Water softners

[tok]

Hi folks,

New to the site and my first question is

A customer wants to replace his water softner, which is currently located in his loft. He has heard somewhere that at least on tap in his house must not be served by the water softner, but still have hard water running through it.

Anybody know why? or if this is true.

 

[gpbeck]

Ion exchange softeners replace Calcium ions in the mains water with Sodium ions. Hence sodium intake is raised if drunk and medics say sodium is bad for us. Actual amounts are usually a trivial proportion of normal intake so this is not a big issue. No rules, but best practice is fresh to a kitchen tap. Some softener makers recommend a micro feed to a drinking tap.

 

[Plumbstar Tom]

yes, standard practise is to have an unsoftened supply to the kitchen tap as it is medical proffessionals that reccommend we do not drink soft water

Where this is badfor you or not I have no idea but if the medicals pro say dont do it then I wont 🙂

 

[dontknowitall]

I think it's a water regulation (for the whole industry) that each building that has a water supply to it must have a potable supply from at least one tap (or whatever the jargon is).

As soon as you add a softener then the water authority cannot guarantee the chemical state of the water after that point.

Usually the water comes in under or near the kitchen sink as this is where most drinking water is taken (cooking etc). The water will tee off for the rest of the house around here. "Usually" being the operative word. In real life ...

Sorry for the muddled reply but hopefully you can see what I'm getting at!

 

[tok]

Thanks to all for the replies.