Do water softeners really work

[snotsnfarts]

Live in a hard water area and thinking about installing one...do you have to empty ot the lime etc?

[FourWheelDrift]

Depends on what you are going to use.

Maybe try one of the Brita water filters first maybe, you change the filter every month or so, try a new kettle there will be no limescale in the kettle months down the line.

[Puggit]

Yes - we had one that needed filling up all the time with bags of salt. You knew when it was running out!

Not for drinking water though...

[largerandrock]

How much do these things cost? and are they easy to install?

[furtive]

Yes they work very well
No you don't have to remove the limes

Cost about £1k-£2k or so to install IIRC

Edited by furtive on Friday 14th November 14:50

[mik.ross]

In a word. Yes they do work. Mrs M.R is a chemical eng. working in water treatment, I will ask her when she gets home.

I think you need a different system, depending on both the hardness of the water and the chemical make up of the water you are attempting to soften.

http://www.accepta.com/industry_water_treatment/bo...

HTH

[Don]

snotsnfarts said:

Live in a hard water area and thinking about installing one...do you have to empty ot the lime etc?

No emptying. Yes they work.

If you are in a VERY hard water area they may not make the water fully "soft" but it will loads better than it is without...

You go from needing half a bottle of detergent to do the dishes to a tiny little drop.

I paid £1k a few years back for a Kinetico one. It's fairly good. Its USP is that it is operated entirely on water pressure (a "clockwork" engineering design). Some of them need plugging into the mains, or require a battery. I wanted one that needed the minimum maintenance.

The 'leccy ones often have fancy LCD displays telling you stuff - as if you would read it under the sink...

[indi pearl]

Got to be the best houshold appliance going. No more blocked shower heads, scummy baths, dirty taps/wash basins and SWMBO thinks her golden blonde tresses would fall out if not daily washed in soft water.
Our machine is some 20 years old, entirely automatic in operation and has never broken down. Requires 25kilo of salt (£6.50) every 6 weeks or so and I do a service (very easy) every couple of years.
I think ours cost about £150 back in the late '80s so certainly think prices have shot up.

[jesta1865]

Puggit said:

Yes - we had one that needed filling up all the time with bags of salt. You knew when it was running out!

Not for drinking water though...

my mum and dad have one its years old and still soldering on, was for all our water drinking included.

never thought i needed one really.

[Iain328]

jesta1865 said:

Puggit said:

Yes - we had one that needed filling up all the time with bags of salt. You knew when it was running out!

Not for drinking water though...

my mum and dad have one its years old and still soldering on, was for all our water drinking included.

never thought i needed one really.

Shouldn't drink softened water - the softening process basically substitutes Sodium ions* for calcium hence softened water is very high in Sodium content which isn't too good for you in excess....

(hence why you use salt [aka Sodium Chloride] to recharge the thing)

[satans worm]

Anything to look out for when buying one? I need to get one for our 3 bed bungalow.

[warmfuzzies]

Iain328 said:

jesta1865 said:

Puggit said:

Yes - we had one that needed filling up all the time with bags of salt. You knew when it was running out!

Not for drinking water though...

my mum and dad have one its years old and still soldering on, was for all our water drinking included.

never thought i needed one really.

Shouldn't drink softened water - the softening process basically substitutes Sodium ions* for calcium hence softened water is very high in Sodium content which isn't too good for you in excess....

(hence why you use salt [aka Sodium Chloride] to recharge the thing)

Not strictly true as the clensing process uses the salt to remove the calcium ions from the resin, but there is salt left over afterwards, less than the equivlant tin of beans worth per drinking water equivelant per day we were reliably informed.

Kevin

[Smiler.]

The one in our pad works well - the water around here is harder than Ross Kemps' nad-sack.

[beedj]

Agree with indi pearl comments above - superb appliance if you're in a hard water area.

Can strongly recommend one of these:
http://www.godfreys-online.co.uk/pageview.php?page...

It does need mains supply, but only for the electronics, not for water supply/pressure.

