I have a water softener. After I did my maintenance on it my wife commented on the soap being hard to remove from her skin in the shower. She says it feels almost slimy. When I talked to the guy after it was installed years ago he said that is the way your skin is supposed to feel. He also mentioned that typical soaps will leave residue with good quality water. I think my hair and skin feel better since I installed the softener. And since I serviced the conditioner they feel better as well. I am wondering what are the ideal water parameters in a home. Since the installation of the water conditioner I have set it to run twice as often because of what I think is iron build up on my shower heads. I hoped it was residual iron in the plumbing that would eventually subside and I could set it back to the installation settings. Other then add mineral to the conditioner yearly I add salt to the brine tank with iron out per the directions. Also can I use my tf-100 to test the water to see if it is working properly?
Does anyone know the ideal pH for home.
- Thread starter raidencmc
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Yes, that "slimy" feeling is normal with soft water. Just use less soap. Hair should feel softer after washing even though it feels like the soap isn't washing off completely. Sorry, no idea on the ideal pH but I'm guessing its no different than a pool: 7.5
Drinking water standards require water utilities to maintain pH values within the range of 6.5 and 8.5. Generally they actually range from 7.0 to 8.5 to minimize corrosion issues. There is no widely accepted "ideal" number.
Yes you can use your TF 100 on your home soft water, and you should every so often to see if you ever have hardness leaking through. Simply run a CH test with a 25 ml sample. If it is working right, you may not even see much indication when you put in the color indicator. Or it may take just a couple of drops to turn completely. Soft water quality is measured in GPG (Grains Per Gallon). Most are set up to give you 3 grains Total Hardness or less. Each grain is equal to 17.13 PPM of Hardness.
Here's how you figure it: Lets say you get 4 drops to turn your CH test with a 25 ml sample, so that would be 40 PPM.
You then take 40 PPM and divide it by 17.13 to get 2.3 GPG.
It is only CH we are testing for here with the TF 100, but it's more than adequate enough to know if you have a problem. If you get hardness coming through, it will almost certainly be way higher than 3 GPG. More details are needed, but you may be wasting a tremendous amount of salt by doing double regenerations like that. Also, if you have a lot of Iron I doubt it's purely residual and it could be a problem for your pool if this is the same fill water. Softeners will get Iron fouled so it's likely a good thing to use a cleaner like that too. Lastly, what you describe feeling is what you should expect with soft water. Perfectly normal.
We have naturally soft water (as on zero CH) and our skin and hair always feels like you're describing. Some soaps make it feel more slippery than others. Of course I can't remember which ones are worse.
Always fill the pool from my well thru the softener and have never had any staining or color issues which is why I assumed the iron was residual. Brushpup is doubling my regeneration making a difference with the iron or is it simply keeping the mineral extra clean and not benefiting me at all?
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No, not really. Iron fouling happens more in the exchange process when the water is being softened. In other words, when you are using water from it after re-gen. Soluble Iron is very attracted to cation resin, but does not readily come off during re-gen cycles, and thus fouls the resin beads over time. Depending on the amount, it can take years to ruin a resin bed. Sometimes much less. Iron fouling of resin can be complex, but generally, the best way to minimize it is by using salt with cleaning properties with Iron as a target. These products will be labled accordingly. I thought you had a lot of Iron since you stated it was building up on the shower heads. If it isn't staining sinks, tubs, or clothes you wash, you may not have much of an issue.
Also, if you had a Plaster type pool it would be more likely to get Iron stains. Not as much with vinyl. One great advantage to your pool size is that is makes a much better candidate for filling with a home softener. Quite manageble in most cases with that size.
Also, if you had a Plaster type pool it would be more likely to get Iron stains. Not as much with vinyl. One great advantage to your pool size is that is makes a much better candidate for filling with a home softener. Quite manageble in most cases with that size.
When we moved in there was no softener. All the shower heads, toilets (especially in the tank) showed orange discoloration. A while back I noticed it again in a few different locations. Mainly it appears on the caulking around a shower. But never saw it in the pool. When you talk about resin are you talking about the mineral that is added yearly or is it the material in the bottom tank that is supposed to last the life of the unit?
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I did the test. I added the 20 drops of r-10 and mixed. Then 5 r-11l and mixed. It turned blue. So I did not have to add any r-12. That means no CH present and the conditioner is doing it job??? Right?
Yearly? I guess I am not familiar with any softener that gets anything added yearly. Never heard of this, but I learn something new all the time. And softeners are not my line of work, especially residential. The exchange resin is in the tank/cylinder with the control head/unit on top (normally). I have also not heard of any type of it that lasts a lifetime. No exchange resin does that I know of. Depending on things, most resin lasts 5-7 years on average, before it needs changing out. Usually.
Iron that is tied to organics, particularly Iron related bacteria will often come right through a softener without being trapped on the resin. This could be what you are seeing. I feel pretty confident in saying if you had a plaster type pool, it would have some iron staining based on what you say here.
That is exactly correct, and generally what you should see, especially just testing for CH and not TH. Ideally, this is what you want every time. If your unit gives you a readout of how many gallons it's used, and you know it's capacity, you can really get a good picture at the very end of the run. If it will process XXX? gallons, it would be ideal to get a sample when only 50 or so gallons are left. This will tell you if you are leaking hardness at the end of the cycle. It should not, but that is very common as time passes and the exchange resin ages, or the water quality changes. The closer to the end you can get a sample, the better.
Back when I was a kid our water softener had a huge salt reservoir (used for cleaning the resin, I guess)... I don't remember how often it needed to be refilled but it probably was something close to a year. This was back in the days of Softening as a Service, where "the water softener guy" came by and filled up the reservoir at the same time the equipment was inspected.
Thanks for all the help. It has really gave me a better understanding of what I have. I scoured the manufacturers site last night and it all makes sense. I have a Combination unit. "Combination Units are specialized systems that offer softening and filtering in one unit, not the usual two separate systems. The benefits of this type of system are many: it saves on space, is cost effective both in the initial purchase and in maintenance costs, and uses less water and salt to operate." My tank is an NS which refers to the mineral that you add yearly. "Top stage of unit
corrects corrosive pH with NS mix / calcite media and the bottom stage softens the water. Can remove up to 5ppm of iron." So the cation is located in the bottom tank and what I replace is in the top tank. And that material is what changes the pH. The material in the top tank is sacrificial. And that is why it needs to be replaced yearly.
corrects corrosive pH with NS mix / calcite media and the bottom stage softens the water. Can remove up to 5ppm of iron." So the cation is located in the bottom tank and what I replace is in the top tank. And that material is what changes the pH. The material in the top tank is sacrificial. And that is why it needs to be replaced yearly.
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