Water softeners and limescale

I doubt you’ll get a softener into the cupboard under the Belfast sink.

Scratch that, I’m going to go out on a limb and say you will not, even if you cut the bottom of the unit out and sat it on the floor.

The 2L boiler unit on my Qettle tap only just fitted and it’s tiny by comparison (it has top mounted pipes). The Qettle water chiller didn’t fit and we had to send it back in the end as there wasn’t anywhere else to put it. It also has top mounted pipes and it it’s taller than the boiler unit.

The cupboard next to the sink is only 400mm which 80% is taken up by the softener and the other side of the sink is a dishwasher.

I don’t have a model how about a picture?

dJHoyn6.jpeg


Edit: the water2buy softener doesn’t need an external emergency overflow adding, it has an internal float valve to stop it filling if the water level gets too high. You just need a waste discharge which attaches to an appliance fitting alongside the water in and out.
 
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b0rn2sk8 said:
I doubt you’ll get a softener into the cupboard under the Belfast sink.

Scratch that, I’m going to go out on a limb and say you will not, even if you cut the bottom of the unit out and sat it on the floor.

The 2L boiler unit on my Qettle tap only just fitted and it’s tiny by comparison (it has top mounted pipes). The Qettle water chiller didn’t fit and we had to send it back in the end as there wasn’t anywhere else to put it. It also has top mounted pipes and it it’s taller than the boiler unit.

The cupboard next to the sink is only 400mm which 80% is taken up by the softener and the other side of the sink is a dishwasher.

I don’t have a model how about a picture?

dJHoyn6.jpeg


Edit: the water2buy softener doesn’t need an external emergency overflow adding, it has an internal float valve to stop it filling if the water level gets too high. You just need a waste discharge which attaches to an appliance fitting alongside the water in and out.
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I might change the cupboard beside it and have two, I’ve got that bigger cupboard next to it just wondering if I put it in it’s own cupboard.
 
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LuckyBenski said:
Well 9 months later and we've had the main water feed replaced from the meter into the house. Finishing the porch conversion I should be in a position soon to fit a water softener or other solution.

Any more thoughts? @DB_SamX Did you get a chance to get feedback or fit one yourself?
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Not fitted after all due to property limitation. The only reasonable place i can fit one doesn't have means to have a foul outlet fitted due to me being in a flat, so it was a non starter.
 
So this is probably a stupid question, but the new house has both a water softener (I've never used one before) and a different heating setup that I'm not used to.

I believe I have a system boiler (only ever had combi boilers), as I don't have a water tank in the loft but do have a hot water tank in the airing cupboard upstairs.

I assume water gets heated by the oil fired boiler, then gets stored in the tank where it kept warm? Therefore it'll take a while for the water in the tank to be replaced by softened water? The unit when we moved in was turned off, not sure how long the previous owners had it turned off for, but we've lived here three weeks until I turned it on and forced a recharge today.

The water feed comes into the house, t's off so the outside and kitchen taps aren't softened. I can see the softened feed goes to the dishwasher and down a massive pipe that goes into the kitchen floor. I assume this massive pipe feeds the rest of the house (cold taps, boiler and water tank)? Therefore everything else is softened? I would assume cold water taps upstairs should be showing softened water now then if I were to test it?
 
Mekrel said:
So this is probably a stupid question, but the new house has both a water softener (I've never used one before) and a different heating setup that I'm not used to.

I believe I have a system boiler (only ever had combi boilers), as I don't have a water tank in the loft but do have a hot water tank in the airing cupboard upstairs.

I assume water gets heated by the oil fired boiler, then gets stored in the tank where it kept warm? Therefore it'll take a while for the water in the tank to be replaced by softened water? The unit when we moved in was turned off, not sure how long the previous owners had it turned off for, but we've lived here three weeks until I turned it on and forced a recharge today.

The water feed comes into the house, t's off so the outside and kitchen taps aren't softened. I can see the softened feed goes to the dishwasher and down a massive pipe that goes into the kitchen floor. I assume this massive pipe feeds the rest of the house (cold taps, boiler and water tank)? Therefore everything else is softened? I would assume cold water taps upstairs should be showing softened water now then if I were to test it?
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Sounds like a system boiler indeed.*
And yes if the softener has been off every thing will have had hard water.

