Water softener

Ace135

Hi I live in a hard water area and am getting a new boiler installed soon. I asked the engineer if they can also fit a whole house water softener he suggested Combimate. I just wondered if anyone has any experience of this. I am aware some softeners use a lot of salt but this doesn't seem to but I just wondered do others think it's a good option? I will probably continue to use a water filter jug as well. 
Thanks everyone 

silvercar

Ace135 said:

Hi I live in a hard water area and am getting a new boiler installed soon. I asked the engineer if they can also fit a whole house water softener he suggested Combimate. I just wondered if anyone has any experience of this. I am aware some softeners use a lot of salt but this doesn't seem to but I just wondered do others think it's a good option? I will probably continue to use a water filter jug as well. 
Thanks everyone 

Some people put all their water through the water softener other than the kitchen drinking water. So it makes sense if you are going to follow that pattern, to continue to use a water filter jug.

Other options include having a reverse osmosis filter put between the water softener and your drinking tap - we did this for many years.

When we redesigned the kitchen we decided to dispense with the RO filter and just drink softened water, apparently the rules have changed over the years and this is now ok. We were advised to keep one tap in the house for unsoftened water, in our case it’s the garden tap. 

Latest NHS guidelines, “ Softened water is completely safe to drink and does not contain unhealthy levels of sodium. The average amount of sodium found in a 250ml glass of softened water contributes to 1% of your daily sodium intake (Recommended daily intake by the NHS 2015 is 2,400mg of sodium).”

FreeBear

Ace135 said:

Hi I live in a hard water area and am getting a new boiler installed soon.

The boiler manufacturer may well specify a scale inhibitor is fitted to the cold feed - This should go some way in reducing the amount of scale building up inside the boiler. Another tip to reduce scale is limit the temperature you heat the water to. One reason I limit DHW temperature to 50°C or less.

I'm also in a hard water area. Recently removed (and cut open) a 35+ year old DHW. Surprisingly little scale inside, but then the tank was rarely heated to more than 60°C. Compare that to my kettle which needs descaling every 3-6 months.

Rodders53

The Combimate is not a proper water softener but some sort of scale inhibitor acting via a chemical added to the water supply.  See https://www.combimate.co.uk/
I'd definitely want a separate unfiltered water tap for drinking.
If it works.

I don't think the rules have changed wrt ion-exchange water softeners that use salt brine in the process... that quote is lifted from NE Water Softeners website (and used on many softener manufacturers' websites, too)... Googling NHS Guidelines on Water Softeners (or drinking softened water) finds nowt for me.

I believe they still recommend that babies and those on very low sodium diets avoid drinking softened water.

NB Some can taste the difference of hard and softened water. My wife and granddaughter for two that I know.  It also affects tea making.

Slinky

We have a water softener and a drinking water tap in the kitchen. I can certainly taste the difference between the two. I wouldn't drink either straight from the tap. We run the drinking water through a water filter (Phox) to remove the strong taste of chlorine we get otherwise.