Our house is in a town of 33 000 people. The town's water supply is well
water. Everyone in this town complains about the hard water and many home,
including ours has a water softening system.

We plan on doing lots of gardening and we have a pool in the yards here so I
was relieved to see the outside hose connections are not hooked up to the
water softener. However in trying to trace the plumbing, I noticed our
kitchen faucet cold water is not hooked up to the softener either. The cold
for the bathrooms and laundry rooms and water heater are all connected to
the softener. Is this normal to leave the kitchen cold off the softener?

Does anyone have any opinions on the use of softeners? I have no experience
with these things. We have only lived in this house for 3 weeks. Not sure
what to expect for a softener.

The Henchman wrote:
Our house is in a town of 33 000 people. The town's water supply is
well water. Everyone in this town complains about the hard water and
many home, including ours has a water softening system.

We plan on doing lots of gardening and we have a pool in the yards here
so I was relieved to see the outside hose connections are not hooked up
to the water softener. However in trying to trace the plumbing, I
noticed our kitchen faucet cold water is not hooked up to the softener
either. The cold for the bathrooms and laundry rooms and water heater
are all connected to the softener. Is this normal to leave the kitchen
cold off the softener?

Does anyone have any opinions on the use of softeners? I have no
experience with these things. We have only lived in this house for 3
weeks. Not sure what to expect for a softener.
Hi,
My city has very hard water. Having a softener is a must. And that is
standard plumbing with softener in the house. Drinking hard water is OK.
In our kitchen we have under the sink 6 stage filtered RO/UV light
system I installed for drinking/cooking. I bought a filter kit and it
was cinch to hook it up.

"The Henchman" wrote in message
...
Our house is in a town of 33 000 people. The town's water supply is well
water. Everyone in this town complains about the hard water and many
home, including ours has a water softening system.

We plan on doing lots of gardening and we have a pool in the yards here so
I was relieved to see the outside hose connections are not hooked up to
the water softener. However in trying to trace the plumbing, I noticed
our kitchen faucet cold water is not hooked up to the softener either.
The cold for the bathrooms and laundry rooms and water heater are all
connected to the softener. Is this normal to leave the kitchen cold off
the softener?

Does anyone have any opinions on the use of softeners? I have no
experience with these things. We have only lived in this house for 3
weeks. Not sure what to expect for a softener.

Contact the company and have someone come out and service your conditioner.
Rain Soft recommends once a year but I have them out once about every 5
years.

Dump all the softener that is in your tub and clean it. Most people don't do
this and you'll be surprised what is down there.

Not having the softener to the kitchen faucet is not a bad thing. I'd put a
RO system under the sink anyway.

In article , "The Henchman" wrote:
Our house is in a town of 33 000 people. The town's water supply is well
water. Everyone in this town complains about the hard water and many home,
including ours has a water softening system.

We plan on doing lots of gardening and we have a pool in the yards here so I
was relieved to see the outside hose connections are not hooked up to the
water softener. However in trying to trace the plumbing, I noticed our
kitchen faucet cold water is not hooked up to the softener either. The cold
for the bathrooms and laundry rooms and water heater are all connected to
the softener. Is this normal to leave the kitchen cold off the softener?

Yes, indeed. Many people dislike the taste of soft water, and intentionally
run hard water to the cold side of the kitchen sink. I dislike the taste of
soft water so much that I don't even want to brush my teeth with it, so I run
hard water to cold side of the bathroom sink, too.

Does anyone have any opinions on the use of softeners? I have no experience
with these things. We have only lived in this house for 3 weeks. Not sure
what to expect for a softener.

Soft water is great for washing things (clothes, dishes, cars, or people). Not
so great for drinking. And it's really bad for watering plants. But with soft
water, your clothes and dishes will get cleaner, with less detergent, you
won't need nearly as much soap when you shower or bathe, and you won't have
nearly the effort cleaning the tub either.

On Sat, 23 Jan 2010 11:54:23 -0600, Master Betty wrote:

"The Henchman" wrote in message
...
Our house is in a town of 33 000 people. The town's water supply is well
water. Everyone in this town complains about the hard water and many
home, including ours has a water softening system.

