Hi All - I've tried to find the answer to this question on this forum (or opinion, I guess), but haven't been able to. Any help is appreciated.
We live in a rural area fed by a private well. We had the water tested and everything is safe, but we were thinking of increasing the filtration of our water, both for taste and safety, in case there is a spike in bacteria/viruses etc.
Right now, we have a water softener (the water is quite hard - sorry, I don't have a report on the actual composition), and the toilets get a rim of grey around them when they haven't been used in a while.
Our kitchen has 1 sink that has a hard-water line, all other taps get softened water. The hard water will often get a real metallic taste (manganese?). There is no water treatment in the house other than a softener.
From what I've read, UV filtration would offer the best virus/bacteria treatment, but the water should be pre-treated with a sediment filter (which could take care of the metallic taste, no?), and the water should be softened before hitting the UV filter or there will be unacceptable scale build up.
So, I'm guessing that we will have to change the hard water line in the kitchen to go through the softener, assuming we want to use that line as filtered drinking water. I've read the papers on the "dangers" of drinking softened water - we are both in good health, but are thinking for the future in case someone were to need a salt-restricted diet. As well, the softened water doesn't quite taste as good.
Is there a way to get the hard water treated for bacteria/viruses and taste that doesn't involve sending it through the softener first?
We would like to avoid a system that is wasteful, like some RO systems (correct me if I'm wrong, but some of them can waste 3gal of water per 1gal of treated water, no?)
There are only 2 adults living in the home (+3 dogs +1 cat, and some chickens in the yard), which has 4 bathrooms.
Thanks i advance for any input. I will likely visit a local plumbing company for opinions, but I would like to be more educated going in.
take care
-glen
We live in a rural area fed by a private well. We had the water tested and everything is safe, but we were thinking of increasing the filtration of our water, both for taste and safety, in case there is a spike in bacteria/viruses etc.
Right now, we have a water softener (the water is quite hard - sorry, I don't have a report on the actual composition), and the toilets get a rim of grey around them when they haven't been used in a while.
Our kitchen has 1 sink that has a hard-water line, all other taps get softened water. The hard water will often get a real metallic taste (manganese?). There is no water treatment in the house other than a softener.
From what I've read, UV filtration would offer the best virus/bacteria treatment, but the water should be pre-treated with a sediment filter (which could take care of the metallic taste, no?), and the water should be softened before hitting the UV filter or there will be unacceptable scale build up.
So, I'm guessing that we will have to change the hard water line in the kitchen to go through the softener, assuming we want to use that line as filtered drinking water. I've read the papers on the "dangers" of drinking softened water - we are both in good health, but are thinking for the future in case someone were to need a salt-restricted diet. As well, the softened water doesn't quite taste as good.
Is there a way to get the hard water treated for bacteria/viruses and taste that doesn't involve sending it through the softener first?
We would like to avoid a system that is wasteful, like some RO systems (correct me if I'm wrong, but some of them can waste 3gal of water per 1gal of treated water, no?)
There are only 2 adults living in the home (+3 dogs +1 cat, and some chickens in the yard), which has 4 bathrooms.
Thanks i advance for any input. I will likely visit a local plumbing company for opinions, but I would like to be more educated going in.
take care
-glen