Seperate Hard Water Line?

[Bigmamma]

We are building a new home on a lake which has a well. We will be installing a water softener. My builder wants to know if we want to run a seperate hard water line for cold water to the kitchen sink and refrigerator ice maker. I have heard that some people don't like the taste of the water going through the water softener because of the salt and I have heard that the hard water line can ruin a faucet and ice maker. We have no idea what to do. I am more concerned about the hard water ruining the faucet and causing problems with the ice maker if that is true. What do you advise? Thanks.

 

[Jadnashua]

A properly operating softener does not put salt into the water.

Many people prefer the taste of non-softened water. Hard water WILL eventually leave deposits on anything it flows through. Many valves will still last decades running with hard water, it depends on how hard, and what is in the water.

 

[Sponsor]

 

[Gary Slusser]

Very few people run hard water to the kitchen sink and 'fridge. I don't think it is a good idea and very few people can tell the difference in taste if there is any between softened and hard water. Some think that hard water s good for them but, they have to drink huge volumes of water to get any benefit form hard water. Others say they don't want the added sodium a softener adds to the water but, the formula is 7.85 mg/l per gpg of ion exchange. And 20 gpg hardness time 7.85 is 175 mg of added sodium per roughly a quart of softened water. That's about the same sodium as in a slice of white bread and much less than in an 8 oz glass of skim milk. See:
http://www.awqinc.com/sodium_softening.html

So I vote for soft water throughout the house.

 

[Spaceman Spiff]

I agree with soft water for the whole house except for the outside sprinklers and hose bibs.

 

[rudytheplbr]

To soften or not

When I was younger and in Idaho, we'd rough-in a "softerner loop: leaving the outside faucets, K.S. cold water off the loop. We'd put a bypass setup in just before the water heater, in the utiity area. that way everything (softerner, w.h., washer and dryer ) would all be in the same area.

 

[Bigmamma]

Thanks everyone.

 

[hj]

softener

Back in the day, we would run both hard and soft to the kitchen sink then use three valve faucet on a five hole sink to give the user the option. We would also run hard water to the toilets so the soft water was not depleted so quickly. Hard water to the hose faucets was a no brainer.