....

Does anyone have any opinions on the use of softeners? I have no
experience with these things. We have only lived in this house for 3
weeks. Not sure what to expect for a softener.

Contact the company and have someone come out and service your conditioner.
Rain Soft recommends once a year but I have them out once about every 5
years.

....
Not having the softener to the kitchen faucet is not a bad thing. I'd put a
RO system under the sink anyway.

Drinking hard water is disgusting. Here in phoenix, we get canal
water and it is about the worst I've experience with the possible
exception of southern orange county in california also canal water.
The problem should be fixed. An undersink RO system can be had for
less than $200+instalation. It won't have enough output for the
fawcett, but it can provide drinking water for a small spigot. I have
a line run around the kitchen to feed the freezer's ice maker. It was
a huge improvement over the simple filter it previously had.

AZ Nomad wrote:
On Sat, 23 Jan 2010 11:54:23 -0600, Master wrote:

"The wrote in message
...
Our house is in a town of 33 000 people. The town's water supply is well
water. Everyone in this town complains about the hard water and many
home, including ours has a water softening system.

...

Does anyone have any opinions on the use of softeners? I have no
experience with these things. We have only lived in this house for 3
weeks. Not sure what to expect for a softener.

Contact the company and have someone come out and service your conditioner.
Rain Soft recommends once a year but I have them out once about every 5
years.

...
Not having the softener to the kitchen faucet is not a bad thing. I'd put a
RO system under the sink anyway.

Drinking hard water is disgusting. Here in phoenix, we get canal
water and it is about the worst I've experience with the possible
exception of southern orange county in california also canal water.
The problem should be fixed. An undersink RO system can be had for
less than $200+instalation. It won't have enough output for the
fawcett, but it can provide drinking water for a small spigot. I have
a line run around the kitchen to feed the freezer's ice maker. It was
a huge improvement over the simple filter it previously had.


Hi,
It depends.
I know what you mean. PHX was my second home when I was working for
Honeywell. Here in Calgary our water comes from Rockies glaciers, Not
from canal, LOL! It cost me ~100.00 when I installed the RO system
myself. For two of us, a dog and cat it provides more than enough water
for drinking/cooking. We don't drink icd cold water. It is bad for you.
Lemme see what is our body temperature?

Doug Miller wrote:
In , "The wrote:
Our house is in a town of 33 000 people. The town's water supply is well
water. Everyone in this town complains about the hard water and many home,
including ours has a water softening system.

We plan on doing lots of gardening and we have a pool in the yards here so I
was relieved to see the outside hose connections are not hooked up to the
water softener. However in trying to trace the plumbing, I noticed our
kitchen faucet cold water is not hooked up to the softener either. The cold
for the bathrooms and laundry rooms and water heater are all connected to
the softener. Is this normal to leave the kitchen cold off the softener?

Yes, indeed. Many people dislike the taste of soft water, and intentionally
run hard water to the cold side of the kitchen sink. I dislike the taste of
soft water so much that I don't even want to brush my teeth with it, so I run
hard water to cold side of the bathroom sink, too.

Does anyone have any opinions on the use of softeners? I have no experience
with these things. We have only lived in this house for 3 weeks. Not sure
what to expect for a softener.

Soft water is great for washing things (clothes, dishes, cars, or people). Not
so great for drinking. And it's really bad for watering plants. But with soft
water, your clothes and dishes will get cleaner, with less detergent, you
won't need nearly as much soap when you shower or bathe, and you won't have
nearly the effort cleaning the tub either.
Hi,
For plant specially indoor ones, we use rain water. We collect rain
water into barrels, 3 of 50 gal. ones.

On Sat, 23 Jan 2010 11:24:21 -0700, Tony Hwang wrote:
....
myself. For two of us, a dog and cat it provides more than enough water
for drinking/cooking. We don't drink icd cold water. It is bad for you.
Lemme see what is our body temperature?
In the summer when it is 118 outside? Hot enough.
I only drinked iced water when I'm hot. Most of the time I'm
too lazy.

