Water Softener Advantages & Disadvantages | A Master Plumber's Advice on Water Softeners
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- Опубліковано 2 жов 2024
- Jim discusses the advantages and disadvantages of water softeners for your home. Plus, do you need a water softener if you are on city water?\
#plumbing #watersoftener #homeDIY
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Water softener is great, some even remove arsenic from the water that seems to appear in some states. Saves your plumbing, whiter clothes & suds in the shower. Glad you covered that the salt content in the water is gone with the newer softeners on the market!
I have just installed Rheem Water Softner in our Barndominium. It seems to be wirking nicely. Been in for three weeks. It was very easy to install. Also changed out the Anode Rod in the Rheem water heater as well.
Smart
Our water hardness sits between 10-11 grains. My skin and hair do not like hard water so we bought a chlorine filter and a softener.
When we moved into our mobile home in 1997 in the country on 2 acres I looked into a water softener. Back then as you touched on they added salt into your water and with my wife's heart condition I'm glad I didn't purchase one! I did buy a water scrubber from carefree which is used in Australia and it works great! Well water still hard but that scrubber separates the minerals from the water. Bathtub water before was cloudy as hell but after install a few days latter it was clear 👍💯
Still using the original washing machine that I bought when we moved in and also original gas water heater 25 years old lol
So I works and no maintenance!!!!!
Thanks for your time and opinion Jim 👍🏻
Depending on where you are and how your home is plumbed: The cold side of the kitchen faucet which can service the ice maker and an order sink RO filter is straight from the street and is not connected to the water softener by code, at least here in Las Vegas. Same goes for the outdoor faucets so as not to kill plants with "salty" water or to waste the capacity of the softer. All other indoor faucets are softened.
What are your thoughts about electromagnetic descalers? Can you use both a water softner and the descaler?
Thank you soo much! I love you. You got back to me Expeditiously. Much respect!
Jim any idea how long a softener lasts?
Around 15-20 years or more until you have to replace the unit.
Question...returning to my vacation home this upcoming weekend. Pipes are wrapped well and water is always cut off when we depart. When we are set to arrive, forecast has it at about 0 - 5 degrees. How do I prevent thermal shock to the pipes that have been in below freezing temperatures. Also important to note, house does not have central heat or air. So literally when we arrive, we will need a few house before fireplace gets things warmed up comfortably.
@jflan8536, sorry I am late getting back to your question as we have been visiting with family over the holidays. Warm up the house first before turning the water on in those temperatures.
Your skin will thank you.
Wow, never thought I’d be looking for water softeners for my home and run into the Hawaii Vacation Guide!
Thanks for all the info, good thing I don't need one!
Hey Jim - thanks for the info. Stay well. If you don't believe me, ask the garbage man. Merry Christmas. Thumbs Up.
Merry Christmas.
Our tiny town drilled a new water well. We have an electric tankless water heater. The new well has high levels of iron. More than the old well. We have cleaned or flushed our tankless heater with vinegar about 5 months ago and I'm seeing that flakey brown stuff clogging the spigots again. Will a water softener fix that? Thank you so much for your videos. Just found it while perusing youtube.
A water softener would probably help a lot with that problem.
I had one and it would eat my hot water heater. It needed service from time to time as the valve would lock up. I don't miss it.
I have 5gpg. Should i get one?
Thanks for the video. So nowadays with new softeners, do we need to worry about Sodium build up on the pipe, etc...?
No, you do not have to worry about sodium buildup in the pipes.
It's all computerized, but you still have to set the thing correctly, and there isn't real good guidance on how to do that from the mfr. I found an article in Handyman Magazine that laid out really well how to assist the thing. Our water tasted salty until I did that. Then it was to low due to iron content and we got spotting on our glasses in the dishwasher, so I turned it up to the next setting to compensate for iron in addition to the tested hardness and then we no longer got spotting.
You always set the water softener to the size of the mineral bed.
@@TheGrumpyPlumber I'm not even sure what that means. Mine has a setting for hardness of the water in grains. I had to get the city's water test report and then learn how to convert that to grains. I was glad of this because the plumber who installed it said to just set it at the default of 25. That was too high, and our water tasted salty. Not counting for iron, it needed to be 11. But then we got spotting on our dishes, so I set it to 13 because of the iron content and it has been great for two years now.
I waited the whole video for him to get grumpy… and got nothing.
Scott Edwards, it must have been a good day! 🤣
Of course you need a water softener.
Your hot water heater whether a tankless or tank type will certainly thank you.
