Water softeners and plumbers

Innys

Hi all

I am thinking of having a water softener installed and just had a quote for a Nuwave MD400 at over £1,000 which seems very expensive. I live in Surrey

Has anyone ever bought a softener separately and had a plumber install it? Or even installed it themselves? I could never install it myself but I know of a decent plumber and I'm thinking of asking him to do it instead.

Thanks in advance?

I

Kew2u

There are many makes out there and all pretty straight forward to install although if you're not sure you can manage it yourself, then certainly hire your decent plumber for an hour or so. Here's a link of a site I just Googled, but go on line anyway and cheak makes/prices. http://water2buy.co.uk/water-softeners-10/?gclid=CJCitZmq-KwCFQMn3godhDKdng

Another one to look at. http://www.harveywatersofteners.co.uk/no-salt-water-softeners

ormus

http://www.popularmechanics.com/home/improvement/interior/1275126

simple enough to install. not that much more difficult than a 2 pipe washing machine.

ed110220

As water softeners replace calcium and magnesium ions with sodium ions, you should be aware that the softened water may be toxic to plants, so you may want to water using unsoftened water.

lollipopsarah

Thank you ed, I didn't know that, but since someone told me not to use tap water anyway (it causes white spots on the soil - don't know why, maybe hard water), I have been using boiled water.
I really must get myself another water filter jug thing, then when changing the filter ever month, the first jug goes on the plants and they love it.
btw we are in a rented flat the there is a gadget on the pipes near the boiler, but the water still mucks up the kettle - grrrrrr.
xx

anotherbaldrick

Although plumbing in a water softener is pretty straight foreward a bit of professional advice that would come from an installer might not come amiss, ie: with regard to type and capacity and things like not taking softened water to the kitchen sink cold tap , your body needs some of the minerals in unsoftened water and it makes lousy tea.

Kew2u

My addition to some of the above. The 'Gadget' on the pipes sounds like a contaminater remover/reducer, not a water softener. Different manufacturers have different ideas about what's best, some say plumb into the kitchen sink where you will use the softer water for drinking and washing veg etc; and consider it a waste to treat water that will be used for flushing the loo etc; sounds fine when you consider that it does actually cost money to soften water. Other makers say the best system is a larger double container type and should be fitted where the water main comes into the home. That way all appliances as well as drinking water is treated. Also, the double system will work 'faster' in that one of the containers will be cleaned and the other ready to use.
Rule of thumb I suppose...the greater the use, the bigger it needs to be.

anotherbaldrick

The following from a water co site

Soft water is neither healthy nor desirable for drinking! If you were a steam iron or a washing machine it would be great, but we are neither! There are good reasons you should not be drinking soft water!
SoftWater is a universal solvent. Most materials, especially metals, are partially soluble in water. If that water is heated or softened it becomes much more aggressive at leaching metals from water lines. Lead in soldered joints and copper in pipe are particularly vulnerable and these are two of the heavy metals which shouldn't be present in significant amounts in your drinking water.
Calcium and magnesium are two minerals which make water "hard." Both of these minerals are classed as "contaminants," but that's a poor choice in terminology, for calcium is essential in our diet! A softener merely exchanges one group of non-toxic elements for another group of non-toxic elements. Water hardness is measured either in grains per gallon (GPG) or as calcium hardness in milligrams per liter (mg/l) or parts per million (ppm). GPG is based on calcium hardness. To convert from calcium hardness ppm, just divide by a factor of 17.2 and this gives you hardness in GPG. A soft or slightly hard water has up to 3.5 GPG; moderately hard water runs from 3.5 to 10.5 GPG; and very hard water is greater than 10.5 GPG. If your water is over 7 GPG, you might want to consider a softener just for the laundry.

Kew2u

There you go then, 'Baldrick. You pays your money you takes your chance. Seems that this part of the 'home service' isn't regulated but there are certainly rules regulating what's supposed to be safe when it comes to drinking water. What a minefield, no wonder ppl get confused.

Myser

Generally, it is a good idea not to have the main kitchen tap or garden on the softener.

Softened water isn't really recommended for drinking and I read somewhere that it isn't good for diabetics to drink either?

I don't think plants like it so much either.

Have a look at Kinetico water softeners they are maintenence free and use to be the leaders in water softeners. Salt blocks can be expensive however, you can use granular or tablet salt.

You can install a magnetic descaler to prevent scale build-up on non-softened pipes.

http://uk.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20090904051307AAhC86D

Enterprise_1701C

You can get a water conditioner that requires no plumbing. Put simply, by using the pipework as an aerial to send a radio signal through the water to break up the old limescale, and creates a magnetic field to prevent new limescale. We have one and our water is now considerably softer than it was, and the taste is far better too. You do not have to add salt to it so it is far cheaper to run, and as you are not adding anything to the water it remains drinkable.

I think that is the furthest I can go - I am a Director of a company that manufactures and sells these units. They work, although a lot of sceptics will say they do not. I live in Surrey and we no longer have a problem with limescale.