Posted: 1/30/2008 9:01:12 PM EDT
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What water softener do you use? We bought just bought a house and want to install a new softener system. Likes? Dislikes of your system? Thanks |
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we have a culligan. ran about $2000 installed. it works fine but if your haouse has been without for a long time there is plenty of build up already in your pipes , so it will take a few years before your water is truly soft, and you will have sediment breaking lose frrom your pipes and ending up in your water. and make damn sure your discharge waste (salt water) goes either into your septic or into the sewer, or it will kill every living plant with in 100 feet. |
Correct me if I'm wrong, but wouldn't dumping lots of salt water into a septic tank or leech field be a bad idea? Even excess tap water can flush out a septic tank and all the poop eaters. I can't imagine that a bunch of salt will be any more friendly to them. -Local |
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If you have hard water, without a water softener junk will build up in your pipes/toilet etc... I remember my parents scraping what looked like oyster shells out of the commodes before they installed a softener.. The only time you can taste salt in the water is when the softener regenerates. But you normally set that for middle of the night, so you should never even know it.. one thing most ppl dont like about softened water is it 'feels' like you still have soap on you body after bathing.. As a reminder it only FEELS like you have soap, but its just the soft water.. You can buy softeners for ~$500 (or so), but that does not include installation.. Brian |
From what I remember hearing the minerals and such the softener removes from your water is not bad for your septic system.. My parents ran their softener outdoors but not for it to meet code it must be runinto the septic.. For the record, im sure opinions vary on whether it is good for the septic or not, just like I have heard from 'professional' plumbers you should use products like rid-x and you should not use similar products.. to each his own Brian |
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Don't use one. When I bought the house 6 months ago I thought about buyign one but now I'm glad I didn't. I see it as a waste of money. And everyone keeps saying softened water tastes salty and feel funny on your skin after you take a shower. I use the well water for everything except drinking. I like Ozarka. |
Damn you're ignorant!  If you have hard water, it will deposit calcium and iron in the pipes and also stain (iron) clothes. The salt is to recharge the resin. You are not drinking or showering in 'salt water'. The amount of salt that gets dumped into the septic tank is small considering the volume of the tank (1000 gallons). It's harmless as long as the leach field was properly constructed. ETA: I have a 'Master'. Works great. |
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As others have said, the salt does not touch the water. The water runs through a mineral bed which is full of little beads. The beads attract the impurities. Once the beads get to a point where they are clogged up, the water softener regenerates, and runs the brine solution through the mineral beads. The ions in the salt water (I think this is the correct terminology) attract the impurities in the beads, and carries them away. You set up the regeneration schedule and the amount of salt the regeneration uses based on your water. Once you get it set correctly, you can't even tell it's well water, and it usually tastes better (cleaner, with no chlorine smell) than city water. If we don't use our softener and bypass it, within 3 days our toilets are orange (high iron content in our water). And again, set it correctly and there's no "soap" feel when you take a shower. ETA: We had a septic tank, the brine solution dumped into it. Had it pumped and inspected every 2 years (4 of us in the house) and it looked like new every time. |
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Mom and dad use Morton System Saver with rust protection in theirs. They still have white t-shirts in the wash. The previous owner's hair would be reddish-orange (rather than grey/white) because they didn't use the rust protection. The first time the recalmation system went off in the middle of the night it made a huge noise, woke me up and I rolled out with the SKS and a flash light.  We got it replaced (the bladder was leaking). It seriously sounded like someone was trying to beat their way through the crawl space access.Needing to use one depends on the well. If you dig a well, or buy a house with a well, you should get the water tested to determine if it needs treated. I have city water and I have one.  We have heavy calcium build ups when the salt runs low. I use Morton System Saver w/o rust protection. (I don't know what model the actual water softener is, I'll try to check it out this evening) My parent's water feels "soapy" but mine doesn't. Neither of us drink our water unfiltered. They buy the 7x reverse osmosis stuff from the store. I use Brita filters. |
I do work for a Culligan franchise and had to research this issue a bit. Turns out that not only can you get iron in your water but you can address the iron and still have "iron bacteria" Who knew? My water tastes great, BTW. It just discolors everything. |
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I bought mine from these guys: www.ohiopurewaterco.com/shop/customer/home.php Installed it myself. It wasn't hard ( no pun intended ). Soft water sucks but hard water is worse. |
 The water doesn't taste salty. It is better for your skin(doesn't dry it out as much) Better for your plumbing, no deposits. I live in a rural area where everyone has softeners, RO's, and the waste goes into individual lagoons. The content of the discharge is nowhere near enough to kill vegetation, and I don't think the "salt" used is actually NaCl, but I could be wrong. |
