Water softener connected to the mains, is it a problem for drinking water

[revelation]

Hi there

 

We have installed a water softer for our build.  The plumber connected to the mains so the whole house has a supply of softened water.  My kitchen fitter has recently advised us that drinking softener water may not be okay and it will certainly alter the taste.  We ideally still need softened water in the kitchen due to the dishwasher.  Therefore, is there anything we can do?  Like an additional filter under the sink tap to take out any additional sodium and nasties in the drinking water?

 

Thank you

[Kelvin]

Do you know how hard your water was before? Softened water is generally safe to drink. It would only be advisable to not drink it if the water was very hard originally. There are guidelines on the ppm levels so worth googling that. The caveat to this is that babies shouldn’t drink it or people on a low sodium diet. 

[Gone West]

7 hours ago, revelation said:

Like an additional filter under the sink tap to take out any additional sodium and nasties in the drinking water?

 

I fitted a water softener on our mains supply but fitted it after a seperate supply for drinking water and toilet cisterns. I fitted a water filter under the sink supplying a three way tap. In the first picture, the manifold with the white taps is hard water.

 

 

 

[Kelvin]

In our case our private water supply is moderately hard so border line whether it needed softened or not. I’ve decided to fit one. We have two supplies coming from the treatment plant room to the house. Softened and raw for drinking. 

[revelation]

20 hours ago, Kelvin said:

Do you know how hard your water was before? Softened water is generally safe to drink. It would only be advisable to not drink it if the water was very hard originally. There are guidelines on the ppm levels so worth googling that. The caveat to this is that babies shouldn’t drink it or people on a low sodium diet. 

 

Our water is not particularly hard where we are. We didn't think of the salt in drinking water and our plumber didn't advise anything different.  So I am no concerned about salt in drinking water, and the taste too.   

 

[revelation]

18 hours ago, Gone West said:

 

I fitted a water softener on our mains supply but fitted it after a seperate supply for drinking water and toilet cisterns. I fitted a water filter under the sink supplying a three way tap. In the first picture, the manifold with the white taps is hard water.

 

 

 

 

 

 

You have a serious set up.  My plumber hasn't been as through as that.   I think having a sink filter before the tap is the way to go on this.  Will what you have remove salt?

 

 

[Gone West]

4 hours ago, revelation said:

Will what you have remove salt?

I'm not sure about that, but I've attached the PDF. The P1000 filter is supposed to remove water hardness but it would probably be an expensive way of doing it if your water hardness is high. Our hardness was very high hence why we had a softener.

 

brita-tapfilter-instruction-manual-EN.pdf

[Marvin]

Our water softener softens everything except our water filter tap in the kitchen, the outside tap, and the water supply for the heating system. 

[Temp]

https://www.harveywatersofteners.co.uk/blog/health-effects-drinking-softened-water/

When we install a water softener:

We will ensure your water will not exceed 200 mg/l when softened. A separate unsoftened drinking water tap will be fitted if the sodium limit does exceed 200 mg/l or if you would prefer a hard water supply. This should preferably be at the kitchen / utility sink.

 

 

Advice from the (WRAS)* is: 

• Drinking water must comply with regulations, these state that the maximum limit of sodium is 200 mg/l (milligrams per litre).
• This sodium limit will be exceeded where the water is extremely hard, for example above 425 ppm. This is assuming that the sodium level in the public water supply is zero. Your demonstrator will test your water for hardness.

[PeterW]

On 23/03/2023 at 01:40, revelation said:

We have installed a water softer for our build.  The plumber connected to the mains so the whole house has a supply of softened water.

So your plumber didn’t read the instructions ..?? What else has he missed..??

 

On 24/03/2023 at 03:23, revelation said:

I think having a sink filter before the tap is the way to go on this.  

You either need ion exchange or reverse osmosis to remove salt/sodium, although a lot of the ion sodium removal ones are questionable on their capabilities and what they replace the sodium with. 
 

