Slimy feeling water

[Lilevilmisfit]

I just had a water system installed. We had horrible iron and manganese in our water. We had a system that was super old and barely worked and just replaced it with a brand new system. I know I've heard super soft water can make you feel slippery/slimy after you wash like it's not all off. But I feel super slick/slimy even before I wash or put soap on me just from the water. Is this normal? It's very disturbing. Even when I washed a coffee cup it felt super slick from the water compared to when I used to wash it.

 

[DonL]

Welcome to soft water.

 

[Sponsor]

 

[Lilevilmisfit]

Welcome to soft water.

Lol yeah I just want to make sure it's normal to feel that way even without the soap. So I don't feel like I'm swimming in a pond with slimy water. I've read all sorts of articles on how it's normal to feel slippery after washing but nothing on if it's normal to feel that way just sticking my hand under the faucet with no soap.

 

[Bannerman]

What you're feeling is the oils within your own skin as well as some sodium from the softening process.

Hard water leaves a residue of calcium and magnesium which combines with soap to form curds which stick to your skin.

You have been accustomed to having residue on your skin and so this is now a new experience which you will soon become used to. Once that happens, you will likely not feel as clean if bathing with hard water.

While you will need to reduce the amount of soap, shampoo, lotions, fabric softener and other products, soft water actually will rinse products away more thoroughly than hard water.

 

[Earl Wilkison]

This is real easy to test, when taking a shower in hard water and you feel like you are all rinsed off, lick your skin. You will just about gag from all the soap left on your skin. The film you see on your shower walls is also on you. When taking a shower in soft water and you feel like you can't get all the soap off and you keep rinsing and rinsing, lick your skin then and you will taste no soap. The man who said you were feeling your own natural body oils is right.

 

[ditttohead]

That is a fun way to train people. I do training seminars and I usually ask some unlucky person in the training seminar to go and wash their hands and return. I then ask them to lick the back of their hand and describe the taste. Most commercial office buildings don't have soft water and the response is always (ugggg... soap...). Soft water works much better with soaps but you must use a LOT LESS.

 

[WorthFlorida]

You will need to cut the soap amount at least in half with soft water. Do have one outside spigot connect to the soft water system but do not water the plants with it, they will wilt. However, washing the car you probably not have to wipe it down where as the water will dry with no spots.

You may get a complaint from the wife, if there is one. It will leave her hair so soft that it be very hard to set curls if she does use curlers but with a crappy water it leaves your hair very stiff coated with whatever.

 

[ditttohead]

I mean no disrespect at all, please don't take this wrong but...

Softened water with hardness below 15 gpg will usually have little affect on watering, sometimes it can very bad... It is a complex math equation that I let my irrigation guys determine. The sodium levels in the water can make the watering less efficient. SAR (sodium absorption Ratio) is described briefly in our catalog
https://view.publitas.com/impact-water-products/2018-catalog-final/page/8-9

As to softened water not spotting... the water still has dissolved solids n it, just sodium instead of calcium/magnesium. This will still spot, but the spots are much easier to remove. Only ultra low tds water tends to dry "spot free" typically less than 5 ppm is considered acceptable for spot free applications.

 

[WorthFlorida]

When I had my house in Algonquin, Illinois, city water from 2 wells, the water was 29 grams of hardness. After the water softener nothing ever left marks. Watered house plants would showed some wilting and even If I water a few outdoor plants. Not enough to kill them. The spigot in the garage I left on the soft water and I rarely had to wipe the car down fearing for water spots. I usually wiped it down anyway but some parts of it would dry before could get to it. Because I had a basement I ran a hard water line to the other two outside spigots and the kitchen sink. Boiling macaroni in soft water would turn the pasta to mush before it was cooked. I was very happy with the performance for six years I owned the home.

My comments was based on experience.

 

[ditttohead]

Totally understood. The statement was a little to broad for me to leave it alone

30 GPG would raise the sodium levels a little higher than what would be ideal for watering some plants, but certainly not all. Spotting... tds is tds. Calcium sucks because it is literally dried rocks. Sodium is highly soluble in water so the spots wipe right off. if you car is waxed then the hydrophobic layer would also help considerably.