On Jan 23, 12:36*pm, AZ Nomad wrote:
On Sat, 23 Jan 2010 11:24:21 -0700, Tony Hwang wrote:

...myself. For two of us, a dog and cat it provides more than enough water
for drinking/cooking. We don't drink icd cold water. It is bad for you.
Lemme see what is our body temperature?

In the summer when it is 118 outside? *Hot enough.
I only drinked iced water when I'm hot. *Most of the time I'm
too lazy.

The reason that the cold water is not softened is so that people who
have salt-restricted diets do not have to drink the softened water
which contains a fair amount of salt. That is what softening does. It
uses salt to soften the water as part of the softening process. I'm
surprised none of the earlier responses totally overlooked that fact!

Tony Hwang wrote:
....

... We don't drink icd cold water. It is bad for you.

????

In what possible way might that be so and sez who?

--

"hr(bob) " wrote in message
...
On Jan 23, 12:36 pm, AZ Nomad

The reason that the cold water is not softened is so that people who
have salt-restricted diets do not have to drink the softened water
which contains a fair amount of salt. That is what softening does. It
uses salt to soften the water as part of the softening process. I'm
surprised none of the earlier responses totally overlooked that fact!


I'm glad you pointed that out, but in an attempt to avoid a big discussion
and to try and have the facts straight, softened water doesn't really
contain any added salt, but it does contain sodium. The chemical softening
process uses salt (sodium chloride) to exchange sodium for other water
hardening elements, so the softened water has a higher level of sodium.

In article , "hr(bob) " wrote:

The reason that the cold water is not softened is so that people who
have salt-restricted diets do not have to drink the softened water
which contains a fair amount of salt.

Correction: sodium-restricted diets. Softened water contains sodium; it does
*not* contain salt.

That is what softening does. It
uses salt to soften the water as part of the softening process. I'm
surprised none of the earlier responses totally overlooked that fact!

I'm not, since that's not a "fact". Ion-exchange water softening works by
replacing calcium and magnesium ions in hard water with sodium ions. Salt is
used as the source of sodium, yes, but water softeners do *not* add salt to
the water.

On Sat, 23 Jan 2010 11:09:47 -0800 (PST), hr(bob) wrote:
On Jan 23, 12:36Â*pm, AZ Nomad wrote:
On Sat, 23 Jan 2010 11:24:21 -0700, Tony Hwang wrote:

...myself. For two of us, a dog and cat it provides more than enough water
for drinking/cooking. We don't drink icd cold water. It is bad for you.
Lemme see what is our body temperature?

In the summer when it is 118 outside? Â*Hot enough.
I only drinked iced water when I'm hot. Â*Most of the time I'm
too lazy.

The reason that the cold water is not softened is so that people who
have salt-restricted diets do not have to drink the softened water
which contains a fair amount of salt. That is what softening does. It
uses salt to soften the water as part of the softening process. I'm
surprised none of the earlier responses totally overlooked that fact!

bull****. There's no salt in softened water unless you
system is seriously broke or a piece of ****, or both.
Do you smoke? Don't you think you'd be able to taste it?

If you'd bother to teach yourself how a water softener works, you'd
know that salt is only used for the recharging process. It doesn't
enter into the system while it is running normally.

On Sat, 23 Jan 2010 13:44:26 -0600, Doug Brown wrote:
"hr(bob) " wrote in message
...
On Jan 23, 12:36 pm, AZ Nomad

The reason that the cold water is not softened is so that people who
have salt-restricted diets do not have to drink the softened water
which contains a fair amount of salt. That is what softening does. It
uses salt to soften the water as part of the softening process. I'm
surprised none of the earlier responses totally overlooked that fact!


I'm glad you pointed that out, but in an attempt to avoid a big discussion
and to try and have the facts straight, softened water doesn't really
contain any added salt, but it does contain sodium. The chemical softening
process uses salt (sodium chloride) to exchange sodium for other water
hardening elements, so the softened water has a higher level of sodium.

actually not. part of the process is to flush out the system.

"The Henchman" wrote in message
...
Our house is in a town of 33 000 people. The town's water supply is well
water. Everyone in this town complains about the hard water and many
home, including ours has a water softening system.