Most use NaCl plain old salt. Some use Potassium chloride but it is more expensive. We never drink the tap watter as it tastes bad with or without softening. |
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This thread is FULL of fail. Test your water. It is the only way to be sure EXACTLY what needs to be done to make it as "good" as possible. Some water needs nothing, some needs a softener, some needs a charcoal filter ect. Without a lab testing your water, it is like shooting at a target in the dark without knowing for sure the target has even been put up yet. ETA. Softeners are on timers and they use the salt to regenerate the "filter". If you are getting any saltwater into your home's supply you have a MAJOR malfunction with your equipment. ETA2 We deal with hard water problems all the time. Believe it or not it is worse in the summertime around here. I just figure it is because the solids in the water supply are more concentrated when the lakes and rivers are lower. test your water in the summer to be sure you don't have a problem. |
+1 Quick but confusing how it works article on water softener works, here |
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As stated above, this thread is full of misinformation. You get no salt in the house, as the system bypasses itself while it regenerates and it rinses all of the salt out of the tank before placing itself back in service. Most people complain about the slimey feel of the soft water, and not being able to wash all of the soap off. When you have soft water, you only need to use 1/4-1/3 of the soap you used with the hard water, as the minerals in the water have been filtered out. Please don't buy a system from a dealer, especially a national brand, as they are way overpriced. What you need is a system using a Fleck 5600 Econominder Metered Control Valve. This is an industry standard control valve that has been around for along time and has proven itself a winner. This also means that any parts needed down the road with be available. With the metered control valve you can dial in the setting for your households water usage and have it regenerate only when it has reached it's filtering capacity. Do yourself a favor and get the 1" stainless bypass, which will give less restriction of the flow. Also, put some type of roof/shed over the system, as the sun will play hell on the fiberglass tanks over the years. I have had the best results with the black tank finish, as it seems to hold up the best. I have purchased from these folks in the past with excellent service and price: Quality Water Treatment The 32,000 grain system is a standard size system, but you can use their system sizer on the upper right of the page to guide you towards the ideal size for you. Sorry for the long post, but I hope this will help you with your decision. Feel free to IM me with any other questions and I should be able to get back to you within a couple of days. 556mm |
Glad you read all the posts:
I am full of WIN!  
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LOL, sodium zoelite softeners work on simple ion exchange. The calcium and magnesium ions are exchanged for sodium ions via the resin bed. Copy and paste: The idea behind a water softener is simple. The calcium and magnesium ions in the water are replaced with sodium ions. Since sodium does not precipitate out in pipes or react badly with soap, both of the problems of hard water are eliminated. To do the ion replacement, the water in the house runs through a bed of small plastic beads or through a chemical matrix called zeolite. The beads or zeolite are covered with sodium ions. As the water flows past the sodium ions, they swap places with the calcium and magnesium ions. Eventually, the beads or zeolite contain nothing but calcium and magnesium and no sodium, and at this point they stop softening the water. It is then time to regenerate the beads or zeolite. Regeneration involves soaking the beads or zeolite in a stream of sodium ions. Salt is sodium chloride, so the water softener mixes up a very strong brine solution and flushes it through the zeolite or beads (this is why you load up a water softener with salt). The strong brine displaces all of the calcium and magnesium that has built up in the zeolite or beads and replaces it again with sodium. The remaining brine plus all of the calcium and magnesium is flushed out through a drain pipe. |
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Just because you're on a well doesn't necessarily mean you have "hard" water. Get it tested to figure out exactly what you need. The well water on the land we own is pretty close to perfect. All we need is a sediment filter. OTOH the "city water" supplied to the house (different property) is hard as a rock from Ca/lime. When the old water softener died we did without for a month until we could get a new one. Never again! Clothes didn't get clean, dishes and glasses got "cloudy", the fixtures got blocked up with lime almost immediately, etc. FWIW we got a Whirlpool softener from Lowes and the hubby installed it. $600 total. |
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I have a cheap softener system that regenerates twice a week. Never have any problems with it. I go through about 60 lbs of salt a month. I have an RO system for the taste. Surprising how many water softener experts here say it adds salt to your water.  As mentioned multiple times, the salt is to recharge the softener.
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True - have it tested. I am on a well and use Nada. Had the copper replaced with plastic as the PH was high around here causing a bit of copper leaching. No copper,no leaching,no problem. Filter out sediment with a $20 filter system and replaceable cartridges. I try and avoid anything that will be a maintenance project. Test, then act accordingly. |