water softner help in chosing and is this true

Matt_Filterman

Hi joe t.
Do you know how hard the water is in your area?.. I would expect a bag of salt to last 3-4 weeks at least in most areas. It may well be worth mentioning how much salt you are using to the softener guys when they come back to fit the new hoses.. it might just need a bit of adjustment.

As far as getting more pressure to your new house semo, there are quite a lot of factors to take into account.. If you are still at the design stage then it should be relatively easy to sort out. If the house is already built then things can be a bit more challenging. A couple of the common things that can limit pressure/flow are stop valves not being fully opened on the feed into the house or undersized pipes distributing water throughout the water system.
If you really do have poor flow or pressure from the mains supply then fitting a water storage tank and pump can be relatively straightforward if you know what you are doing. Please be aware though that fitting a pressure pump directly to the mains pipe (without a storage tank) not only contravenes regulations but normaly fails to give satisfactory results as well.
Matt

joe_t

Matt_Filterman wrote: »

Hi joe t.
Do you know how hard the water is in your area?.. I would expect a bag of salt to last 3-4 weeks at least in most areas. It may well be worth mentioning how much salt you are using to the softener guys when they come back to fit the new hoses.. it might just need a bit of adjustment.

Matt

thanks matt.
there coming next monday i will mention this to them.
joe........

joe_t

hi,

ive just spoken to the water board and my yearly use is consistently 140 cubic mts per year or roughly 12cu mts per month.
does this tally with my usage of salt @ 50kg per month, does anyone know how too work this out.

thanks.

joe.......................

moonrakerz

joe_t wrote: »

does this tally with my usage of salt @ 50kg per month, does anyone know how too work this out.

That is a huge amount of salt !

I have just looked up some figures for average types of softeners.

4 person model 1350 litres per regeneration, 1kg salt per regeneration
6 person model 2950 litres per regeneration, 2.4kg salt per regeneration

If we average those 2 machines and say 2kg of salt for 2000 litres of water, you should be using 12kg per month NOT 50.

Your water may be exceptionally hard - but not 4 times the standard adopted for being "hard" water.

joe_t

thanks moonrakerz,
ive just spoken to them and they agree something is not right.
i still have too wait till they come on monday before i get any answers.
i will report back then.
thanks.
joe.........

semo

Matt_Filterman wrote: »

Hi joe t.
Do you know how hard the water is in your area?.. I would expect a bag of salt to last 3-4 weeks at least in most areas. It may well be worth mentioning how much salt you are using to the softener guys when they come back to fit the new hoses.. it might just need a bit of adjustment.

As far as getting more pressure to your new house semo, there are quite a lot of factors to take into account.. If you are still at the design stage then it should be relatively easy to sort out. If the house is already built then things can be a bit more challenging. A couple of the common things that can limit pressure/flow are stop valves not being fully opened on the feed into the house or undersized pipes distributing water throughout the water system.
If you really do have poor flow or pressure from the mains supply then fitting a water storage tank and pump can be relatively straightforward if you know what you are doing. Please be aware though that fitting a pressure pump directly to the mains pipe (without a storage tank) not only contravenes regulations but normaly fails to give satisfactory results as well.
Matt

I am looking in to the pump+tank option. The water pressure is normal but that's not good enough for me. I want to be able to use water in the kitchen while someone is showering without disturbing them.

I don't know where to start looking (water softener or pump, etc..). Any advice? I'm in the borough of Kingston area.

joe_t

moonrakerz wrote: »

That is a huge amount of salt !

I have just looked up some figures for average types of softeners.

4 person model 1350 litres per regeneration, 1kg salt per regeneration
6 person model 2950 litres per regeneration, 2.4kg salt per regeneration

If we average those 2 machines and say 2kg of salt for 2000 litres of water, you should be using 12kg per month NOT 50.

Your water may be exceptionally hard - but not 4 times the standard adopted for being "hard" water.

i have broke down my usage (which the water board state has been consistent over 3 years).

140 cu mts p/a = 140,020 litres p/a this - 2,700 litres per week

so something is very wrong.
joe.........

DavidA

Can't believe I spent the last two hours reading a forum thread about water softeners. Thanks for the informative posts. Hope you figure our your salt problem Joe.

I'm in Brighton. The water isn't as hard as some people's, but it bugs me that the shower and basins are always chalky.

My question is whether any of the softeners adapt for different levels of hardness? Ideally what I'd like is system that knows the hardness, adjusts and has a LED light that tells me when it's time to throw in another salt block.

Or have I got this wrong, and does the softener only use the salt that it needs?

Doc_N

DavidA wrote: »

My question is whether any of the softeners adapt for different levels of hardness? Ideally what I'd like is system that knows the hardness, adjusts and has a LED light that tells me when it's time to throw in another salt block.

Or have I got this wrong, and does the softener only use the salt that it needs?

Most softeners can be adjusted for different levels of hardness - at least, decent ones can.

You'll need to test your hardness with a testing kit (simple enough process and you'll be able to get a kit free) and then programme the softener.

Not sure about LED lights, but normally it's just a question of opening the lid every month or so, checking to see how full it is, and topping up with salt if necessary. It's mainly the amount of water used that determines how much salt is used, and different softeners tackle this in different ways. Some regenerate after a set number of days, some have meters and regenerate after a set number of litres, and some have meters linked to predictive software which regenerate when the software thinks its best to.

DavidA

Great. So it only uses the salt that it needs? I hadn't understood that point.