We plan on doing lots of gardening and we have a pool in the yards here so
I was relieved to see the outside hose connections are not hooked up to
the water softener. However in trying to trace the plumbing, I noticed
our kitchen faucet cold water is not hooked up to the softener either.
The cold for the bathrooms and laundry rooms and water heater are all
connected to the softener. Is this normal to leave the kitchen cold off
the softener?

Does anyone have any opinions on the use of softeners? I have no
experience with these things. We have only lived in this house for 3
weeks. Not sure what to expect for a softener.

Yes, kitchen cold shut off is normal. Softeners are GREAT and NECESSARY if
you have very hard water, like we do here. Without a softener you'll get
mineral build up on pipes and fixtures and your laundry hoses will last
months instead of years.

AZ Nomad wrote:
On Sat, 23 Jan 2010 13:44:26 -0600, Doug Brown wrote:
"hr(bob) " wrote in message
...
....

I'm glad you pointed that out, but in an attempt to avoid a big discussion
and to try and have the facts straight, softened water doesn't really
contain any added salt, but it does contain sodium. The chemical softening
process uses salt (sodium chloride) to exchange sodium for other water
hardening elements, so the softened water has a higher level of sodium.

actually not. part of the process is to flush out the system.

Actually, yes. Na+ ions replace alternate positive ions (mostly Ca/Mg,
the "hard" carbonates replacing them w/ sodium equivalents (necessary to
maintain charge neutrality to replace those that are deposited in the
resin).

It isn't NaCl (salt) but it is a higher concentration of Na which is the
culprit targetted in low-Na/salt diets being especially, a culprit in
elevated blood pressure.

Chuck Wight, a chemistry professor at the University of Utah, provides
the following explanation:

A typical water-softening system removes calcium and magnesium ions from
hard water and replaces them with sodium ions. ...

The water softener unit is located in your household plumbing near the
place where water enters the house so that it softens the water used for
drinking and washing but not for irrigation. The unit contains several
cubic feet of porous plastic resin covered with molecules that attract
and bind to positive ions dissolved in the water. Normally, sodium
positive ions coat the resin, but as water flows over the resin on its
way to your sink or washer, the naturally occurring calcium and
magnesium positive ions that exist in hard water stick to the resin.
This releases sodium ions into the water in order to maintain a balance
of electrical charge on the resin. ...

--

AZ Nomad wrote:
....

bull****. There's no salt in softened water unless you
system is seriously broke or a piece of ****, or both.
Do you smoke? Don't you think you'd be able to taste it?

If you'd bother to teach yourself how a water softener works, you'd
know that salt is only used for the recharging process. It doesn't
enter into the system while it is running normally.

The salt (NaCL) itself, true. But the Na+ ions which is the health
culprit does as it replaces the displaced Ca/Mg...

--

On Jan 23, 1:44*pm, "Doug Brown" wrote:
"hr(bob) " wrote in message

...
On Jan 23, 12:36 pm, AZ Nomad

The reason that the cold water is not softened is so that people who
have salt-restricted diets do not have to drink the softened water
which contains a fair amount of salt. *That is what softening does. It
uses salt to soften the water as part of the softening process. *I'm
surprised none of the earlier responses totally overlooked that fact!

I'm glad you pointed that out, but in an attempt to avoid a big discussion
and to try and have the facts straight, softened water doesn't really
contain any added salt, but it does contain sodium. *The chemical softening
process uses salt (sodium chloride) to exchange sodium for other water
hardening elements, so the softened water has a higher level of sodium.

Ok - You said it more eloquently than I did.

"hr(bob) " wrote:

The reason that the cold water is not softened is so that people who
have salt-restricted diets do not have to drink the softened water
which contains a fair amount of salt. That is what softening does. It
uses salt to soften the water as part of the softening process. I'm
surprised none of the earlier responses totally overlooked that fact!

In most cases, softened water contains between 40-80mg of sodium per litre. To
put that in context, ask yourself how many litres of tap water you drink a day
and consider that a single slice of white bread contains between 150-200mg of
sodium and a can of chicken noodle soup can contain over 500mg of sodium.

On Sat, 23 Jan 2010 15:02:15 -0600, dpb wrote:
AZ Nomad wrote:
...

bull****. There's no salt in softened water unless you
system is seriously broke or a piece of ****, or both.
Do you smoke? Don't you think you'd be able to taste it?

