?
Any advice gratefully received.

You can get salt delivered, say, every 6 or 12 months and store the sacks in a dry shed or garage.

Don't carry them in your own car as the salt dust or spilled granules will eat holes in the steel. Look in the delivery van and you will be shocked.

Great thanks. In principle PJ, do you think they're a good idea?

We get the salt from the milkman....

I wouldn't be without one.

my parents have one and always tell me not to drink the softened water, or put it in the kettle. So you will still need to descale that.

That's interesting SS, that would mean having 2 cold taps in the kitchen which sounds com

Sorry. Complicated.

The cold tap in the kitchen is usually unsoftened otherwise you'd have to buy in drinking water. We then put a filtered tap in (like a Brita tap) to give a hot (soft), cold (hard) and filtered (hard) mixer tap.
Hope that makes sense...

Why can't you drink softened water?

I've been thinking about it, and also wondering about getting a filter on the water pipe that feeds the whole house, rather than just a tap in the kitchen.

a real water softener absorbs the calcium from the water and repaces it with a tiny amount of sodium bicarbonate (as found in indigestion remedies and baking powder). If you drink two litres of softened water per day, then, in a month, you will be consuming additional sodium equivalent to one teaspoon of salt.

If you are on a low-sodium diet, for example you have kidney disease or are a FF baby, and must not eat ordinary bread, cornflakes, marmite or tomato ketchup, which are all high in salt, then you may be advised to cut out softened water as well. The story has been passed around in a very unclear way.

IMO the amount is so tiny that I don't mind using softened water in the kettle for tea and coffe, I find it tastes better and is clear not scummy.

It is possibly healthier for the heart to drink hard water.

Thanks PJ will I notice the showers take less scrubbing too? thinks how lazy I am at housework
Any other benefits?

What sort of softener do you have pigletjohn? When I did research, briefly, there seemed to be lots of different kinds with conflicting reviews....

I have the Permutit type, where there is a rectangular bin you tip salt into, inside which is a cylinder containing the resin which absorbs the calcium. On top is a plastic box containing the water meter, and the automatic valve mechanism that every week or two washes away the accumulated calcium with a strong salt solution, then rinses away the salt with fresh water. My current one came from a local company and was a reconditioned exchange for the similar 20-year-old one I had before. They contain very few working parts.

In your nearest town there is very likely a specialist that assembles, sells and repairs such softeners, and delivers salt. You can also get softeners from people who leaflet door to door or advertise in sunday papers, (these are usually more expensive) or from DIY sheds (these are usually cheaply made and throw-away).

You occasionally see "water conditioners" that pass a magnetic force through the water. They don't work in the same magic way that wearing a copper bracelet doesn't cure rheumatism, or rubbing garlic on your neck keeps away vampires.

Thank you.

If you have a garden make sure that it has its own non-softened water supply. Sounds obvious but not obvious enough to the guy that installed my parents water softener.

Thanks so much for all the info. Really useful.

We have a very basic softener which is set on a timer. We recently had to increase to 5 re generations a week from 3 as we have found that as DC get older and taking more long showers etc that we are using more water and the water was hardening between regenerations. We buy our salt monthly as nowhere to store and now use a 25kg bag every 3-4 weeks at about £8.50 a bag.
We use a seperate tap for cold drinks but softened water for hot drinks and cooking as it tastes better.
We wouldn't be without our softener now, I love it and think it makes cleaning so much easier. I also think that it pretty much pays for itself in that you need much less washing powder, shampoo etc together things clean.