The Effects of my "new" soft water

[steppinthrax]

So The biggest thing I've noticed is my dishwasher works much better now. We use clear drinking glasses. After washing them in the dishwasher they used to have a haze on them, not significant. Now they are crystal clear, almost too perfect!!!!

I also noticed the inside of the dishwasher is cleaner and whiter after a few runs. I'm curious will the soft water dissolve the scaling on the inside of my hot water heater or on the inside of the boiler of my coffee maker?

 

[Reach4]

Nice. Softeners are good.

I suggest you flush your WH. Now that you are catching stuff that would have made it to the WH, maybe get some stuff out.

Water heater (WH) flushing can be done different ways. The simplest is to
1. Turn off the WH water, and put the WH in vacation mode, if it has one. Otherwise off.
2. Open a hot water tap to pass air.
3. Drain the WH completely. Usually you would use a hose to direct the water. (Take a look at the first
water; it may be impressive.)
4. Turn the water supply on fully for a few seconds, and turn off. You are trying to cause turbulence to the
bottom of the tank.
5. Do steps 3 and 4 several times. If you have a way to monitor the drained water, you could judge by
what you are getting out.
6. Turn the water and WH back on. Close the hot water tap once the air has been expelled and just water
is coming out.
I replaced my plastic drain valve with several parts: nipple, full flow drain valve, GHT adapter.
There is now available a brass full flow drain valve, which I would have used instead.
Rheem AP12231C-1 Overall Length (in.): 6-1/8
Rheem AP12231B-1 Overall Length (in.): 3-3/4

If using a softener to remove iron, it will need some regular action.

 

[Sponsor]

 

[Bannerman]

Now that you've implemented a water softener, remember to reduce your dishwasher and laundry detergent quantity by at least half of that you had been accustomed to using. While the softener has now eliminated the initial hazing from your drinking glasses, if the detergent quantity is not suitably reduced, the aggressive detergent can etch the glass, resulting in a white haze that will be permanent.

We own an electric tea kettle that is now 36 years old. When using hard water, I was needing to de-scale it approx every 6 - 8 weeks as preventative maintenance. In 1998, we installed a water softener and RO system and since then, I have not needed to de-scale the kettle and in viewing it, there is no scale to be seen. We can't kill that kettle.

I expect your water heater will eventually clear of scale although, if exposed to hard water for a long period, dissolving a considerable buildup of scale may take some time. Continue to flush the tank bottom at least on a monthly basis.

 

[Reach4]

Continue to flush the tank bottom at least on a monthly basis.

Once in a lifetime would put him above average.

I guess a second flush a month later, and monitor if anything comes-- out could be interesting.

 

[steppinthrax]

I flushed my Hot Water heater a few times during the installation there was a bit of sand that came out during the flush.

The hot water heater is a heat pump hybrid and was replaced about 1 year ago.

 

[Bannerman]

As it's only 1 year old, there will be less scale, but some. Soft water will slowly dissolve scale which may make the hot water somewhat harder than the cold for some time. As scale will form fastest on the hottest components, flush the water heater periodically to attempt to eliminate any scale solids which may have flaked off the heat exchanger coils to the bottom of the tank.

 

[steppinthrax]

As it's only 1 year old, there will be less scale, but some. He soft water will slowly dissolve the scale which many make the hot water somewhat harder than the cold for some time. Flush the water heater periodically to attempt to eliminate any scale solids which may have flaked off the heat exchanger coils to the bottom of the tank.

What's interesting is that when I took my softener off bypass mode and ran it for the first time (after a backwash) the cold water was soft pretty quickly. However it took maybe 3 tanks of hot water before it showed up blue on the hach test. It went from 11 drops to 8 drops to 5 drops finally to 2 drops and now 0 drops. Both cold and hot are equally as soft.

 

[ditttohead]

The dishwasher will be cleaned by the softened water over time. I would put some lime away in the dishwasher to speed this process up.

 

[Donald Kells]

A water softener is a salt-based water treatment gadget that trades the solid minerals in water with sodium in a procedure called particle trade. A typically misguided judgement is that water softeners are basically water filters. The best way to battle these issues is a water softener system. The harder your water is the greater the advantage of owning one.

 

[ditttohead]

A slight translation issue.

Water softeners work based on ion exchange, a process where calcium and magnesium ions are replaced with sodium ions. It is not a "gadget". The minerals are not "solid", they are dissolved solids.