If you'd bother to teach yourself how a water softener works, you'd
know that salt is only used for the recharging process. It doesn't
enter into the system while it is running normally.

The salt (NaCL) itself, true. But the Na+ ions which is the health
culprit does as it replaces the displaced Ca/Mg...

You're right. I had it wrong.

In article , AZ Nomad wrote:
On Sat, 23 Jan 2010 15:02:15 -0600, dpb wrote:
AZ Nomad wrote:
...

bull****. There's no salt in softened water unless you
system is seriously broke or a piece of ****, or both.
Do you smoke? Don't you think you'd be able to taste it?

If you'd bother to teach yourself how a water softener works, you'd
know that salt is only used for the recharging process. It doesn't
enter into the system while it is running normally.

The salt (NaCL) itself, true. But the Na+ ions which is the health
culprit does as it replaces the displaced Ca/Mg...

You're right. I had it wrong.

No, you didn't. You're absolutely right: there's no salt in softened water.
He's right, too, though: there are Na+ ions, and that is the health risk (but
only for people on severely sodium-restricted diets).

"Robert Neville" wrote in message
...
"hr(bob) " wrote:

The reason that the cold water is not softened is so that people who
have salt-restricted diets do not have to drink the softened water
which contains a fair amount of salt. That is what softening does. It
uses salt to soften the water as part of the softening process. I'm
surprised none of the earlier responses totally overlooked that fact!

In most cases, softened water contains between 40-80mg of sodium per
litre. To
put that in context, ask yourself how many litres of tap water you drink a
day
and consider that a single slice of white bread contains between 150-200mg
of
sodium and a can of chicken noodle soup can contain over 500mg of sodium.

Are there really people who still eat white bread and canned soup? For that
matter, who still eats bread?

"h" wrote:

In most cases, softened water contains between 40-80mg of sodium per
litre. To put that in context, ask yourself how many litres of tap water you drink a
day and consider that a single slice of white bread contains between 150-200mg
of sodium and a can of chicken noodle soup can contain over 500mg of sodium.

Are there really people who still eat white bread and canned soup? For that
matter, who still eats bread?

The point is that people are getting all worked up over something (sodium in
soft water) that is close to insignificant.

On Sat, 23 Jan 2010 12:27:39 -0500, "The Henchman"
wrote:

Our house is in a town of 33 000 people. The town's water supply is well
water. Everyone in this town complains about the hard water and many home,
including ours has a water softening system.

We plan on doing lots of gardening and we have a pool in the yards here so I
was relieved to see the outside hose connections are not hooked up to the
water softener. However in trying to trace the plumbing, I noticed our
kitchen faucet cold water is not hooked up to the softener either. The cold
for the bathrooms and laundry rooms and water heater are all connected to
the softener. Is this normal to leave the kitchen cold off the softener?


Aside from the cost to fill a pool with soft water, is that soft water
will damage the pool plaster (based on my limited readings).

Does anyone have any opinions on the use of softeners? I have no experience
with these things. We have only lived in this house for 3 weeks. Not sure
what to expect for a softener.

Search out for the model number and locate a manual if possible.
Typically, resin should last maybe 15 years (depends). A dial motor
may go out and not run the regenerations.

I replaced my softener a few years ago. I started using Potassium,
changed to Salt pellets. Both never totally dissolved and would cake
on the bottom of the media tank. Once it was 3-4 inches think, so the
tank needed a good cleaning. I finally moved to using Salt Crystals -
they dissolve best and avoid the caking made by pellets.

"Robert Neville" wrote in message
...
"h" wrote:

In most cases, softened water contains between 40-80mg of sodium per
litre. To put that in context, ask yourself how many litres of tap water
you drink a
day and consider that a single slice of white bread contains between
150-200mg
of sodium and a can of chicken noodle soup can contain over 500mg of
sodium.

Are there really people who still eat white bread and canned soup? For
that
matter, who still eats bread?

The point is that people are getting all worked up over something (sodium
in
soft water) that is close to insignificant.

