Water Softner Importance

[bigleo48]

All,

I have a water softner I'm awaiting parts on and it may be a couple of weeks before I get it going again.

I understand the effect the softner has on the soaps, but here in the middle of winter, water takes almost everything off and cars get dirty after only a few miles around here. So not a big problem.

My only real concern is the spot-free system. How much of an effect 5 grains hardness is going to have on my softner's production and the lifespan of the membrane?

Big

 

[ken-pro]

Big:

At 5 grains hardness, your RO should continue to work correctly. Any hardness will shorten the membrane life somewhat, but 5 grains is barely hard enough to worry about. Monitor the TDS of your RO output and make sure it doesn't rise above 10-15 PPM.

Your touchless may start to be affected by 5-6 grain hardness water somewhat - As you pointed out, more of a concern in the summer than this time of year.

If you said your source was 10+ grains hardness I would be more concerned.

 

[MEP001]

I took over operations of a wash that had the softener in bypass for several years. Water was 7 grains, but it didn't seem to affect the RO at all in that time.

 

[bigleo48]

Thanks guys...that's what I suspected.