Conditioning well water.

[Snowfan]

I've been doing a little reading on salt-free water conditioners designed specifically for well systems. They sound better in some ways but I'm sure they have their drawbacks, too. Does anyone own one or know of a system that is in use? What are your opinions?

[alleyyooper]

Not very popular I am guessing.

Al

[Snowfan]

I do believe you're right.

[used2bcool13]

I have had the same questions and there is no great answer.

I have been told basically it depends how hard your water is. Here in California all of the water is calcium rich and very hard. Most people in my town (well water only) use a salt system or don't do anything. Some use kitchen sink reverse osmosis systems (Costco for under 200 and have 3 different types of filters to replace).

Water conditioning which is how they label the non salt filters is okay if your water isn't too hard. Most of these systems are water wasteful and not really good at softening. I wanted to find out about a whole house reverse osmosis filtration system. The information I found was that it wasted and back flushed a lot of water and would be more expensive than just salt. In Pennsylvania we used a potassium permanganate filtration system but that back flushed and used about 50 dollars of potassium permanganate a month. (1995). It did keep the water from turning the tub that lovely orange - iron.

I am only an end user, lol. If you find a good system let me know.

[Ozarks Tom]

We put a Rain Soft system on our well when we installed a Rinnai tankless water heater. It does a fair job of keeping the calcium down, but not all of it. When we're canning the jars are covered with a white film unless we put some vinegar in the water first. I clean out the Rinnai filter about every 3 weeks, and it's always got sediment in it.

[used2bcool13]

Hey Ozark Tom,

Did you purchase that from a salesperson or box store? Is that salt less? and how often do you have to replace the filter? or can you just clean it?

Sorry to pummel you with questions, thanks!!

[Ozarks Tom]

Originally Posted by used2bcool13

Hey Ozark Tom,

Did you purchase that from a salesperson or box store? Is that salt less? and how often do you have to replace the filter? or can you just clean it?

Sorry to pummel you with questions, thanks!!

We bought the water softener from the Rain Soft dealer. The Rinnai dealer wouldn't warranty their unit without a water softener in line. We use the potassium crystals instead of salt. Whole lot more expensive, but my wife can't abide salt. The filter I mentioned cleaning is a small screen in the water heater. As far as the softener system, we change out the filter tank every 3-4 years.

We're sitting 70' above a river on a limestone bluff, so our water is well filtered through the rock, but full of mineral. Our well is 300', with a static water level of 160'.

[Old Vet]

I used to have a sand filter and it worked well. You used to buy one from Sears but they don't have them now. You run the water through a areatior then through sand into a layer of rock then another pump would pick it up and supply the house. It will get all of the minerals out.