Remineralising softened water to make it taste better

Section62

Keith_F said:

Section62 said:

The installer should have suggested running a pipe from the hard water side to the kitchen sink and adding an extra tap for hard water, much as Bendy has suggested.

Unless the hardness of the water is very low (in which case you shouldn't need soft water for washing up/cooking) the sodium added to the water in the softening process means that it shouldn't be used for drinking or cooking.

There are people who will say that ion-exchange softened water is harmless to drink, but the long-term effects of excessive sodium intake are widely reported.  And although softened water doesn't contain 'salt' it does contain higher levels of sodium as a result of ion exchange (i.e. from the removal of calcium).  The harder the incoming water, the more sodium in what you drink.

Did you get the water hardness level tested?

This!
Get a connection from hard water supply to a separate faucet. Run this through a simple filter such as this [snip]
filter only needs changing once per year and makes an amazing difference to taste. 

Just to be clear, I didn't and wouldn't suggest installing any kind of filter for drinking water. And definitely not one which is passing drinking water through a 'filter' which is being left unchanged for that length of time.

UK mains water is supplied to a very high standard of potability.  After passing through an aged 'filter' I wouldn't be so sure it was safe.

Keith_F

Section62 said:

Keith_F said:

Section62 said:

The installer should have suggested running a pipe from the hard water side to the kitchen sink and adding an extra tap for hard water, much as Bendy has suggested.

Unless the hardness of the water is very low (in which case you shouldn't need soft water for washing up/cooking) the sodium added to the water in the softening process means that it shouldn't be used for drinking or cooking.

There are people who will say that ion-exchange softened water is harmless to drink, but the long-term effects of excessive sodium intake are widely reported.  And although softened water doesn't contain 'salt' it does contain higher levels of sodium as a result of ion exchange (i.e. from the removal of calcium).  The harder the incoming water, the more sodium in what you drink.

Did you get the water hardness level tested?

This!
Get a connection from hard water supply to a separate faucet. Run this through a simple filter such as this [snip]
filter only needs changing once per year and makes an amazing difference to taste. 

Just to be clear, I didn't and wouldn't suggest installing any kind of filter for drinking water. And definitely not one which is passing drinking water through a 'filter' which is being left unchanged for that length of time.

UK mains water is supplied to a very high standard of potability.  After passing through an aged 'filter' I wouldn't be so sure it was safe.

Used the system for 16 years, silver/charcoal based filter……I’m still here 😉

goldfinches

If you've got a neighbour who is fed up with having to descale their kettle frequently could you do a mutual daily exchange of filled 2l plastic bottles?
I have seen water filter jugs for sale in charity shops for a couple of pounds, would it be worth buying one of these and a single filter to see if that solves the problem?
I prefer my drinking water chilled which I think improves the flavour, it might be worth trying this too. I keep a filled bottle in the fridge door.