Fairly easy DIY fit if you can manage basic plumbing. You must keep one tap unsoftened for drinking water (usually utility room or kitchen where incoming water supply)

I have set up a contract with Culligan so that when I run out of salt, one phone call and they deliver 10 bags of salt (might depend how close you live to s depot)

[beedj]

Agree with indi pearl comments above - superb appliance if you're in a hard water area.

Can strongly recommend one of these:
http://www.godfreys-online.co.uk/pageview.php?page...

It does need mains supply, but only for the electronics, not for water supply/pressure.

Fairly easy DIY fit if you can manage basic plumbing. You must keep one tap unsoftened for drinking water (usually utility room or kitchen where incoming water supply)

I have set up a contract with Culligan so that when I run out of salt, one phone call and they deliver 10 bags of salt (might depend how close you live to s depot)

[Smart roadster]

As had been said yes they work. I think you used to have to have one fresh water tap in your house that wasn't treated but that may have changed.
Unless your water is over 400ppm of calcium you should be able to drink the water as the amount of sodium chloride in the water is tiny. If you have kids or pets I'd still go with a hard water tap to be safe.
Units range from simple single cylinder units to complex duplex units cost range is around £300 to over a £K for the units. Installation is simple if you are a competant DIY plumber but should only take a couple of hours to install proffessionally. We went for a Twin tec unit that is made in the UK. It is a non electric water metering one. We spend around £40 a year on salt(this will have changed since the baby turned up but I try not to think about how much more of everything we use now).
One word of warning when we fitted ours we blocked the drain with all the scale that came out of the hot water cylinder.

[off_again]

snotsnfarts said:

Live in a hard water area and thinking about installing one...do you have to empty ot the lime etc?

Yes. I and my sister live in a VERY hard water area. She has one, I don't. She doesn't need to constantly clean tap heads and the like, I do.

She had one of those salt systems installed for around 1,500. Works well and the quality of the water that comes out afterwards is very good. The big problem that she has is the lack of water pressure. Yes it works, but slowly. So anything that you want with a reasonable throughput (like a sink) might need some thought. My sister has a belfast sink with filtered taps going into it; basically she sets the taps going and sits down for 5 minutes while it fills up. Not great.

[Merritt]

Ive got a Twin Tec unit that uses block salt... Excellent piece of kit and I won't be without it now. The water in our area is nasty before softening. No longer need salt in the dishwasher, less detergent and it stops the streaks on the car when you use the hose

Free plug for Kevin Goody : http://www.uk-water-softeners.co.uk/pages/product....

I have no ties with him but his service has been excellent & orders of block salt have always been with me within a day of phoning through. Top service and deserves another

Cheers

Steve

[ferg]

A water softener will soften the water to 0 hardness. Many people like to blend back, but it's a bit pointless.
Code of Practice says that you should have a drinking water tap left hard, but the sodium level is quite low. Important to bear in mind that under 6 months babies have very little sodium tolerance. Sodium as some have said remains even after the fast rinse, it's sodium ions which are exchanged in the microporous bead resin bed for calcium and magnesium ions (the 'hardness salts').
Fitted under a sink near the rising main and the drinking water tap should be a cheap enough fit and there are machines about for under £500.
Sadly water treatment in this country is a bit like double-glazing used to be. Paying a lot for a machine doesn't make it better than others.
Avoid (in my opinion) non-electric models. Low water demand can fool the turbines and cause partial softening of the water.
Mine cost £299 five years ago. Still going great.

[warmfuzzies]

Just be aware that these units have had valve failures, 3 I know of, and they are about 150 to fix with parts, I just let mine run noisey, and know eventually it will leak back and require replacing.

K.

beedj said:

Agree with indi pearl comments above - superb appliance if you're in a hard water area.

Can strongly recommend one of these:
http://www.godfreys-online.co.uk/pageview.php?page...

It does need mains supply, but only for the electronics, not for water supply/pressure.

Fairly easy DIY fit if you can manage basic plumbing. You must keep one tap unsoftened for drinking water (usually utility room or kitchen where incoming water supply)

I have set up a contract with Culligan so that when I run out of salt, one phone call and they deliver 10 bags of salt (might depend how close you live to s depot)