Have Water Softener, but still get water marks in shower?
Discussion
We have a kinetico 2020 water softener (the salt ion exchange type), which according to the test tablets, is working fine.
There's no scum on tea and the kettle doesn't fur up.
BUT we do get a lot of white scale type residue on our glass shower doors and shower cubicle tiles. It's quite hard and tough to get off.
Is this normal?
There's no scum on tea and the kettle doesn't fur up.
BUT we do get a lot of white scale type residue on our glass shower doors and shower cubicle tiles. It's quite hard and tough to get off.
Is this normal?
Joe M said:
Do you use soap when in the shower? If so, its normal.
Ha ha!This stuff isn't a bit of soap scum! It appears anywhere the shower water goes and it's difficult to shift.
I did wonder that it may be limescale that's been dissolved from the hot water tank as the the softener was fitted fairly recently, so there is probably loads of baked on limescale in the pipes and hot tank.
richard at home said:
Spudler said:
Don't expect to much, they're all pretty f
king useless.
What the Karcher or the Water Softener???king useless.(I had a Karcher pressure washer and binned it after rebuilding the water pump 3 times due to oil seals leaking. It was crap.)
My OH seems to like the Karcher.
richard at home said:
We have a kinetico 2020 water softener (the salt ion exchange type), which according to the test tablets, is working fine.
There's no scum on tea and the kettle doesn't fur up.
BUT we do get a lot of white scale type residue on our glass shower doors and shower cubicle tiles. It's quite hard and tough to get off.
Is this normal?
Richard,There's no scum on tea and the kettle doesn't fur up.
BUT we do get a lot of white scale type residue on our glass shower doors and shower cubicle tiles. It's quite hard and tough to get off.
Is this normal?
What area are you in?
What disc number is in the top of the machine?
How old is the softener, did you buy it new?
Have you noted any change in salt consumption?
richard at home said:
The softener feeds the whole house except the outside tap and a drinking water tap...
If it doesn't feed your drinking water tap then the fact that you don't get fur in your kettle indicates you don't have hard water. Edited by RichB on Wednesday 20th April 23:02
johnoz said:
Richard,
What area are you in?
What disc number is in the top of the machine?
How old is the softener, did you buy it new?
Have you noted any change in salt consumption?
We have 300ppm hard water here (Dorset).What area are you in?
What disc number is in the top of the machine?
How old is the softener, did you buy it new?
Have you noted any change in salt consumption?
It's a disc 5.
It's 6 years old and fitted new.
Brine wash appears fine and it's using salt.
RichB said:
Oh. But softened water tastes salty. Perhaps the salt ratio is not high enough else the OPwould taste it in his tea.
You can't taste any salt in the softened water. You should be able to as the softener always rinses after the brine wash. Edited by RichB on Wednesday 20th April 23:12
Another interesting fact is that if I get a droplet of hard water and a droplet of softened water on a polished metal surface and let both dry out, there is a white chalky residue left behind on both.
The residue from the softened water is actually harder and more difficult to wipe off!
I've had the water tested by Wessex Water and they say no problem, apart from some iron particles from our mains water pipe into the house.
The Softener manufacturer says that if the test tablets go green, it's working. They do.
No scum on tea (usually the first sign, if I forget to fill it with salt). No fur in kettle.
What ever this stuff is, it doesn't accumulate on heating elements etc, but it certainly accumulates where water is left to dry.
The water supplier and the softener supplier are both sitting on the fence pointing at the other guy and I have impossible to remove deposits on shower doors and shower tiles.
The sinks are all white so not much shows up on there. Taps all look ok too.
This is what the residue looks like. The hard water mark wipes off with one brush of a finger, the softened water mark is much tougher to shift:
The residue from the softened water is actually harder and more difficult to wipe off!
I've had the water tested by Wessex Water and they say no problem, apart from some iron particles from our mains water pipe into the house.
The Softener manufacturer says that if the test tablets go green, it's working. They do.
No scum on tea (usually the first sign, if I forget to fill it with salt). No fur in kettle.
What ever this stuff is, it doesn't accumulate on heating elements etc, but it certainly accumulates where water is left to dry.
The water supplier and the softener supplier are both sitting on the fence pointing at the other guy and I have impossible to remove deposits on shower doors and shower tiles.
The sinks are all white so not much shows up on there. Taps all look ok too.
This is what the residue looks like. The hard water mark wipes off with one brush of a finger, the softened water mark is much tougher to shift:
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