Water softened water bad for CH systems?

Catbells

I am going to need a new boiler soon and was thinking it wouldn't get gunged up with limescale because I had a water softener put in a year ago. The British Gas engineer (from Homecare service I pay for) came to service the boiler recently and said NO it is not good for the boiler to have softened water in the system because the salt in the water would cause rust. Does anyone know if this is true?

UncleZen

Im prepared to be corrected as Im no expert on the subject, but...
Water softeners use a salty water solution to clean the filter, they dont put salt in the water itself, well I suppose there might be a trace as the water feeds through the regenerated filter.

anotherbaldrick

Your concern with lime build up in the central heating is a false premise. As the water content is the same water recirculated any calcium is soon deposited and no more enters untill the system is drained and a very small amount to replace system loss. What you will get in the system is black sludge called magnetite which comes from the steel of the radiators. For this reason you should ensure your engineer after fitting the boiler flushes the system and adds inhibitor when refilling. Soft water would not be any benefit in the system and would be best filled with unsoftened.

travis-powers

anotherbaldrick is spot on I have a water softener, if it's fitted properly you can bypass it to fill your system.

CKdesigner

Hi

Ah - but what sort of boiler does catbells have?

Whilst I agree with the above 2 posts about the water going round the radiators but if catbells has or wants to have a combi boiler then indeed a water softener would help the boiler greatly.

CK

Chunks

Not an expert but my understanding is that most modern boilers can cope with softened water. While salt is used in the regen process to condition/clean the resin the water produced is not 'salty' although it does contain sodium.

My Halstead boiler came with the recommendation that the water supply is 'treated' using one of those electro-magnet gizmos. The OP should probably check compatibility with the chosen manufacturer to be on the safe side, perhaps taking the BG engineers advice with a pinch of salt (sorry).

Canucklehead

Hi: see here.

HTH

Canucklehead

Myser

Although salt is used in a water softener, it is not added into the water at the output feed from the softener. The salt is used as an ion exchange process to remove the magnesium and calcium found in the water - which causes limescale build-up.

Catbells

CKdesigner wrote: »

Hi

Ah - but what sort of boiler does catbells have?

Whilst I agree with the above 2 posts about the water going round the radiators but if catbells has or wants to have a combi boiler then indeed a water softener would help the boiler greatly.

CK

I have an old Potterton boiler (probably will need replacing within a year or so). I cant have a combi apparently because the water pressure isn't strong enough.

Catbells

UncleZen wrote: »

Im prepared to be corrected as Im no expert on the subject, but...
Water softeners use a salty water solution to clean the filter, they dont put salt in the water itself, well I suppose there might be a trace as the water feeds through the regenerated filter.

I'm not sure what you mean by 'clean the filter'. I dont have a filter so how could the salty water solution clean something thats not there?

shegar

Catbells wrote: »

I am going to need a new boiler soon and was thinking it wouldn't get gunged up with limescale because I had a water softener put in a year ago. The British Gas engineer (from Homecare service I pay for) came to service the boiler recently and said NO it is not good for the boiler to have softened water in the system because the salt in the water would cause rust. Does anyone know if this is true?

I to was told this when we had a new Isar boiler put in ,and also if my boiler broke down and they knew that soft water had been through it it would invalidate my insurance cover......