Do we need an extra tap when fitting a water softner?

jap200

We live in a very hard water area and are considering fitting a water softner.

One of our first questions is - do we need to have an extra tap fitted so that we still have hard water to drink etc?

The reason this is an initial concern is that we have a granite worktop with a mixer tap fixed through a hole that was pre-drilled into the granite. I don't know if it is possible or necessary to drill another hole for another tap.

Any advice would be gratefully received.

molerat

http://www.southernwater.co.uk/pdfs/educationAndEnviro/drinkWaterQuality/SoftenersWRCnote.pdf

in a nutshell, yes !!

edit ....

Although if you read this https://www.britishwater.co.uk/Document/Download.aspx?uid=ee36c54e-925e-4b64-b732-b7b13aa6a638 it says it is not an absolute requirement but be careful with babies and anyone who requires a low sodium diet.

Canucklehead

Hi

You could spend a lot and have one of these.. http://www.franke.co.uk/prods2.asp?prodid=34&pid=3&nSiteLoc=sinks&nSiteLoc2=filtered&nSiteLoc3=specialist
(Tap only)
Or leave your existing tap on hard water.
It depends how much you want soft water to your sink.Hopefully your granite was drilled for a standard tap and if so then a triflow should fit.
HTH.

Corgi Guy.

Lord_Gardener

Because of increased sodium levels we got one of these fitted when our water softener was put in 12 years ago!

http://www.uk-water-filters.co.uk/undersink_home_water_filters.html

moonrakerz

The thing about increased sodium levels from softener water is a bit of an 'urban myth'.

The amount of sodium in water from a softener is about one third of the legal limit for sodium in fresh milk. It has been calculated that if you drink softened water, the sodium you ingest accounts for less than 5% of your total sodium intake.

However, if you are mixing baby milk, don't use softened water as babies are very susceptible to minute quantities of sodium.

jap200

Canucklehead wrote: »

Hi

You could spend a lot and have one of these.. http://www.franke.co.uk/prods2.asp?prodid=34&pid=3&nSiteLoc=sinks&nSiteLoc2=filtered&nSiteLoc3=specialist
(Tap only)
Or leave your existing tap on hard water.
It depends how much you want soft water to your sink.Hopefully your granite was drilled for a standard tap and if so then a triflow should fit.
HTH.

Corgi Guy.

We have a lovely shiny Franke mixer tap which is only a couple of years old and was quite expensive, so we don't want to replace it. I do want softened water going through this tap as opposed to hard water to try and avoid/reduce limescale which looks awful and possibly damages our black granite, so if we do go down the extra tap route, I would make that the one for hard water.

I have read all the replies and it seems that most official advice is to provide an unsoftened tap, although I do accept that it is probably not detrimental to your health to drink the softened water. We have 3 young children though, who all like to drink plenty of water, so I think I would prefer to have the option of using unsoftened water - if only for them to drink. It looks like we would therefore need to work out how to do this with the granite worktop.

I am confused by Lord_Gardner's suggestion as I don't know what it is or whether it is used instead of or in addition to a water softner.

onthemend

Not necessarily

We had a water softener fitted under our kitchen sink about 11 months ago.

They were able to put the kitchen sink cold as unsoftened and the remaining house on softened as the main feed into the house was under the kitchen sink. We also were able to have the outside tap on either unsoftened for water the garden (dosen't kill the plants) and switch it to softened when washing the car etc.

Canucklehead

Hi

It seems to me the choice is this...
1)How much to get a new hole drilled , buy a new tap and fit it.
2)How much is a triflow tap.

Work out the difference and there's your answer.
As to Lord-Gardener's situation.....
I don't see why you would fit a water softener and then fit a water filter to undo the work of a softener and then pay just under £16 a month on filters. Maybe there was no way hard water could be supplied to the sink.?

Corgi Guy.

Canucklehead

Hi

That would be 6 months not 1. Still too much though.
Corgi.

jap200

Canucklehead wrote: »

Hi

It seems to me the choice is this...
1)How much to get a new hole drilled , buy a new tap and fit it.
2)How much is a triflow tap.

Work out the difference and there's your answer.
As to Lord-Gardener's situation.....
I don't see why you would fit a water softener and then fit a water filter to undo the work of a softener and then pay just under £16 a month on filters. Maybe there was no way hard water could be supplied to the sink.?

Corgi Guy.

Yes, you are right. I will investigate and do the sums!

I have just looked at the Franke Triflow taps in more detail. The tap we have at the moment is the beautiful Olympus, that cost us around £150. The Triflow taps are new for summer 2007 and they do several styles, including an Olympus one. The price is quite a shock though at £490 from Franke directly, although a quick search shows that I could get it for about £350 elsewhere.

However, reading the blurb about the Triflow system, it seems that the reason they are expensive is that they include a filtration system, which is fitted under the sink - sounds like the thing Lord_Gardner was suggesting. Here is a Q & A about it:

Q. Can I purchase the Triflow tap without the purifier?
A. No. The Franke Triflow has been designed as a complete system and the purifier is an integral part of it. The tap is not designed to work with any other filters and adapting it to do so will invalidate the warranty.

It also goes on to say that you can use it with a water softer by having the softened water going to the normal hot and cold taps and having the un-softened, but purified water going to the middle 'pure' tap. The filter apparently lasts 6 months, but I can't find out the cost for replacement cartridges.

This looks like a good solution for us aesthetically, but a somewhat pricey one. I suspect having the hole drilled in the granite and buying an additional tap would be cheaper, but maybe not that by that much. I guess I will need to count up the pennies and work out if we can afford this on top of the water softner price.

I suppose I could sell the Franke tap we have at the moment on Ebay as it is still in excellent condition with all the instructions and fitting kit that it came with..mmmmmm

christineperseus

We have one.
The filters are £29.50 and need changing every 5-6months