Water Softener or Osmosis Machine
Jun 7th 2014, 5:07 pm
#1
Thread Starter
Joined: Jun 2011
Location: In the middle of 10million Olive Trees
Posts: 12,053
Water Softener or Osmosis Machine
anyone have any views on the two systems ??
anyone bought one or the other can give me indication of price installed ??
thanks
anyone bought one or the other can give me indication of price installed ??
thanks
Jun 7th 2014, 8:46 pm
#2
Joined: Jun 2006
Location: Granada Costa
Posts: 10,894
Re: Water Softener or Osmosis Machine
I have had a water softener since we built our house 10 years ago. Works perfectly and we have really soft water where the normal water is seriously hard.
Overall it cost about €1000 including the plumbing but it is a large one - smaller ones may be a bit cheaper.
The RO systems are good for purifying drinking water but they don't treat all the water. They are good if you have really nasty water. We used to have an RO water maker on our boat and it would produce clean water in a sewage ridden marina. Really they are water purifiers rather than water softeners although they do have that effect.
If you want soft water in your water heaters, washing machines and most important, showers and baths there is no option but a proper ion exchange softener.
They need a 25kg bag of salt every month or so but that's only €6.
Overall it cost about €1000 including the plumbing but it is a large one - smaller ones may be a bit cheaper.
The RO systems are good for purifying drinking water but they don't treat all the water. They are good if you have really nasty water. We used to have an RO water maker on our boat and it would produce clean water in a sewage ridden marina. Really they are water purifiers rather than water softeners although they do have that effect.
If you want soft water in your water heaters, washing machines and most important, showers and baths there is no option but a proper ion exchange softener.
They need a 25kg bag of salt every month or so but that's only €6.
Jun 8th 2014, 7:05 pm
#3
Thread Starter
Joined: Jun 2011
Location: In the middle of 10million Olive Trees
Posts: 12,053
Re: Water Softener or Osmosis Machine
I have had a water softener since we built our house 10 years ago. Works perfectly and we have really soft water where the normal water is seriously hard.
Overall it cost about €1000 including the plumbing but it is a large one - smaller ones may be a bit cheaper.
The RO systems are good for purifying drinking water but they don't treat all the water. They are good if you have really nasty water. We used to have an RO water maker on our boat and it would produce clean water in a sewage ridden marina. Really they are water purifiers rather than water softeners although they do have that effect.
If you want soft water in your water heaters, washing machines and most important, showers and baths there is no option but a proper ion exchange softener.
They need a 25kg bag of salt every month or so but that's only €6.
Overall it cost about €1000 including the plumbing but it is a large one - smaller ones may be a bit cheaper.
The RO systems are good for purifying drinking water but they don't treat all the water. They are good if you have really nasty water. We used to have an RO water maker on our boat and it would produce clean water in a sewage ridden marina. Really they are water purifiers rather than water softeners although they do have that effect.
If you want soft water in your water heaters, washing machines and most important, showers and baths there is no option but a proper ion exchange softener.
They need a 25kg bag of salt every month or so but that's only €6.
we have very hard water here and it will enhance the life time of the water using goods - electrical and gas.
had a demonstration/sales pitch a couple of days ago, offered a machine for 1400€ that will do the RO and Softener. Think this is alot based on the good old "internet search", but many many companies don't advertise prices and want to come out to make the sales pitch. IMO this adds to the overheads, just need a machine to do the job, not a demo and lecture on science.
thanks
Jun 8th 2014, 7:56 pm
#4
Joined: Jun 2006
Location: Granada Costa
Posts: 10,894
Re: Water Softener or Osmosis Machine
I cannot see why you need both units, unless they are telling you that you cannot drink the water from a softener as it contains higher sodium levels and for that you need a separate RO unit.
That might be relevant if you really have to avoid sodium but if that is the case it is normal practice to take the non softened water to one tap in the kitchen so you can use that.
Mains water in Spain is perfectly safe to drink as it is sanitised by the use of Chlorine, just like it is in the UK. Agricultural water is another matter which is why we buy cheap bottled water in Lidl to drink although we do prefer the tonic version, suitably sanitised with Bombay Sapphire.
That might be relevant if you really have to avoid sodium but if that is the case it is normal practice to take the non softened water to one tap in the kitchen so you can use that.
Mains water in Spain is perfectly safe to drink as it is sanitised by the use of Chlorine, just like it is in the UK. Agricultural water is another matter which is why we buy cheap bottled water in Lidl to drink although we do prefer the tonic version, suitably sanitised with Bombay Sapphire.
