Quooker - connect to water softner or not?

[JessieJayne]

Having the kitchen renovated and completely confused about all the water supplies coming in.

As we live in a hard water area we're having a water softner system installed. We are also having a (probably) Brita filtered drinking water tap installed - this will have to take water from the mains rather than the softened water.

We also hope to have a Quooker installed however 2 questions;

Do we drink the softened water or the mains water?
Do Quookers have filters on them (a la Brita filter)?

Confused. Please help.

PigletJohn - Softened water can contain high levels of sodium which isnt good for you. Moreover, hard water may not be good for your plumbing and cleaning but it does more good than bad for your body so there is no need to lose those benefits.

We do a lot of Quooker taps in a hard water area and we dont install them with the scale control filter. I have to say that we havent experienced any problems. If you are even vaguely handy, order replacement gaskets and give your quooker a clean every couple of years. It will remove the built up scale in the tank and keep it ship shape.

when you say "high levels of sodium" how many parts per million do you mean?

How does a litre of softened water compare with a bowl of Kelloggs cornflakes?

Honestly I dont know the chemistry but I have a softener at home and softener water doesnt taste very nice.

Something that doesnt taste right and has chemicals involved cant possibly be good. no?

what do you mean by "chemicals?"

btw
if you drank two litres of softened water every day for a month, you would have consumed as much additional sodium as is contained in one teaspoonful of salt.

Much less than if you had a bowl of Kelloggs cornflakes every day, they contain 1.3% salt. That's twice as much as ketchup and bread.

however I wouldn't dream of trying to force someone to drink softened water if they didn't want to. To my taste it makes better tea though.

I just like to see a few facts come out sometimes.

The cost of the scale filter system is £245, the cost of the filter cartridge is £90 which could need replacing every year so it is becoming a very expensive kettle

This is probably too late for this thread, but I too am confused about the water softener/Quooker thing.
Surely their own limescale filter that they sell is a water softener to all intents and purposes - it's certainly described as doing the same job i.e. by ion exchange.
In which case, why not plumb to feed from household water softener? The only reason for NOT doing this would be wanting hard water for drinking and making hot drinks to avoid slightly high sodium levels (or possibly your individual taste preferences). I can't find anything on Quooker website that describes whether all the water (cold hot and boiling) gets treated by their anti scale tank. Definitely feel like I'm going round in circles with this one.

I'm another trying to make sense of it. Does the Quooker scale control thing soften the water in a different way to a water softener which we are getting fitted. I want to have drinking water direct from mains. Very hard to get clear information.

Quooker installation instructions state that should NOT be installed through water softener or filter other than the ones they supply. If you do you would invalidate the guarantee. Also should not drink softened water as can contain too much sodium.

Thank you DOLLY

Anyone with quooker tap with scale control tank, does tea made with boiling water have film/ scum?

There seems to be a misunderstanding about use of Quooker taps and soft water. There are many of us Quooker tap owners in hard water areas that have the Quooker Scale Control filter. Please note that this filter is an ion exchange filter that is the same mechanism that is used in many modern water softeners. There is however a significant difference between the Quooker Scale Control filter and a water softener. The Quooker filter must have the water hardness measured prior to installation so that it does not cause too much sodium into the output water. In contrast a modern standalone water softener ( I have an Atlantis softener) will 'sniff' its own output water and automatically reduce the amount of salt that it uses to minimises the sodium content in the output water. Softened water from modern water softeners is generall safe ro drink and contains very little sodium. I am now considering connecting connecting the output of my water softener directly to the Quooker tap to avoid the high cost of the Quooker replacement cartridge for the Scale Control filter. Incidentally, be aware that most dishwashers have their own softeners (thats what the salt is for) and you can stop using salt if your dishwasher is fed by your water softener.

Hope this helps
All comments welcome!