Soft or hard water to fill up the tank?

[Kayteg1]

I read some conflicting reports and always find tons of sale pitching about water processing.
So I have water softener in my house and it is great for showers, leave not much water marks and so on.
But on the other hand water softener are getting rid of calcium and nutritionist say we need calcium.
At home I am in the process to run separate tubing to fridge, with unprocessed water where build-in filter will remove chemicals, hopefully leaving calcium, but in TC we have 1 tank and we use the water for consumption.
So any specialist can say how important is calcium for our bodies? I would prefer to fill soft water, but also plan to live long and healthy.

[Kayteg1]

But than again, how much health benefits are you loosing by drinking sodium ions instead of calcium?

[rr2254545]

Old-Biscuit wrote:
We FTd for 7 yrs using a portable water softener...WHY?
Because MANY areas of the US have 'hard' water and the scale was showing up on faucets/showers/toilet bowl--seal and inside water heater.

Now if we had been campers I wouldn't have bothered.
But we were FT traveling weekly somewhere new.

The portable water softener used resin beads that would 'collect' the minerals (calcium, magnesium)....in doing so the sodium on the resin beads is released
When resin beads become saturated with minerals you do a 'regen' using regular table salt. Dump a box of salt in, let it set for 20-30 minutes then rinse for 15 minutes. Ready to go again.

I would typically get 7-10 days between regens.
Scale at faucets disappeared, shower walls/door cleaned up, toilet bowl/seal required less cleaning and water heater didn't acquire as much scaling/crud between flushes
Water tasted OK but was 'different'....didn't have same taste

Hook up was pressure regulator, in-line carbon filter then water softener,
Filled fresh water tank and ran off pump ONLY

We used the softened water for bathing, dishes, cooking, drinking but made our coffee and Ice tea with bottled water.
Ice tea just didn't taste right and the powered cream she used would NOT dissolve in the coffee ----just clumped up

If going to buy one....get whichever one is lowest sale price. They are all the same..same resin beads system, same table salt regen, some just larger capacity
8000, 10000, 16000 grains



RV Portable Softener Info

Great info - we got ours direct from the manufacture for $173 no freight or tax
Best purchase I have made for the RV

http://flowpur.com/html/rv-pro10000.html

[Old-Biscuit]

We FTd for 7 yrs using a portable water softener...WHY?
Because MANY areas of the US have 'hard' water and the scale was showing up on faucets/showers/toilet bowl--seal and inside water heater.

Now if we had been campers I wouldn't have bothered.
But we were FT traveling weekly somewhere new.

The portable water softener used resin beads that would 'collect' the minerals (calcium, magnesium)....in doing so the sodium on the resin beads is released
When resin beads become saturated with minerals you do a 'regen' using regular table salt. Dump a box of salt in, let it set for 20-30 minutes then rinse for 15 minutes. Ready to go again.

I would typically get 7-10 days between regens.
Scale at faucets disappeared, shower walls/door cleaned up, toilet bowl/seal required less cleaning and water heater didn't acquire as much scaling/crud between flushes
Water tasted OK but was 'different'....didn't have same taste

Hook up was pressure regulator, in-line carbon filter then water softener,
Filled fresh water tank and ran off pump ONLY

We used the softened water for bathing, dishes, cooking, drinking but made our coffee and Ice tea with bottled water.
Ice tea just didn't taste right and the powered cream she used would NOT dissolve in the coffee ----just clumped up

If going to buy one....get whichever one is lowest sale price. They are all the same..same resin beads system, same table salt regen, some just larger capacity
8000, 10000, 16000 grains



RV Portable Softener Info

[d3500ram]

ions, schmions...
...fill the tank with water and go camping!

[pianotuna]

The calcium ions are replaced with sodium ions.

[2oldman]

Now that I look at it again, I think you're right. No wonder soft water ate out my metal shower drain.

[Kayteg1]

2oldman wrote:
I would suggest doing a bit of research on soft water. Some misinformation here.

I did say "lot of sales pitch" didn't I ?:W
Per my research water softener replaces calcium in chemistry with sodium, what is not actuall salt.
When it makes water feel soft, softener is not removing the minerals, just change the way they are suspended in chemistry.
That shows how ignorant I am in chemistry and that is why I started the topic.

[Sam_Spade]

Kayteg1 wrote:

So any specialist can say how important is calcium for our bodies?

Wrong question.

You should be asking: How much calcium will I be getting from MY water source if I do not run it through a softener. The answer usually is: A minuscule amount.

[2oldman]

I would suggest doing a bit of research on soft water. Some misinformation here.

[pianotuna]

Soft water replaces the "hard" elements with salt. Salt is not recommended.

[Second_Chance]

As stated by others, "hard" water (water with iron, calcium or other minerals) will wreak havoc with your plumbing and fixtures over time. We filter all water that goes into our rig, although we haven't sprung for reverse-osmosis or softening systems ($$$).

If you're not getting enough of the basic minerals in your diet, you're NOT going to get them from water. A balanced diet and, in some cases, a good multi-vitamin are the best ways to do that.

Rob
Retired Army nurse

[jimh406]

I use my home water when I can. Otherwise, I use a water filter to fill up my tanks. I'm not sure how much it filters, but it's at least something.

I agree that if you are worried about calcium, take a pill or eat/drink foods with Calcium.

[SideHillSoup]

Hard water has minerals in it "most" of the time, and is "usually" found in ground / well water.
With time those minerals will clog up your metals pipes / fittings and start to eat any metal parts it comes in contact with.
Now this won't happpen over night, but it will slowly start to screw up the metal pipes and anything else the water comes in contact with, mostly metal.
However if a bunch of the scale breaks off from a metal pieces it can and will clog smaller water lines like you find in a fridge or water cooler.
Just ask any steam engineer what the water treatment plant is for in a steam plant? The main reason and main purpose is to soften / clean the water used in the boilers.
Little different application for your house or RV but that's what will happen in time if you don't soften your water.
We are lucky where we live we are on river water and do t have those issues, we have other issues that we deal with.
Soup.

[Gary3]

Our well was 80 grains hard softener for household use and buy bottled water to drink and make coffee softened went in the camper.