Seriously. If you're still eating canned soup and bread then you have much
more serious health issues than softened water!

Robert Neville wrote:
wrote:

In most cases, softened water contains between 40-80mg of sodium per
litre. To put that in context, ask yourself how many litres of tap water you drink a
day and consider that a single slice of white bread contains between 150-200mg
of sodium and a can of chicken noodle soup can contain over 500mg of sodium.

Are there really people who still eat white bread and canned soup? For that
matter, who still eats bread?

The point is that people are getting all worked up over something (sodium in
soft water) that is close to insignificant.
Right,
Those worked up people, how do they breath the air? All contaminated.

"Robert Neville" wrote in message
...
"h" wrote:

In most cases, softened water contains between 40-80mg of sodium per
litre. To put that in context, ask yourself how many litres of tap water
you drink a
day and consider that a single slice of white bread contains between
150-200mg
of sodium and a can of chicken noodle soup can contain over 500mg of
sodium.

Are there really people who still eat white bread and canned soup? For
that
matter, who still eats bread?

The point is that people are getting all worked up over something (sodium
in
soft water) that is close to insignificant.

I think the issue is it's one more source of sodium. We have so many.

I have softened water and I can taste the sodium (salty) after it
regenerates. Newer systems may work better.

"Oren" wrote in message
...
On Sat, 23 Jan 2010 12:27:39 -0500, "The Henchman"
wrote:

Our house is in a town of 33 000 people. The town's water supply is well
water. Everyone in this town complains about the hard water and many
home,
including ours has a water softening system.

We plan on doing lots of gardening and we have a pool in the yards here so
I
was relieved to see the outside hose connections are not hooked up to the
water softener. However in trying to trace the plumbing, I noticed our
kitchen faucet cold water is not hooked up to the softener either. The
cold
for the bathrooms and laundry rooms and water heater are all connected to
the softener. Is this normal to leave the kitchen cold off the softener?


Aside from the cost to fill a pool with soft water, is that soft water
will damage the pool plaster (based on my limited readings).


Did you read that on the internet? I can't imagine why it would be harmful.
If anything I'd think it would be better for the heater.

Master Betty wrote:
"Robert wrote in message
...
wrote:

In most cases, softened water contains between 40-80mg of sodium per
litre. To put that in context, ask yourself how many litres of tap water
you drink a
day and consider that a single slice of white bread contains between
150-200mg
of sodium and a can of chicken noodle soup can contain over 500mg of
sodium.

Are there really people who still eat white bread and canned soup? For
that
matter, who still eats bread?

The point is that people are getting all worked up over something (sodium
in
soft water) that is close to insignificant.

I think the issue is it's one more source of sodium. We have so many.

I have softened water and I can taste the sodium (salty) after it
regenerates. Newer systems may work better.


Hi,
Then yours needs checking. Properly running softener does not cause
water salty taste. I am very careful with Sodium intake as a kidney
x-plant patient going on 16 years(born with bad kidneys). My family does
not use salt in cooking or eating. Anyhow our drinking water comes from
RO filter system.

"Tony Hwang" wrote in message
...
Master Betty wrote:
"Robert wrote in message
...
wrote:

In most cases, softened water contains between 40-80mg of sodium per
litre. To put that in context, ask yourself how many litres of tap
water
you drink a
day and consider that a single slice of white bread contains between
150-200mg
of sodium and a can of chicken noodle soup can contain over 500mg of
sodium.

Are there really people who still eat white bread and canned soup? For
that
matter, who still eats bread?

The point is that people are getting all worked up over something
(sodium
in
soft water) that is close to insignificant.

I think the issue is it's one more source of sodium. We have so many.

I have softened water and I can taste the sodium (salty) after it
regenerates. Newer systems may work better.


Hi,
Then yours needs checking. Properly running softener does not cause
water salty taste. I am very careful with Sodium intake as a kidney
x-plant patient going on 16 years(born with bad kidneys). My family does
not use salt in cooking or eating. Anyhow our drinking water comes from RO
filter system.

I've done a little research and it's supposed to be normal. I asked the
service tech and he confirmed that too. I may have over stated the
saltiness. It barely noticeable but it's there.