I did A.O. Smith pre-and post filters along with their 5 year sealed resin media water softener (no salt or Salination needed) along with an A.O. Smith sealed whole house filter in tandem.
So just to clarify?.
Changeable media pre-and post filter water filters…The post filter being a carbon type.
1 - Changeable filter cartridge media A.O. Smith pre-filter.
1 - A.O. Smith SEALED Resin media 5-year softener canister.
1 - A.O. Smith SEALED 5-year whole-house filter canister.
1 - Changeable carbon filter cartridge media A.O. Smith post-filter.
Of course with all the commensurate bypass loops and shut off service valves.
He looks healthy and not really informative? But too most, i guess fun story! Do u think they gibe us good water or filters? Lol.
Good advice but he was not grumpy.
Hey Jim thanks for the great information 👍
Thanks for the info ℹ️!
Mine is making a squealing sound and I can't find anyone on UA-cam who recognizes this issue. Help😮
Is the softener making that noise when it regenerates or when you’re using water? When it regenerates, it can be quite noisy and it takes 90 minutes to regenerate. There is only one moving part in the softener, called a turbine, that spins when water is flowing through the softener. It also counts the gallons of water being used. The turbine can be replaced. It’s located on the outlet side of the softener inside the valve. You can disconnect the water supply and pull out to replace.
Where does all the salt that you use go to? I live in the country so I only have a septic system. Don't want to add this salt to my septic system nor do I want salt in my garden. So where does the water softener salt go to? Do I assume that every 50 ponds of salt that goes into the brine tank then goes out somewhere?
We had a softener for over 30 years on a septic system and never had a problem. If you’re worried about the salt, you can always use potassium.
How much water does the softener use during regeneration? And what do you know about these electronic descalers there seems to be so many and they make claims it will reduce the hard water and rust?
Regeneration runs for 1 1/2 hours and I’m not sure how much water is used. A remember that a friend used a descaler device in his cottage. When he was at the cottage and using the water, it seemed to work fine. When he would leave for a week and come back, he noticed it wasn’t working. It seemed that when the water was flowing, it worked fine but when you’re not using it, the descaler didn’t work. I know water softeners work. I’m not sold on descalers.
WATER SOFTENER ALWAYS DESTROYING MY RO MEMEBRANE. WHAT CAUSES THIS?
Since you have a water softener, the only thing the RO is doing is removing what salt is left in your drinking water system which is probably very little. I usually get about 5-10 years on my membrane in my RO. I was told years ago to go by taste of the water and not a testing device. I still test my RO water about every 5 years but don’t find the need to change the membrane. Your problem could be in the water softener. It’s probably not cleaning itself very well. It should take 90 minutes to recycle the softener.
@@TheGrumpyPlumber CULLIGAN HAS CHECKED THE WATER SOFTENER AND CLAIMED WATER IS SOFT. BUT I KNOW THE WATER SOFTENER IS STILL DESTRYING THE MEMBRANE. ANY OTHER ADVICE?
@@eugenecanovas3490 the water softener is the best thing to have to assist the RO. As far as destroying the membrane, is Culligan telling you that or have you tested it yourself? I’ve check with all my sources and they think someone is giving you the wrong information.
I'm very happy to hear you say that under 13 grains/gal you don't need a water softener. I have just put a lot of effort studying the old Fleck 2510 that came with my home. I just replaced the media. I rerouted the plumbing to divert the irrigation and outside faucets to untreated water. My home test shows untreated water is at most 7 grains/gal. My regen was dumping onto the ground outside my pumphouse. I rerouted to a 55 gal drum. I've run it once on the settings that I found already set. The drum filled literally to the very top without spilling into the pumphouse, maybe 2 ounces over. The home test shows 0 grains/gal. But, 2 days later it's back to the same level as untreated, about 7 grains/gal. The settings on the Fleck 2510 are for regen every 3 days. I was preparing to run it tonight, day 4, at 1/2 the time of the 3 of the 4 stages leaving the brine refill stage the same since I only had about a foot of water in the brine tank. So, I just want to confirm, one grumpy old guy to another, I should turn the whole thing into yardart or planter boxes? I much appreciate your opinion.
@@johnbeckham9665 if I have this right….your softener regenerates every three days. If you had a newer softener head, it would regenerate on gallons used. If you had a one cubic foot mineral bed, it probably regenerated around 800 to 900 gallons. Two cubic foot would generate about 1400. That’s based on 25 grains of hardness. An average house uses about 175 gallons a day. You might want to regenerate every four days. That will save you salt. If using potassium, you can use the water to irrigate. If using salt, dump water into septic or somewhere it won’t kill plants. Thanks for sharing your experience.
