Soft water

[Jimbo]

My wife and I finally broke down and bought a water softener. I replaced the water heater last month and it had about 18" of scale in it so it was a good time to do it and an easy sell.
I've been mug and brush shaving for the better part of 15 years and my wife and I have lived in this hard water area all our lives (46 years).
In a previous job I traveled a lot and really enjoyed the lathers I got in areas with soft water. Because of my chemistry background, I knew the water quality made the difference.
In the past, I've used distilled or deionized water to work up a lather but it was a pain to go downstairs to heat up the water then back upstairs...lalala.
I'll tell you, soft water makes a wonderful difference and I'm enjoying great lathers and mama and I are enjoying bubbly bubble baths.
Very nice!

 

[Hunter]

Awesome! I have fairly good water where I am now but when I was at home for chirstmas I had a hell of a time making a good lather. Glad you and the misses are enjoying it!

 

[hedonist222]

I buy vats of distilled water from a pharmaceutical supplies company.

 

[MrLara]

Do you know if the ones that you buy for your shower deliver the same quality?

 

[hedonist222]

Do you know if the ones that you buy for your shower deliver the same quality?

Those water filters (Britta & the like) don't mention how much minerals they eliminate but a few have said no more than 35-40%.

I'll take that figure with a pinch of salt (no pun intended - get it? salt? a mineral).

Distilled water is pure water. No minerals.

 

[Mad Man]

In Melbourne we are blessed with some of the best water in Oz: the Fat lathers like a champ with zero effort.

 

[RedsFan75]

We have fairly hard water, but this past weekend I had visited my Mom, and her water is considerably softer... My Stop Shoppe Bay Rum lathers very well for me at home, but at Mom's it exploded. I had never gotten so much before! Made me seriously think about adding a water softener to our house.

 

[Toothpick]

I found a simple test anyone can do at home from about.com. In case anyone isn't sure what type of water they have.

How to Test for Hard Water
You can do a fairly reliable unscientific test to see if you have a problematic level of hard water in your home by doing the following test with liquid dish washing soap:

• Take a clean empty plastic bottle having a cap (such as a clean, clear pop bottle);
• Remove the cap;
• Open your tap water faucet and fill the bottle about halfway with water (8 to 10 ounces);
• Add 10 drops of dish washing liquid;
• Shake well;
• If the soapy solution foams up quickly you are good and the water is not hard;
• If it does not foam up but instead creates a milk-curd-like or soapy film on the water surface then the water is likely hard.
• If you have hard water scale build-up on your shower door or white scale on your faucet aerator, this is also another indicator your water is too hard.

You can also send a water sample out for testing to a certified water testing laboratory. Hard water is anything above 1 grain of hardness per gallon. (A grain of hardness is an amount of calcium and magnesium equal in weight to a kernel of wheat).

• Less than 1.0 = Soft
• 1.0 - 3.5 = Slightly Hard
• 3.5 - 7.0 = Moderately Hard
• 7.0 - 10.5 = Hard
• Over 10.5 = Very Hard

 

[dpmtherrien]

Nice that you've done what you've done. You can't beat soft water especially for wet shaving. Congrats and enjoy.

 

[jhamlin38]

rather than consider brita and pure, have a look at cuno/aqua pure. 3M companies. The shower filter connected to our handspray makes a difference. a big difference that is immediately noticeable. The also do whole home filtration.

 

[BrianL]

The best improvement to my shaving experience came when I added a water softener, razor and brush stay clean and the lather just explodes. Not to mention that the dishes are cleaner and clothes feel softer.

 

[Foyle]

Yeah, our new apartment has a water softener, and it's a huge difference. Almost everything is better. Soap rinses off in the shower, shaving lather is better, and the laundry comes out softer. The only bummer is that we don't have a cold water line for unsoftened drinking water. That means I have to buy bottled drinking water to make coffee, but that's a small price to pay for all the other benefits.

 

[celestino]

Thank goodness for soft water! We folks are so very fortunate! Enjoy.

 

[HoosierTrooper]

My water softener went out last summer and it took a couple days until we could get it repaired, which was a couple days too long. I hate hard water.

 

[5savages]

I bought one of these babies (or something very much like it) on clearance for about $350 a few years ago. It was very easy to install (I was replacing an old one so I had the space and most of the piping set up) and works far better than our old one.

I do have an unsoftened line going to our kitchen for drinking water, and to the outdoor faucets so we're not softening the water used outside.

 

[Jimbo]

I need to run a direct line for drinking water. I do love the taste of the "un-softened" water. The softener has the by-pass feature that allows us to skip the softener but that seems like a bit of a pain. We live on a lake and pump lake water through our sprinkler system so that's not an issue. Has anybody had a negative experience watering plants with softened water?

 

[Galf]

Since there is no hard water in our plumbing since the late sixties as far as I know, I am probably spoiled. I have no clue what the effect of hard water is except that I recognize the white calcareous stuff in old kettles etc. About once every 5 years or so the showerhead needs some brushing but that's all. And for the agriculture which also uses plain soft water, it probably works for the plants

 

[takeshi]

Do you know if the ones that you buy for your shower deliver the same quality?

You'd have to compare the specs on the specific ones you're considering to other softening systems that you're also considering. They're not all identical on either side of the fence.

Those water filters (Britta & the like) don't mention how much minerals they eliminate but a few have said no more than 35-40%.

Britta filters aren't softeners. They do soften a bit initially, IIRC, but that quickly drops off and that's why they're not sold as softeners.