Is it not possible to alter the plumbing to make just the kitchen supply bypass the softener and then either use the salt container in the dishwasher or install one of the in-line polyphosphate softeners in the hose for the dishwasher..? 

[revelation]

On 25/03/2023 at 07:55, PeterW said:

So your plumber didn’t read the instructions ..?? What else has he missed..??

 

You either need ion exchange or reverse osmosis to remove salt/sodium, although a lot of the ion sodium removal ones are questionable on their capabilities and what they replace the sodium with. 
 

Is it not possible to alter the plumbing to make just the kitchen supply bypass the softener and then either use the salt container in the dishwasher or install one of the in-line polyphosphate softeners in the hose for the dishwasher..? 

 

We are in the midlands and don't have very hard water.  We decided to put it in to minimise scale in the whole system.  The plumber hasn't installed one of these before therefore he overlooked some details I assume. 

 

It is possible to change the plumbing to bypass the softener and then add salt to the dishwasher and an inline filter.  However, due to having a black sink I am concerned about scale marks so I think a filter before the Quooker tap would work best.  I will look into ion exchange and reverse osmosis. 

[PeterW]

3 hours ago, revelation said:

so I think a filter before the Quooker tap would work best.

It’s a mandatory requirement to fit the Quooker filter and scale reducer before the unit or it invalidates the warranty so that’s not an issue. 
 

 

[revelation]

1 hour ago, PeterW said:

It’s a mandatory requirement to fit the Quooker filter and scale reducer before the unit or it invalidates the warranty so that’s not an issue. 
 

 

 

I wasn't aware of that.  Does it have to be the Quooker filter/scale reducer or can it be any?   As I assume the Quooker one won't filter salt, and we already have scale reduction as a result of our water softener

 

[joth]

1 hour ago, revelation said:

 

I wasn't aware of that.  Does it have to be the Quooker filter/scale reducer or can it be any?   As I assume the Quooker one won't filter salt, and we already have scale reduction as a result of our water softener

 

https://www.quooker.co.uk/most-frequent-questions/i-live-in-a-hard-water-area-and-wonder-if-limescale-is-a-problem

Suggests the scale filter is an option to reduce the maintenance effort, nothing here to suggest it is mandatory.

I'd be interested to see where it says it's a warranty requirement, and for which models/years, as I can't see any reference for that.

 

 

"""

We've developed a scale filter - the Quooker Scale Control - that you can fit to take out the excess limescale before it reachs your Quooker tap, making it very low maintenance indeed. It can be used equally well with an existing tap or a new one and removes the need for regular internal maintenance.

"""

Edited March 27, 2023 by joth

[Adsibob]

You don’t want softened water for your garden. It will affect some plants, because of the extra salt. It’s debatable whether softened water is okay for human consumption. Some plumbers insist it isn’t, and I’m surprised your plumber didn’t separate a fresh un softened supply for drinking. But some members here think that unless you are drinking gallons and gallons a day, the salt levels are too small. I wouldn’t want to drink softened water though.

[saveasteading]

I changed a hot water tank last year.  One of these

Of course I dismantled the old one for interest. Out of it came 100mm of lime and a rotten element.

Meanwhile we are drinking this in the cold. 

Good for the bones perhaps.

It did show that any inline filter would clog very quickly so should only be at the kitchen cold tap and easy to change.

 

In our highland project the water comes from a hillside spring. No lime, tastes good, haven't analysed it yet.

 

 

[revelation]

18 hours ago, Adsibob said:

You don’t want softened water for your garden. It will affect some plants, because of the extra salt. It’s debatable whether softened water is okay for human consumption. Some plumbers insist it isn’t, and I’m surprised your plumber didn’t separate a fresh un softened supply for drinking. But some members here think that unless you are drinking gallons and gallons a day, the salt levels are too small. I wouldn’t want to drink softened water though.

 

My softener is made by Kinetico.  They have stated that whilst their softened water may taste a tiny bit salty.  This is due to some ionisation, not due to salt being added to the water.  

 

They advised if I wanted to improve the taste then I could add a filter which contains some coconut product which will neutralise that taste.