I don't know a thing about them but I'm sure many of you do. So share with me your wealth of knowledge about water softeners! I'm buying a tankless water heater and was warned that if I didn't have a water softener it would get all clogged up with minerals in no time. I don't know anything about them or how many grains, yadah yadah. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

I bought mine online. Saved a bundle. Great quality. I had a plumber in for other reasons and he asked about it. When I told him what I paid, he couldn't believe it. Told me it was really quality equipment and would serve well for a long time.

They are very easy to install if you have mastered basic plumbing skills. A little harder if you have copper, but if you have PVC it is a piece of cake. Still only a Saturday afternoon job either way.

Mine was less than half of what a local appliance company wanted, installed, for a lower capacity unit.

You'll have to get your water tested to see how much hardness is in the water so you can size the unit appropriately. The harder the water, the larger the unit to reduce the frequency of regenerations. The salt is not that expensive and believe me, if you have hard water, you'll never want to go back after adding a softener.
It saves money big time. Your dishwasher heating element won't scale up and your dishes will be cleaner looking. Clothes get cleaner. One suggestion: put a valve system in that lets you switch your outdoor spigot back and forth between hard and soft water. You'll love washing that '78 with soft water, but you don't want to waste the good stuff watering plants or hosing off the driveway.
http://www.pure-earth.com/

 

Do you run all your water through the softener? I was thinking of just putting it before the water heater and calling it good. It WOULD be cool to have a spot free rinse on the truck.

 

I run mine in line right before the water heater, so only the hot is softened. As recommended, you can stop by your local Sears store and grab a water tester bottle, then bring the sample back and have the hardness number you need to go shopping.... One thing I found works real nice are the new compression fittings. You can run those on the PVC or copper and your set. These of ocurse are the heavy grey pipe units.

--Mike

 

All mine goes through the softener. We had about 30 grains of hardness and scale would build up on everything. I mean in the toilet, on the shower walls, in the kitchen sink drains, all spigots and fixtures, everywhere. I had to clean my water heater twice per year and would get 3-5 coffe cans full of calcium scale out of it. I used to clean surfaces off once or twice per year with muriatic acid and that was a pita.
I imagine if your water is not that hard it would be fine to just soften the water that will be heat, but cold water is used for most rinsing activities (dishwashers, washing machines) and you would not get the anti-spotting benefits. Personal choice, but at least you won't be coating all of your various heating elements.

 

What about putting a high quality water filter inline before the water heater instead of a water softener? My only complaint on the softeners is that it's hard to get soap off yourself in the shower! I don't know if that's a universal complaint or just my experience.

 

A filter won't remove the minerals that asre disolved in the water, only a softener can do that. As far as rinsing soap actually rinses better, it only feels more slippery because of the lack of minerals. They are definitly a worthy investment if you have hasrd water.

 

Actually, the slipperyness are the natural oils that belong in your skin that are stripped off by the effects of hard water. When I found that out, I thought it was bs. But I can tell you that my skin is not dry at all in the winter like it used to be. I'vew had this softener for 6 years now and it has performed flawlessly. We have no humidifier in the house and heat with 90% woodstove and 10% forced hot air.
And no, a filter won't take dissolved minerals out of the water.
In the simplest terms I can explain with, the softener works by exchanging the calcium ions in the water with sodium ions via ionic exchange in the big tank. Inside the tank are millions of tiny pellets that adsorb (yes, adsorb-not absorb) or attract positively charged ions like ca+ (the positively charged calcium ion). Once these millions of pellets have collected as much ca as they can hold through ionica attraction, they have to be cleaned off by running saline through them. The sodium (na+) bumps the ca off the pellets and they go back into solution. This water is dumped down the drain. Hence, the hardness of the water determines the size of the softener. You have to calculate your approximate water usage in gallons and factor in the hardness of water to get a tank big enough to take at least a few days before it cannot pull any more calcium from the water. You'll get a chart with table to help you figure all this out-it is not hard. The point is you don't want to be regenerating every night. Once every one or two weeks is good. Better models can be configured to regenerate in the wee hours of the morning. Water is still available during regeneration, it just isn't softened, so you can still use the toilet at 3 am and flush it!
The ion exchange principle is basic chemistry. The sizing of your system is basic math. If you passed both in hihg school, it all makes very good sense.
If anyone out there is a chemistry whiz, please correct me if I am wrong about how a softener works, but don't nitpick as to whether the calcioum ion has 2 extra protons or one. I know I have it right in principle...don't quote me on the absolute correctness of the chemical terminology.

 

We were using the blue bags of salt at Walmart and found after a year there was dirt at the bottom of the tank. Now we used the yellow bags now there no dirt at the bottom of the tank. Should clean them out once a year. Test the water at sears first, its free and they have water bottom to. You will need a water drain and an outlet for the tank. We don't have it hooked up the the outside hose or to the cold water side in the kitchen. Do your cold water pipes in the cellar sweat in the summer? If so you may want to add some insulation around your tank. I got in the habbit of picking up one bag of salt per week, I find it better then hauling 6 bags in all at once. You will love having one in your home.

 

a water softner is the only way to go. been using one for about 15 years now, and would not be without it. right on about the feeling on the skin , and the clean dishes and pipes. no filter can take the place of a good softner. put it in and you wont be sorry......