Water softener advice sought

[JMT]

As a northern lass, I'm missing the soft water and looking to install a water softener. Does anyone have any advice/recommendations?

Thanks

[mynamehere]

We had one installed few years back and we have soft water and perfectly clean appliances. You have to keep buying salt.

[JMT]

Thanks.

What kind did you get? How much do you spend on salt? Did you get it tailored to the local water and house type? My mind is spinning with the options. I hear there are ones you can buy that don't need salt.

[mynamehere]

Harvey's. Maybe ?50 in a year on salt or less. I like the soft water and I honestly don't do very detailed after the fact calculations. No salt? then filters?

[apbremer]

We renovated a house a few years ago and had a water softener system installed by Fountain Softeners. I think about ?700 but well worth it. Refilling with block salt a few times a year no problem and very cheap. We forgot however to leave one kitchen tap on mains supply so now have to use bottled stuff for drinking as soft water does not taste very nice.

[JMT]

That's really helpful

Thanks

[Penguin68]

It is worth taking advice about your whole water system - certain types of hot water cylinder (such as stainless steel) may require some protection from the effects of the soft water - some types of protection used for your existing water supply may not work with a softer water input. It may also be an issue where in your system you put the softener - it is normal, I think, to break in to the water supply (mains) before it branches - but clearly the softener (which will be powered) needs space - and that may not be possible sufficiently close to where the main enters the house. Edited to note that you may indeed also want an un-softened supply (as mentioned above), e.g. for drinking water - so the exact plumbing details need to be got right.

[Paitro]

try this guy Darragh Durkan 020 3384 0204 he's the owner of http://www.ewtechnologies.co.uk

Super cool people and products

[PeckhamRose]

I hope this all helps.

I live in a block flats and water comes into

a) Toilet room

b) Bath room: sink and bath

c) Kitchen

We can not tell whether the water comes from either the tank in the attic, or the mains, in all three rooms.

We could work it out but there's always here or Facebook to look at.

The water that comes into the kitchen, divides into two pipes.

One pipe feeds the cold tap, and the other goes into the filter, which then feeds into the combi boiler. From there, it feeds the hot water tap in the Kitchen sink, and the hot water taps in the bathroom bath and sink.

There should always be a tap that is NOT filtered if you have a separate stand alone filter such as Harvey's filters.

In our kitchen the cold tap is NOT filtered (and neither is the Bath or Sink cold tap).

You should not use filtered water to water plants because it has a higher salt level which will kill them!

If you have a combi boiler that is heating water you should check with boiler manufacturers that it is ok to use a filter with it; in some, made of aluminium, the salt water could corrode it.

[Loz]

PeckhamRose Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> We can not tell whether the water comes from

> either the tank in the attic, or the mains, in all

> three rooms.

> We could work it out but there's always here or

> Facebook to look at.

I'd want to know if my drinking water was coming out of the attic tank. Ew.

Turn the supply off from the tank and see what stops working.

[PeckhamRose]

Oh it's all clean. Lived here 33 years healthy as ... AGH.

[Paitro]

I'd actually would like to clarify some of the confusion on the corrosion of a water softener

please find this report that Darragh from www.ewtechnologies.co.uk sent me.

http://ukwta.org/assets/NewFolder/BSi-Corrosion-Report-12.12.12.pdf

Have a chat with him, he's very knowledgable and super experienced in these projects