Water softener

Thomas_Holding

Has anyone living in a hard water environment found that have water softeners put in saved any money on heating etc?

[Deleted User]

I am not sure how you would know? The one advantage of a water softener is soft water. My guess is that you will save much more on detergents; shampoo; soap and descaler than you will on heating. That said, in a wet radiator system, softened water is not recommended.

PS. We have had water softeners for the last 25 years and we wouldn’t be without one.

MWT

[Deleted User] said:

PS. We have had water softeners for the last 25 years and we wouldn’t be without one.

Funny isn't, I've removed them ASAP from every house I've lived in

Individual choice is a wonderful thing.

To answer the OP, no I wouldn't expect to see any saving on heating and as Dolor mentions it is not recommended to use softened water in systems with an aluminium heat exchanger.

Rodders53

Lower energy use is not one of the claims by water softener makers.  IF there was any they'd be shouting it from the rooftops.

I'm also not sure the savings on soaps, detergents, de-scalers and even heater element longevity will outweigh the purchase, installation and running costs (salt block/tablets) of water softeners either.

Grumpy_chap

Rodders53 said:

Lower energy use is not one of the claims by water softener makers.  

It seems to be an implicit claim here:
https://www.uk-water-softeners.co.uk/cost-savings/

Thomas_Holding

Rodders53 said:

Lower energy use is not one of the claims by water softener makers.  IF there was any they'd be shouting it from the rooftops.

I'm also not sure the savings on soaps, detergents, de-scalers and even heater element longevity will outweigh the purchase, installation and running costs (salt block/tablets) of water softeners either.

Actually the quote I got said
"Some users of gas fired boiler systems should also notice a reduction in hot water running costs as the softened water removes limescale from combination boiler heat exchangers, hot water tanks and pipe work, making them more efficient"

Nice and vague - gives the impression but doesn't promise anything.
However I very much doubt it would save money - but my child has bad eczema - and that is my motivation.
It would be good - but I doubt it that it would end up cost neutral.

Thomas_Holding

MWT said:

[Deleted User] said:

PS. We have had water softeners for the last 25 years and we wouldn’t be without one.

Funny isn't, I've removed them ASAP from every house I've lived in

Individual choice is a wonderful thing.

To answer the OP, no I wouldn't expect to see any saving on heating and as Dolor mentions it is not recommended to use softened water in systems with an aluminium heat exchanger.

Out of interest why?  To be honest I wouldn't care either way - but a child screaming with eczema makes you think twice.

Grumpy_chap

Having a water softener is a lovely luxury - but one I only notice when it is not producing soft water.  Our softener never goes wrong but I sometimes forget to load salt in time and will know when I have my shower that I need to get that done.

MWT

Thomas_Holding said:

Out of interest why?  To be honest I wouldn't care either way - but a child screaming with eczema makes you think twice.

I'm sorry your child is suffering, but I'm not sure that water  softening is the answer...

https://www.scratchsleeves.co.uk/blog/daily-life-living-with-eczema/do-water-softeners-help-eczema/

One of our children did have eczema as a child, but removing/minimizing the various triggers, mostly detergent related, resolved the problem.

The aversion to water softening is that both myself & my wife detest the sensation of showering and hair-washing with softened water and I prefer drinking normal tap water as well. 

We had plenty of opportunity to experience living with a water softener as my wife's parents had one installed. Never liked it and have avoided then since.

Never seemed like it added anything we needed and much that we disliked.

Thomas_Holding

MWT said:

Thomas_Holding said:

Out of interest why?  To be honest I wouldn't care either way - but a child screaming with eczema makes you think twice.

I'm sorry your child is suffering, but I'm not sure that water  softening is the answer...

https://www.scratchsleeves.co.uk/blog/daily-life-living-with-eczema/do-water-softeners-help-eczema/

One of our children did have eczema as a child, but removing/minimizing the various triggers, mostly detergent related, resolved the problem.

The aversion to water softening is that both myself & my wife detest the sensation of showering and hair-washing with softened water and I prefer drinking normal tap water as well. 

We had plenty of opportunity to experience living with a water softener as my wife's parents had one installed. Never liked it and have avoided then since.

Never seemed like it added anything we needed and much that we disliked.

Thanks for that - it looks like it doesn't help.

MWT

Thomas_Holding said:

Thanks for that - it looks like it doesn't help.

I think the real message in that link is that the biggest improvement comes from reducing/eliminating the use of the triggers, and soft water naturally encourages you to use smaller amounts of soaps and detergents in general so it 'works' from that perspective, but you can achieve the same results through care and attention.

Good luck though, hope you manage to identify the triggers and get life back to some sense of 'normal'.