P.S. the water level in the brine tank does fluctuate. As long as it doesn’t overflow, don’t worry about it.
my softner ran out of salt, now no water coming out
I have a lot of white lime or calcium build up on my faucets and shower head the last 6 or 7 months. My 10 year old water softener is being replaced and I will put some vinegar down my drains to try to clear out any buildup, but is there any way to clean the hot water heater and any incoming pipes of any buildup?
@@christinep. water softeners are great but they won’t remove lime completely. The best thing you can do to remove lime is the take that hand towel and wipe the fixtures and the countertops off every time you use them. Soak the shower heads in vinegar and then rinse. Your water heater and pipes won’t clog with lime.
@@TheGrumpyPlumber Thank you!
Can you tell me if I get a water softener, is the refrigerator filter enough to make it ok for drinking?
Water softeners do not leave a salt residue in the water like they did years ago. The easiest thing to do is put in a charcoal filter somewhere in the refrigerator water supply. I highly recommend water softeners but they will not change the taste of the water.
Wherebis the best place to place the system drain line if your softner is outside. Right now zo have it going into a pvc tube in the ground
You don’t want to have the water draining into the ground or on top of the ground. If the water is draining into a pipe, that’s okay. A water softener can push the drain water 30-40 feet and up about 8 feet. Take the softener drain and connect it to a surface pipe if possible. You don’t want it draining onto the ground unless you’re using potassium to clean your brine tank. Salt can kill plants, grass and trees.
Any videos on how to plumb for a water softener. I want to install myself
It’s easy to install a water softener. Looking at the softener from the front, the water goes in on the right side and the softened water comes out on the left side. There are arrows marked on the body. Use sharkbite male adaptors and two 3/4x24 water flexes. The drain is usually a half inch and you can use a male or female adaptor, depending on the threaded outlet of the drain. Use some flexible hose to run the water to the drain. Hope this helps as I don’t have a video.
hi i'm located in central ca in a town called merced what is the name of a good company water sofnters your opinion???
TRD ROCK WARRIOR_SPORT, I buy my water softeners from a company called Performance Water. They are located in the City of Industry in LA. The control head product name is Flex 5812. You can use any water softener company but the brand name I recommend has the Flex head.
We recently got a water softener and they installed a large pvc pipe where they have the discharge drain going below the hard pan. This is only a few inches from our foundation. Should we have them reroute it or is this ok?
It sounds like the discharge is going into the ground. I don’t recommend that if this is the case. The discharge hose can be run 8 ft. vertically and then tied into a drain. Or, run 50 ft. as long as there is a slope on it. It’s rare not to be able to drain a water softener. I definitely don’t recommend the pipe draining out into the ground as it can kill the grass and plants.
@@TheGrumpyPlumber it's a pretty large pipe tbh. Like 20 feet. My concern is more can it cause foundational issues since it's so close to the house?
If it was my house, I’d have it moved away from the foundation. You don’t want to screw with the foundation.
I've been dumping my dehumidafier water in my brine tank about gal a day is that ok?
If you’re talking about the brine tank for your water softener, you don’t need to add water. The water level is controlled by the water softener. If you don’t see water in the tank, look down the float tube and you’ll see water there.
Can I use a water softener with a septic system
@@montimitchellsr yes, you can use a water softener with a septic system.
Ours is 8 grain and we opted for it anyway. The water spots were ridiculous.
Cut way back on the soap in your dishwasher. That will stop the water spots.
How often do you usually have to refill the salt and potassium? I'm really considering getting a system for our home because we live in an area with very hard water. I want to make sure it's not gonna be an arm and a leg to maintain. Ty.
@@SM-cp9qy potassium is expensive. I believe salt is the better way to go. New softeners rinse the salt out of the brine tanks very thoroughly. I recommend three bags at a time in the brine tank. When you set the hardness, it will calculate the usage of salt. You’ll probably use 100 lbs. of salt every three months but it depends on how hard your water is.
My hometown is 16 grains per gallon. I had it tested. I’m getting a new washer and I run citric acid salts thru my dishwasher “daily” and there’s no buildup.. but anyways. I was looking at getting. Rheem 24k grains or 32. It’s us 4 at this house with a dog, 3 cats and a rabbit. lol. What’s the recommended grains for a family of 4 to 5? Also, I have all copper in my house. No pecks
In 90% of homes where I install or recommend softeners, I use a 2 cubic foot mineral bed which will regenerate at about 1600 gallons of water usage with a 16 grain hardness. It doesn’t cost any more to buy a 1 cubic foot or a 2 1/2 cubic foot softener.
