Water Softeners (pending)

tophatjohnny
tophatjohnny Posts: 4,162
edited January 2020 in The Clubhouse
So we just had a new water heater installed as the old one couldn't keep up with our nightly use. The guy that installed it for us recommended that we have a water softener installed as it would help to prolong the life of the new heater and went on with other benefits of adding a softener.
Here's my hang up..remembering years ago taking a shower at a resort our band played and the place had huge softeners in place so my memory is a slimy feel on my body that seemed un natural. Anyone here can chime in as to are we making the right move with having this installed or should I ditch the slime before it hits.?? Supposed to be installed on Fri. A little remorse right now but I can cancel with no issues. Just not 100% sure it is the right thing to do. $1400.00 later!!
"if it's not fun, it's not worth it & remember folks, "It's All About The Music"!!
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Comments

  • mhardy6647
    mhardy6647 Posts: 32,927
    edited January 2020
    A normal water softener shouldn't (won't) give you that unctuous feeling. We had that initially with ours in MA, but it was due to a pH adjustment tank that we also had (and needed) -- there was too much alkali being added when it was originally installed, so the pH was too high... thus the slipperiness.

    You shouldn't (IMO/IME) notice anything different about your softened (deionized) water -- other than a decrease in scale being formed/left behind by hard water, and soap should lather better. :)

  • rpf65
    rpf65 Posts: 2,127
    The slime feeling is that the salt regeneration setting is too high.

    Personally looking at one of those Pelican water softeners. They don’t use salt or electricity, and supposed to be good for 500,000 gallons of water. Still reading up on how they exactly work, so decision still pending.
  • Mike Reeter
    Mike Reeter Posts: 4,314
    IMHO, a Quality Softener is well worth the expense.

    Your body will thank you, and all of your water using Appliances will be happy as well.
  • joecoulson
    joecoulson Posts: 4,943
    Johnny if you don’t mind me asking, is it an RO unit and which one?
  • mhardy6647
    mhardy6647 Posts: 32,927
    edited January 2020
  • FestYboy
    FestYboy Posts: 3,861
    joecoulson wrote: »
    Johnny if you don’t mind me asking, is it an RO unit and which one?

    RO units (at least all the ones I've seen installed) are connected directly to the house inlet line prior to the softening unit. RO units (non-commercial) can't keep up with daily usage other than what you use to consume internally.

    Personally, I have a Hague system and the softening unit has a large activated charcoal section as part of the pre filter. I have it set to regen every 1200 gallons and I fill the salt tank every other year. It's that efficient. My parents unit needs refilled every 2 months, and their well water is in better shape than the public water I'm on... Pre filtration that is.
  • tophatjohnny
    tophatjohnny Posts: 4,162
    edited January 2020
    Pending no more. Installed yesterday morning went great and after filling our new whirlpool tub, the water afterwards has been the softened water. We had a separate cold line run to our kitchen sink and soft to all else.
    I wasn't sure but I really like it. The soap lathers up like crazy and just leaves me feeling extra clean. To those that know..it is a Clack system with a 150lb salt bin. Glad we did it.
    "if it's not fun, it's not worth it & remember folks, "It's All About The Music"!!
    *****************************
  • mhardy6647
    mhardy6647 Posts: 32,927
    Pending no more. Installed yesterday morning went great and after filling our new whirlpool tub, the water afterwards has been the softened water. We had a separate cold line run to our kitchen sink and soft to all else.
    I wasn't sure but I really like it. The soap lathers up like crazy and just leaves me feeling extra clean. To those that know..it is a Clack system with a 150lb salt bin. Glad we did it.

    tol'ya :)
    congratulations -- lots of value in a softener (in terms of benefit per unit cost) if one has hard water.
  • What are some good brands of whole house water softeners?
  • mhardy6647
    mhardy6647 Posts: 32,927
    From my perspective, they're pretty generic (FWIW). I am sure there are more or less fancy ones, but what they do is pretty simple. Most of the modern ones are smart enough to keep track of water use rather than just calendar time, so that they don't regenerate the resin needlessly.

    I can go in the basement & see what our plumber put in when the house was built, if you want :)

    It's been fine so far (closing in on 7 years "on line").