Well Water Problem

[CurlyDave]

Today, Lowes has 40 lb of potassium chloride for $27 vs. sodium chloride @ ~ $5. I have seen it as high as $40 and as low as $15-18.

I would call that a lot more. But, we go through less than 10 bags per year. Your mileage may vary.

If $200 per year was a problem none of us would own tractors.

 

[jinjimbob]

Why do people have salt in their softened water, doesn't that mean something is not working correctly?

 

[Egon]

If there is salt in the water the unit has not backwashed properly.

The sodium in the water is from the ion exchange when calcium was removed.

 

[tommu56]

There should be very little sodium in the water because it washes sodium off the zeoite (thats why sodium go's down the drain) as a last step in the recharge process if the softener is working correctly working correctly

tom

 

[Egon]

­The solution to hard water is either to filter the water by distillation or reverse osmosis to remove the calci­um and magnesium, or to use a water softener. Filtration would be extremely expens­ive to use for all the water in a house, so a water softener is usually a less costly solution.

The idea behind a water softener is simple. The calcium and magnesium ions in the water are replaced with sodium ions. Since sodium does not prec­ipitate out in pipes or react badly with soap, both of the problems of hard water are eliminated. To do the ion replacement, the water in the house runs through a bed of small plastic beads or through a chemical matrix called zeolite. The beads or zeolite are covered with sodium ions. As the water flows past the sodium ions, they swap places with the calcium and magnesium ions. Eventually, the beads or zeolite contain nothing but calcium and magnesium and no sodium, and at this point they stop softening the water. It is then time to regenerate the beads or zeolite.

 

[The Dougster]

One solution to make draining the sediment easier/faster, is to replace the candy-azz hose bib with a 3/4-inch ball valve..... no need to shut off the water or drain the tank first... just make certain no one uses a faucet for the few minutes it take to screw in the ball ball... you'll lose maybe one cup of water...