@@TheGrumpyPlumber thanks!
@@TheGrumpyPlumber lastly, what adapter setup do you recommend going from copper plumbing to the rheem setup?
Sharkbite makes a fitting that goes from copper to male or female iron pipe. Just make sure you buy the one made for copper. They are color coated.
Well said and not grumpy at all, just spot on
thank you
can the hard water damage your copper pipes?
@mariojuarez9566, hard water does not damage copper pipes. It can cause problems with washing machines, toilets, faucets and your clothes. That’s why you want a water softener. A water softener will not make your water heater last longer or your copper pipes last longer but will not hurt them.
We currently have a whole house water softener but We only want soft water for hot showers and dish washing. What about putting it in the supply line for the hot water heater only?
We use to do that exact thing years ago but, when you take a shower, you’re mixing hot and cold water so you might as well soften both. You can add an RO system for the drinking water. There is almost untraceable salt in the water after it’s been softened with these newer softeners. The salt is only used to clean the mineral bed and then it’s flushed out of the bed.
@@TheGrumpyPlumber my outside faucets would also be softened and the boss (wife) doesn’t want to water all her plants and garden with soft water. Would it hurt plants over time?
Definitely do not use soft water for the irrigated of plants and lawn. In your case, you want to soften just the hot water. Or, repipe all your outside faucets and cold water at the kitchen sink before the softener.
@@TheGrumpyPlumber we put it on the water intake to hot water heater. Even with the faucet on full hot it’s only somewhat soft. We used to have the whole house softened but we had to get a new unit after 20 so we put it on the water heater. We’re going to give a while and if we (wife😆) aren’t happy I’ll move it back and run an additional outside faucet. Thanks for your help.
To have soft water to all of your fixtures in the house, you need to have it on the hot and the cold. If you just have soft water to the water heater, the only way you’ll have soft water when you take a shower is if you only use hot water. You can’t do that. If you soften both the hot and cold water, you want to drain the water heater completely and refill it with soft water. Even doing that you might not have perfectly soft water for a few weeks. I would recommend disconnecting the outside faucet from the soft water system. That’s the only way to make your wife happy.
do you do a video on instant hot?
Katheryn Miles, to repair an instant hot you need an Everhot repair kit for the faucet. It comes with all the parts and tools to repair it. You need to remove the spout and it might have a set screw holding it on. The spout just pulls off. This will expose the plastic tube that is not attached to the spout. Replace the two O-rings attached to the spout. The handle has a pin that holds it to the valve stem. Push the pin out, push handle forward toward the spout opening to remove the handle. Unscrew the small barrel that slides into the handle. Then use the little socket that comes with the kit to remove the stem. Install a new stem, put barrel back on and adjust to where it was originally when you removed it or as close as you can get it. The barrel must be perpendicular so it will slide back into the handle. Reinstall the pin to hold the handle on. Put spout back together and tighten the set screw on the spout if you want. The tighter it is, the less it will swing. Another thing you need to check…..on the tank there is a 1/4” John guess fitting for the hot water. If leaking, replace with a 1/4” John Guess coupling or you can cut off about an inch of red tubing and insert back into the coupling and see if that stops the leak. On the cold water supply, there is a 3/8x5/16 John Guess coupling. If that is leaking, replace it. First try cutting it off and reinserting back into coupling. Any time you remove the tubing from a John Guess fitting, you must cut an inch off before you reinsert. Unplug the instant hot before you work on it. The tank can’t be repaired but the faucet and tubing can. One more thing, when the instant hot is heating water, the faucet drips. Once the water is to temperature it stops dripping. There should be a mark showing where to set the temperature on the tank. You can buy replacement tanks. They have a life of 5-10 years. Hope this isn’t overload for you!
This is what I hate about the trades, the insane variance in detail and/or quality of the "professional advice" they give. Virtually every place I've looked has said at 7 or 8gpg is when you want a softener, and it's not just softener sellers but health departments. He mentions nothing about the size of the resin tank, the efficiency rating, the valve, or on demand vs. timed regeneration.
one thing that wasn't mentioned...the environmental effects of the brine.....and how if everyone is using a water softener this will effect the salinity of the water table, thereby affecting plant life
Are Kinetico water softener good
@MNcntrygal, Kinetico water softeners are good quality. I have seen a number of them in my customers’ houses and they like them. They do a good job.
@TheGrumpyPlumber what brand do you recommend and have seen the most success with?