I use a RO system for cooking and drinking. I have a large salt-water
aquarium so I have to have RO water for it.

I've considered going to potassium but the price has gone up lately.

On Sat, 23 Jan 2010 17:28:29 -0600, "Master Betty"
wrote:


"Oren" wrote in message
.. .
On Sat, 23 Jan 2010 12:27:39 -0500, "The Henchman"
wrote:

Our house is in a town of 33 000 people. The town's water supply is well
water. Everyone in this town complains about the hard water and many
home,
including ours has a water softening system.

We plan on doing lots of gardening and we have a pool in the yards here so
I
was relieved to see the outside hose connections are not hooked up to the
water softener. However in trying to trace the plumbing, I noticed our
kitchen faucet cold water is not hooked up to the softener either. The
cold
for the bathrooms and laundry rooms and water heater are all connected to
the softener. Is this normal to leave the kitchen cold off the softener?


Aside from the cost to fill a pool with soft water, is that soft water
will damage the pool plaster (based on my limited readings).


Did you read that on the internet? I can't imagine why it would be harmful.
If anything I'd think it would be better for the heater.


Well, I haven't finished reading all of the Internet, yet.

Seems pool water needs calcium? Balanced water will do less harm to
equipment?

"Tony Hwang" wrote in message
...
Master Betty wrote:
"Robert wrote in message
...
wrote:

In most cases, softened water contains between 40-80mg of sodium per
litre. To put that in context, ask yourself how many litres of tap
water
you drink a
day and consider that a single slice of white bread contains between
150-200mg
of sodium and a can of chicken noodle soup can contain over 500mg of
sodium.

Are there really people who still eat white bread and canned soup? For
that
matter, who still eats bread?

The point is that people are getting all worked up over something
(sodium
in
soft water) that is close to insignificant.

I think the issue is it's one more source of sodium. We have so many.

I have softened water and I can taste the sodium (salty) after it
regenerates. Newer systems may work better.


Hi,
Then yours needs checking. Properly running softener does not cause
water salty taste. I am very careful with Sodium intake as a kidney
x-plant patient going on 16 years(born with bad kidneys). My family does
not use salt in cooking or eating. Anyhow our drinking water comes from RO
filter system.

Ya know...come to think of it I think it was salty tasting before the last
service call. You're probably more right than I am.

On Sat, 23 Jan 2010 17:51:23 -0600, "Master Betty"
wrote:

I've considered going to potassium but the price has gone up lately.

Lately? Don't be silly. Potassium costs plenty years ago.. The main
reason I changed to Salt pellets was cost. I since moved to using salt
crystals.

I'll guess the cost difference is 5-6 dollars per bag.

Oren wrote:
On Sat, 23 Jan 2010 17:51:23 -0600, "Master
wrote:

I've considered going to potassium but the price has gone up lately.

Lately? Don't be silly. Potassium costs plenty years ago.. The main
reason I changed to Salt pellets was cost. I since moved to using salt
crystals.

I'll guess the cost difference is 5-6 dollars per bag.
Hi,
Potassium costs more and to me it does not do as well as salt crystal.

Tony Hwang wrote:
AZ Nomad wrote:
On Sat, 23 Jan 2010 11:54:23 -0600, Master wrote:

"The wrote in message
...
Our house is in a town of 33 000 people. The town's water supply is
well
water. Everyone in this town complains about the hard water and many
home, including ours has a water softening system.

...

Does anyone have any opinions on the use of softeners? I have no
experience with these things. We have only lived in this house for 3
weeks. Not sure what to expect for a softener.

Contact the company and have someone come out and service your
conditioner.
Rain Soft recommends once a year but I have them out once about every 5
years.

...
Not having the softener to the kitchen faucet is not a bad thing. I'd
put a
RO system under the sink anyway.

Drinking hard water is disgusting. Here in phoenix, we get canal
water and it is about the worst I've experience with the possible
exception of southern orange county in california also canal water.
The problem should be fixed. An undersink RO system can be had for
less than $200+instalation. It won't have enough output for the
fawcett, but it can provide drinking water for a small spigot. I have
a line run around the kitchen to feed the freezer's ice maker. It was
a huge improvement over the simple filter it previously had.


