On Saturday, January 3, 2015 8:26:21 AM UTC-5, Ed Pawlowski wrote:
On Sat, 3 Jan 2015 04:52:10 -0800 (PST), Dottie
wrote:

I should have put water softeners and counter tops. My water softener was bought in 2006. By the time I had problems with it - there was a power outage and the timer got messed up - and I just unplugged it and never started it again. That was about a year ago. My area is big on power outages so its an on-going problem. Anyway, another reason I did not bother to hook it up was that I was already having problems with calcium/lime deposits. I have dark colored Wilsonart standard laminate counter tops and the calcium/lime deposits showed up on them. I have now scrubbed the color off the counter tops behind the faucets. I even bought a large sheet of the laminate and had someone from Handy Man come out and replace a part of it. That's still o.k. but the other side is bad looking. I have been looking for new counter top material and got new estimates on replacing the entire kitchen counter top area. I do not want to spend money on Silastone or Granite for my cabinets. They
are
o.k. - got them replaced in 2003...but not that great. I am probably going for the Wilsonart Premium laminate. But I am afraid that after I get new ones I will still have the same problem with the hard water. (My county changed their recipe for water about two years ago - didn't used to be this bad). A new water softener is expensive -- it would add over a thousand to the total. My current one isn't that old -- but I will need help disconnecting it so I can clean it very well before actually using it again. And the bottom line is - it didn't help that much with the problem. One of my neighbors does not have a water softener and isn't having any problems. The other neighbor does have one -- he also has Silastone counter tops - and no problem with hard water. So -- it's hard to know what to do.
Any advice on how to handle this would be appreciated.

Get someone that really knows what they are doing to properly set up
the softener and move on.

I think there is also an issue with how the countertops are being cleaned.
I think the word "scrubbed" was used. I would think most any laminate
countertop could have mineral deposits from water removed without damaging
the finish. Instead of scrubbing, a chemical that will dissolve it,
eg vinegar or CLR, rust remover type product.