From memory it took a little while before the water felt really soft after our softener was switched on.
It will start to remove a load of the hard scale etc from all the pipes, but that takes a while. It won't fully do it either, but it does remove some over time.
Plus ofc your diluting the tank not emptying and refilling, so yeah you need to put probably 10x the water tank capacity of water through it to get the hardness average nice and low.

* there is often a give away sign. Heat the water fully. When its hot open a hot tap, if it comes out with more of a whistling noise for a few secs its almost certainly a system boiler.
When you heat the water it tends to end up higher pressure than the mains (hot water has expanded) but that quickly disappears hence checking a tap after you heated the tank fully.
 
Mekrel said:
So this is probably a stupid question, but the new house has both a water softener (I've never used one before) and a different heating setup that I'm not used to.

I believe I have a system boiler (only ever had combi boilers), as I don't have a water tank in the loft but do have a hot water tank in the airing cupboard upstairs.

I assume water gets heated by the oil fired boiler, then gets stored in the tank where it kept warm? Therefore it'll take a while for the water in the tank to be replaced by softened water? The unit when we moved in was turned off, not sure how long the previous owners had it turned off for, but we've lived here three weeks until I turned it on and forced a recharge today.

The water feed comes into the house, t's off so the outside and kitchen taps aren't softened. I can see the softened feed goes to the dishwasher and down a massive pipe that goes into the kitchen floor. I assume this massive pipe feeds the rest of the house (cold taps, boiler and water tank)? Therefore everything else is softened? I would assume cold water taps upstairs should be showing softened water now then if I were to test it?
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You have a unvented hot water system like ours https://www.buildingregs4plans.co.uk/blog/unvented-hot-water-systems/ These systems should be serviced yearly https://easyflow.co.uk/articles/unvented-hot-water-cylinder-service-when-how-often-and-whats-included#:~:text=You should have your unvented,leaks, corrosion, and more. You might also find it has a magnaclean attached in the same cupboard as the hot water tank https://www.advancedheatingplumbing...lean MagnaClean,further damage to your boiler.
With a softener one tap should be unsoftened, usually the kitchen tap and possibly the outside one, with the rest of the house being softened. It's surprising how quickly the hot water cylinder will be replenished with softened water if all the hot water taps are being used by the family.
 
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@cuke2u thanks for the links! Clearer on how the system works now. I assume the boiler firing up when heating isn't requested by the thermostat is to heat the coils in the tank, i.e. produce hot water.

I'll probably need to get the softener serviced, who knows how long it has been running, unserviced.
 
Mekrel said:
@cuke2u thanks for the links! Clearer on how the system works now. I assume the boiler firing up when heating isn't requested by the thermostat is to heat the coils in the tank, i.e. produce hot water.

I'll probably need to get the softener serviced, who knows how long it has been running, unserviced.
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More than likely, I run my heating and hot water system with a Tado smart setup and have schedules set for each room with a SRV and the hot water. I do find the hot water tank very efficient at retaining the heat as even though it is scheduled to come on in the morning the boiler doesn't kick in until I take a shower.
The other good thing about the hot water is that the pressure is the same as the cold water.
This is the first house we've lived in that has a fuel tank in the garden so for my own peace of mind I've setup a tank monitoring system that pings me a tank reading once a day. https://www.kingspan.com/gb/en/prod...-sensit-smart-wifi-tank-level-monitoring-kit/
 
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cuke2u said:
I have to use tablet salt in my softener but it's still at the same price I last purchased it at here https://www.diy.com/departments/mon...food-grade-salt/5055995510664_BQ.prd?alt=true
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£22 a bag is very expensive, it’s exactly double what I paid for my last bulk lot I had in April 2022.

I picked up a single bag from a local merchant in September and it was £15.

Edit: I’ve just checked and a local salt merchant will deliver 5 25kg bags to me for £75. So yeh that listing is very very expensive.
 
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b0rn2sk8 said:
You mean effectively a massive carbon filter on your supply?

It will have limited impact on scale, they are effectively just a massive Brita filter from one of those jugs. They mainly deal with taste and chlorine.
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I'm pretty sure I remember testing the water out of my brita jug and the hardness was pretty much zero, compared to tap water which was off the damn scale.

Need to get one of these softeners I think.
 
Couldn’t be without our water softener. The salt blocks are cheap and last ages. Our other place doesn’t have a softener and the water just destroys my skin.
 
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