Salt-Free Water Conditioners/Softeners

Agencies and other headaches, keys and cleaners, running costs and contracts...in short, all the things we spend so much of our time doing behind the scenes.<br>
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Casscat
Posts: 2692
Joined: Sat Jul 05, 2014 10:43 pm

Salt-Free Water Conditioners/Softeners

Post by Casscat »

Howdy all :D I am hoping for a bit of expert guidance, but I feel like an intruder because I now live in what was once my holiday rental property. My place is rural and the water supply is via an inconsistent town water feed into a deposit. The water is mineral water, untreated, and of great drinking water quality hence the bottling plants in neighbouring areas but a nightmare for general domestic use. I know my pipes and appliances are getting furred up, but with magnificent vanity the reason I want to invest in improving the water quality is because of the devastating effect this highly mineralised water is having on my hair!! I have very fine, very fragile hair and the cumulative effect of daily washing in such hard water is causing breakage and heartache. I need softer water. However I am not at all keen on salt based systems for several reasons. The first is all the salt required to keep the system functioning. Another is that I have a septic tank and understand that brined water is not healthy for this. Finally - and very importantly - from what I have read salt based softeners require large volumes of water which end up wasted and I simply don't have this option. In Andalucía water is a hugely scarce resource and even if I had limitless supplies I would not want to waste a drop. As things stand I don't have limitless supplies, and if the water feed stops and my deposit drains away I have no water at all unless I order a tanker delivery. I am prepared to invest in a good quality, whole house system but don't know where to look and what to look for. My water is pumped from the deposit up to the house, but there is room in the pump house for a decent sized unit so uber-compact is not a requisite - reliability and efficiency are more important. Does anyone have experience of this? All input gratefully appreciated.
COYS
Posts: 795
Joined: Sat Jun 06, 2015 1:24 pm
Location: Greek Islands

Post by COYS »

Electronic or reverse osmosis filters are salt free. Light commercial better long term if you have a bit of room. We have an ageing whole house magnet type - ok for scale reduction only & needs replacing. Both the aforementioned work by reducing & filtering the hard natural minerals but I'm not sure if they soften the water to quite the extent of a brine system - aquaeuro.com have a fair range.
This time next year Rodney, we'll be millionaires.
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Mouse
Posts: 7277
Joined: Tue Jun 20, 2006 6:47 pm
Location: Balearics
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Post by Mouse »

Our water was very hard.....and so I investigated a solution. I talked to 3 plumbers, one being my neighbours dad.....so no axe to grind. All of them said installing any of the systems was a waste of time. Unfortunately I can't remember why.....but basically they wouldn't work (and I think the level of limescale had something to do with it).

We now have tankered water as there is a problem with the well (long story).

Mouse
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