Questions about plumbing systems, minerals vrs chlorine

I use a whole house filter on the input water. I use either a sediment cartridge or a charcoal cartridge depending or whether I intend to store the water in my tank for a while. The charcoal cartridge removes chlorine and also acts as a sediment filter (5 microns as I recall).

In hard water areas I use a FloPur Mark 8000 water softener after the filter.

DutchmenSport wrote:

Another thing about water softeners. Although they do help remove some chemicals, the salt that is replaced is not good for drinking.

This is overstating the possible bad effects of the sodium that softeners add to water. See Mayo Clinic article.

If you're on a restricted salt diet, then install an under-the-sink Reverse Osmosis system for your drinking water.

One thing you might find.... As I recall "Soft" water is de-mineralized.. The Anode rod.. Well that is a mineral (Zinc most likely) and thus soft water will eat it fairly fast. So if you go soft, check the anode often.

The RV portable water softeners (On-The-Go & FloPur are two brands) are filled with a resin. The resin collects calcium/magnesium. When resin is coated you clean the resin with a brine solution. Then the brine is rinsed away. (Open top,pour in box of table salt, let sit for 15-20 mins, gently rinse for 15 mins. Regen done)

In a large home system the added sodium content is minimal. There is 5 times more salt in a glass of milk than in a glass of softened water.

PH of water is only slightly raised by softening because sodium is alkaline.
Normal PH for drinking water.......6.5 to 8.5.
Softening only raises PH by .2 to .3 units
Milk has a PH of 6.2

We have used our portable for 7 yrs whenever in areas of hard water.
Keeps the WH from scaling up, keeps the faucets from scaling up, keeps the toilet bowl and inlet valve from scaling up. Great suds in shower and sink.
We drink it, bath in it, wash with it.
The only thing we don't do is make coffee with it. I would as I drink coffee black but GF likes 'cream' (non-dairy kind) and it doesn't mix. It just clumps.

Rmack1 wrote:
The salt that is used to 'regenerate' the water softener replaces the minerals in the water? I don't think I really understand what's going on here.

The best, quickest and most accurate answer will be to google 'soft water'.

DutchmenSport wrote:
Your anode rod did exactly what it was suppose to do ... deteriorate! The white particles are the residue from the rod. It's designed to do that. You do need to flush out your water heater every now and then for this very reason.

Yeah, I know. I'm pretty sure that the rate that the anode deteriorates is faster when the water is 'harder'. I'm hoping that the soft water device will at lest slow down the process. Is this correct?

DutchmenSport wrote:
Another thing about water softeners. Although they do help remove some chemicals, the salt that is replaced is not good for drinking. That's why in homes, usually the kitchen faucet cold water is never hooked up through the water softener, but straight from the water source, be it city or a well.

The salt that is used to 'regenerate' the water softener replaces the minerals in the water? I don't think I really understand what's going on here.

And how about the carbon 'WaterPur' filter? If this removes chlorine, I'm betting it will remove sodium chloride (salt) also.

Your anode rod did exactly what it was suppose to do ... deteriorate! The white particles are the residue from the rod. It's designed to do that. You do need to flush out your water heater every now and then for this very reason.

About water softeners. We have one at the house and although we are on a well, and do not have chlorine, all it does is, basically, add salt and somehow soften the water. It does nothing for iron (which we have strong iron in our home water.

Actually, the city chlorine is good for your water system. It helps to keep your system sanitized, and you don't have to do anything. Because we are on a well, if we go camping and have advantage of using chlorinated water, we fill the fresh water, run it through the lines and let it self-sanatize everything for us. When we lived it town, we didn't have to worry about that, because we kept city (chlorinated) water in the tank all the time.

Another thing about water softeners. Although they do help remove some chemicals, the salt that is replaced is not good for drinking. That's why in homes, usually the kitchen faucet cold water is never hooked up through the water softener, but straight from the water source, be it city or a well.

I had an On-the-Go softener, but, it lowered the ph of the water enough to where it ate the drain out of my shower.

It was a hassle to use, so I just use any old water that's available. I don't seem to have unusual hard-water scale on anything.

A search of 'soft water' will give you more ideas.