Adding a water softener to our house water system

[edibower]

We are considering adding a water softener to our house water system. My question is how this will affect our pool water via our auto fill which comes out of the back of our house. The auto fill is connected to a vacuum valve which also has an outdoor faucet connected to it. My initial thought was to only hook it up to the hot water so it would have no affect on the pool water auto fill. Thanks in advance for any advice

 

[JoyfulNoise]

Outdoor spigots are typically on a separate plumbing loop from the hot/cold potable water. This is done in the event a softener is installed so that landscaping is not watered with soft water (and saves you excessive regeneration cycles). If you wanted the soft water plumbed into your autofill, that could be an expensive, or impossible, task.

 

[Texas Splash]

^^ Exactly ^^ I suspect in your case, the contractor will look for a good place to install the new water softener in your existing home (i.e. in the garage) where the indoor water line first enters the home. That way ALL indoor water is softened before it even goes to the water heater which helps to reduce deposits in there as well. As Matt stated, this is completely separate from your outdoor water lines, to include the autofill for your pool.

 

[JoyfulNoise]

I have seen instances where people have had small water softeners installed on their pool’s autofill line and put in a small enclosure to protect it from the sun/elements. It can be done if there’s enough room around the spigot and there’s a nearby electrical outlet. The main problem will be the waste brine that it emits during the regeneration cycle - if there’s no nearby drain, the waste brine solution will essentially destroy the soil (and any vegetation) in the area around the softener.

 

[edibower]

Thanks for the info......hopefully our outside spickets are on separate loop.....I will make sure this is the case, then I won’t have to worry about the pool water

 

[cfherrman]

Wouldn't you want to size your water softener so it can do a week's worth of top ups so you can keep the ch down longer in AZ?

 

[Swampwoman]

^In which case you might want to consider a dual tank setup.

I have a dual tank setup to avoid tapping out on top up because in my case I have a lot of iron in my well.

The only downside to filling from softener, aside from regeneration and brine waste, is that eventually you need to ADD hardness to the water.

 

[OrangeAndBlue]

You'll want to double check if your outdoor spigots are on a separate loop or not. In our house (Houston area), all pipes on the house are on the same loop. This includes all inside faucets but also all outside spigots on the exterior walls of the house. We have a water softener right after where the main line comes into the house that treats everything - hot, cold, inside, and outside.
My sprinkler system is plumbed just before the water goes into the house, making it the only water I have that does not go through the softener. I had our sprinkler guy simply tee off a couple of short lines from the sprinkler loop near the pool equipment pad and along the garage. They just come up out of the ground about 2 feet along the wall of the house/garage and then have a spigot. This was really easy and inexpensive to do. You should have a similar option if this is your case as well, and they should also be able to plumb a line off the sprinkler loop into your pool directly for auto-fill.

I chose not to have any fill line plumbed directly into my pool, so I fill manually with a hose but I have the option to top off with either softened or un-softened water now depending on which spigot I fill from. I figure this may be useful at some point to help manage CH levels since my untreated fill water is very hard.

 

[slickraft]

I'm in Phoenix and I fill with city water but my auto-fill is intentionally plumbed to my soft water supply. Just two of us in the 1600 ft2 house and the pool is 12K gallons. Works for us with a single tank softener system. Our softener regenerates about once every two weeks or so.

 

[edibower]

Dave, our plumbing is set up where the outside spicket in the back where the auto fill is hooked up is not on a separate loop, so the auto fill will be soft water. The softener will be placed where it hooks in after the drip and sprinkler valves so they won’t be soft.....thanks after all the info provided

 

[cbaddad]

Read this this Post and still did not get see an answer to whether having soft water going into the pool is good or bad? I have a whole house system where my outside faucets are tied into the house and thus are soft water. I have the option to tap into the Sprinkler water which is separate. House is on city water and water is somewhat hard. Planning on going with Salt system in the pool. I was thinking that it would be beneficial to have the conditioned water flowing into the pool via the auto fill.

is soft water good, bad or doesn't matter?

 

[Texas Splash]

Read this this Post and still did not get see an answer to whether having soft water going into the pool is good or bad?

In itself ... not bad. But depends on your local water and pool type. A plaster pool in an area like AZ with very hard water, soft water would probably be welcomed to keep that CH level down. In these areas however with hard water and lots of evaporation, also keep in mind that wil result in some hard work on that softener with lots of recharging cycles.

Some other areas in the country have relatively mild water locally, so using soft water is not needed and the owners may have to add calcium if they use it on a regular basis.

 

[JoyfulNoise]

From the standpoint of sanitation chemistry, ie, chlorine use, it makes no difference whatsoever. From the standpoint of pH control, again no difference. From the standpoint of calcium scaling and saturation balance, yes, having a water softener helps to maintain more regular calcium levels. From a cost standpoint, water softeners add cost to your wallet in terms of brine use and regeneration water. The more things using your softener, the more it costs you.

So, as TS said in the previous post, it’s up to your specific situation.