Do I Need A Water Softener If I Have A Whole House Filter

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If y'all are living in a city or boondocks that provides you with water for your dwelling house, you should understand that no affair how your water gets to your dwelling house, it still has come from the earth and will probably contain hardness.

But do I really demand a h2o softener when I have urban center-supplied h2o?

Urban center or whatever municipal water supply can contain calcium and magnesium (hardness) just similar individual well water. Municipal water supplies will frequently have a similar hardness as private wells in the same area.

But doesn't the metropolis or town treat the water for hardness?

Municipal water supply is usually only treated to the point of being sure that it can exist consumed safely past the people of the customs that will exist using it.

Water softening is simply too expensive of a procedure for most cities to produce soft water.

Generally, whatever water treatment beyond making certain water is safe for consumption is the responsibility of the individual homeowner. So if the water is supplied by the city that you live in is hard and you want it soft, you are going to have to go yourself a water softener.

What else is in the water I get from the city?

Fortunately, most city water supplies will only incorporate hardness and possibly chlorine for water disinfection. It is not very mutual to observe whatsoever iron, manganese or other water bug in water provided past a metropolis or town.

Since it is in the cities best interest to provide proficient, usable water to encourage the evolution of the city, they will go to great lengths to provide a source of water that will exist usable right out of the tap, with minimal additional handling needed.

So is my city h2o safe to drink?

Because water hardness is more of an inconvenience than a hazard, and it would be extremely expensive to soften the huge amounts of water needed for a growing city, h2o softening would be an option at the expense of the homeowner.

More importantly, since a cities h2o supply will most likely be treated in order to make it condom for consumption, in that location may very well exist chlorine in the h2o as function of the disinfection of the water.

Depending on your location in relation to the water treatment facility, the water that you are receiving may have levels of chlorine that could be harmful to you or your home.

If you get your water from a municipal water supply and are concerned virtually chlorine or fluoride in your water, you should consider i of my recommended contrary osmosis drinking water systems to remove chlorine, fluoride, and other contaminants in your water.

Chlorine disinfects water, cleans food stains and eliminates odors acquired past organic materials because it is toxic to organic organisms.

And so what is wrong with having chlorine in my water?

Chlorine tin can cause sickness and irritation to humans, animals, and plants when they are exposed to it at acceptable levels of concentration. Also, the resin most commonly used in standard h2o softeners will absorb chlorine out of the water.

This may sound like a expert thing at beginning since you don't want to have chlorine coming into your house. But the reality of it is that the chlorine volition gradually brand the water softeners resin become soft and swollen.

This changes the structure of the resin, making it less effective at removing hardness and iron from your h2o.

Also, when the resin swells and becomes soft, the individual resin beads volition press against each other and reduce the size of the openings between them. This ways less volume of water that can run through the h2o softener and loss of h2o pressure throughout the home.

This deterioration of a h2o softeners resin past chlorine will normally take many years depending on the level of chlorine in your water. In some cases, information technology may be more economical to just re-bed the h2o softener when the resin is no longer able to soften the water.

Acquire more from my commodity " Can H2o Softener Resin Become Bad? "

In many cases, chlorine tin can have an result on the moving parts within the water softeners valve, and crusade them to malfunction.

When this happens, the valve may need to be rebuilt, which ordinarily involves the replacement of several pistons and valve seals that can cost several hundred dollars if yous have it done by your water treatment professional person.

Can I use a water softener when there is chlorine in my water?

To aid avoid the negative effects that chlorine can have on your water softeners resin bed and control valve, at that place are systems that are specifically designed for use with chlorinated water.

These water softeners take a separate bedchamber in their tank that contains carbon to remove the chlorine from the water before it gets to the systems valve and resin bed.

Every bit the chlorine passes through the carbon, the carbon volition absorb the chlorine and and then become cleaned when the water softener goes into its regeneration process.

The only pregnant downside to these systems that I notice is that the carbon wears out after several years. I find that the carbon volition usually have a life of well-nigh 5 to viii years, but of course, this will depend on how much water is used and how much chlorine has to be removed.

Some merely not of these softening resin and carbon combo water softeners accept a side port to make the replacing of the carbon quite simple. You just have to depressurize the system past putting it in bypass and so running it through its regeneration cycles.

And so you can open up this side port, and so using a wet/dry out vacuum, you can remove the old carbon and poor in the new carbon. It may take y'all an hour or two the first time you practise it only the amount of money you tin save is worth the effort.

Volition chlorine from municipal water damage my reverse osmosis arrangement?

If y'all are looking into getting a opposite osmosis drinking water system for your home, healthy and bask your nifty h2o.

But when choosing the reverse osmosis system that is right for you, be sure to treat your municipal h2o with a carbon filter to protect the opposite osmosis membrane.

Many reverse osmosis drinking water systems only have a sediment pre-filter on them which will allow chlorine in the water do deteriorate the opposite osmosis membrane, this will result in your water non being filtered every bit it should.

Be sure to wait for a contrary osmosis drinking water system that has a carbon pre-filter on it to remove the chlorine from your h2o.

If you already have a reverse osmosis drinking water organisation but do not have a carbon pre-filter, you tin can probably add together one in place of the systems regular sediment filter. If not, let me prove y'all how you can add one before the reverse osmosis organisation.

When you lot have a whole house filter for your dwelling house, y'all can simply put an activated carbon filter in the filter housing in place of the sediment filter that you were using before.

How y'all tin can add a carbon filter before your RO.

If y'all do not have any filter before your water gets to your reverse osmosis system, you will need an in-line carbon filter that is for the correct sized tubing that your reverse osmosis system uses to feed h2o to it.

The most common sizes of tubing used are 3/8 inch or 1/four inch. Y'all can cheque your users transmission, and information technology should state what size tubing is connected to your water supply and and so fed to the opposite osmosis system.

Once we accept adamant the tubing size for the in-line carbon filter that you volition demand, you can hands gild one online or you lot can probably pick 1 up at your local h2o treatment store if yous have one in your expanse.

To install your new in-line carbon filter, we are going to have to kickoff shut the water off that feeds the contrary osmosis system.

There should exist a tube coming from your cold h2o line that goes up to your sink faucet. It should accept a little knob or lever that you can turn a quarter turn to shut off the water to your reverse osmosis.

There should likewise be a second shut off valve on meridian of your reverse osmosis systems storage tank. Turn the lever to shut the water to and from the tank equally well.

Once yous accept shut off the water going to the system, turn on the reverse osmosis system faucet and let it run until the water stops completely.

Now your reverse osmosis system should exist depressurized and you are prepare to add your carbon filter.

Now put your carbon filter on the supply line.

Using a tubing cutter or a sharp utility knife, cutting the tubing going from the sinks water feed to the reverse osmosis organisation somewhere around the middle of the tubing if possible and so that the filter will be able to sit down evenly and without whatever sharp bend to the tubing.

Be sure non to squeeze the tubing when cutting information technology as it must stay very circular to ensure a waterproof fit when inserted into the filter.

I recommend putting a tiny bit of silicone-based lubricant on the ends of the tubing and use your thumbnail or a knife to make clean any burs off of the tubings ends.

And then insert the tubing into each stop of the filter and take note of the direction the water should go by the arrows on the filter or it may say in and out past the openings.

Turn the storage tank valve dorsum on and so the water supply valve and you should have your water equally usual just without the chlorine that will ruin the taste.

Change this carbon filter along with your other filters when you do your regular filter changes.

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