Hi,
It depends.
I know what you mean. PHX was my second home when I was working for
Honeywell. Here in Calgary our water comes from Rockies glaciers, Not
from canal, LOL! It cost me ~100.00 when I installed the RO system
myself. For two of us, a dog and cat it provides more than enough water
for drinking/cooking. We don't drink icd cold water. It is bad for you.
Lemme see what is our body temperature?

"They", whoever "they" are, say that drinking distilled or RO'd water
with no minerals in it is bad for you. It supposedly leaches the
minerals out of your body. (Am I right assuming RO water has no minerals?)

h wrote:
"Robert Neville" wrote in message
...
"hr(bob) " wrote:

The reason that the cold water is not softened is so that people who
have salt-restricted diets do not have to drink the softened water
which contains a fair amount of salt. That is what softening does. It
uses salt to soften the water as part of the softening process. I'm
surprised none of the earlier responses totally overlooked that fact!
In most cases, softened water contains between 40-80mg of sodium per
litre. To
put that in context, ask yourself how many litres of tap water you drink a
day
and consider that a single slice of white bread contains between 150-200mg
of
sodium and a can of chicken noodle soup can contain over 500mg of sodium.

Are there really people who still eat white bread and canned soup? For that
matter, who still eats bread?

Canned soup? No. Bread? Only if I make it once or twice a year. I'm
allergic to wheat/wheat flour/gluten so I can't eat the bread in the
store. Five bucks for a pre-made mix that I have to add more
ingredients to, and bake it myself, and it's only a small loaf! No
pizza, pasta, gravy, cake or cookies, no hamburgers/hot dogs on a
roll/bun, and much much more. I have to read the ingredients in
everything I buy. Corn bread, they use some corn flour and add wheat
flour, but I found one type of cornmeal from Martha White that doesn't
have wheat!!! Yeah, Martha! They put wheat flour and gluten in a hell
of a lot of stuff. I can't even eat Good n' Plenty candy, or black
(real) licorice. (No such thing as strawberry licorice! It doesn't have
LICORICE in it! Duh!) It's tricky when eating out. I am getting
better using rice flour to cook with, ahhhh, PIZZA AGAIN!!!!!!!!!!!
Pizza, pizza, pizza!!!! I'm getting faster at making the shell/crust so
I can enjoy my favorite food again. Oops! OK. Water softeners! Yep.
Yep. Yep.

Any advice to regenerate?

This softener is a Aquafine Aqua 1. We have no manuals, no stickers on the
tanks to show who service or who install or where purchased. I have no idea
of the volume or capacity. 20 gallons? 80 Litres maybe? There are two
adults in our house. No kids or pets. We do a lot of cooking.

It appears the timing and valve is a Fleck 4620 or 5600 gear type timer.
I'm guessing this via Google pictures. There is no information stamped or
stickered on the valve or timer itself. Nothing digital.

It appears to "trip" the regenerating process at 1 am on the days the user
selects. There's a tab behind a "clock" gear that does the "tripping" A
dial with 12 days has tabs you select which days regeneration is to occur.

I have tried the manual regeneration process and it seems to work. I'm not
sure the automatic tripping regeneration does come on or off. The clock gear
gets stuck when I advance it to 1 am. How long after 1 am does it take
these controls to go from "in serv" to "regen" OR does the program selector
dial always stay "In Serv."

Anyone with familiarity on these Fleck manual timers please offer some
advice. I'd be grateful.

D.

"Jeff The Drunk" wrote in message ...


http://www.texsonwater.com/5600%20service%20manual.pdf

Yup I found the manual for the 4650 and 5600. Still doesn't answer all my
questions, although these seem to be well made units.

On Sun, 24 Jan 2010 14:37:43 -0500, "The Henchman"
wrote:



"Jeff The Drunk" wrote in message ...


http://www.texsonwater.com/5600%20service%20manual.pdf

Yup I found the manual for the 4650 and 5600. Still doesn't answer all my
questions, although these seem to be well made units.

Owner, Service manuals and Spec Sheet PDF files: (5600)

http://www.pentairwatertreatment.com...Fleck+5600.htm