Water softener safety

[Racerbear02]

The water where we live is very hard, I am considering installing a salt based water softener, but I have received many different views on the safety, or otherwise, of drinking water softened in this way.

Can anyone point me to a definitive  and unbiased source of information regarding the effects of drinking this pleasae?  I am particularly thinking in terms of water boiled for use in coffee or other hot drinks.  A plumber friend from Paris insists that it it very much contra regulation to instal a system without a non softened supply for drinking on the grounds that water softened like this can be carcenogenic, where as the sales poeple all insist it is perfectly safe.

[suein56]

We had a permutit salt based water softening system in our house in Lincolnshire where there were 2 taps which were not connected into the soft water system - one in the kitchen and one in the laundry room. These we were told it was best to drink from for a straight-forward glass of water, squash etc also for boiled water drinks such as tea, coffee. We were told it was not a good idea to drink water from any other taps in the house.

We were also advised to run our outside tap from a non-softened water supply as the softened water would not do our veg crops any good - that is if we did not have enough rain water collected in the water-butt for outside watering.

Sue

 

[Suze01]

We have a softener installed.  The salt we buy for it clearly states on the packaging that the water produced is for human consumption.  We do not have a separate non-softened water tap and use the water for all alimentation, even the goldfish are happy with it! We have been using a softener with this set up for the best part of 20 years now (both in the UK and here in France - always seem to live in a hard water area!) and we have no problems with it what-so-ever.

For some 'concrete' [8-)] answers:

http://www.lenntech.com/water-softener-FAQ.htm#5

5.2 Is softened water safe to drink?

Softened water still contains all the natural minerals that we need. It

is only deprived off its calcium and magnesium contents, and some

sodium is added during the softening process. That is why in most

cases, softened water is perfectly safe to drink. It is advisable that

softened water contains only up to 300mg/L of sodium.

In areas with very high hardness the softened water must not be used for

the preparation of baby-milk, due to the high sodium contant after the

softening process has been carried out.

For a different point of view:

http://www.dwi.gov.uk/pubs/hardness/index.htm#6

But if you do install a water softener

you should make sure that you have a supply of unsoftened water for

drinking and cooking.

This is because:

• there is evidence of less heart disease in hard water areas than in
  soft water areas, although not all studies find this link. If something
  in hard water protects against heart disease, water softeners might
  remove this protection along with the hardness
• many water softeners work by replacing the hardness with
  sodium. Too much sodium can be a problem for premature babies because
  their kidneys are not good at filtering it out of the blood, and for
  people who are on a low sodium (low salt) diet  [probably agree not to use softened water for baby's bottles]

• soft water may release lead from any lead pipes downstream from the softener [if you have lead pipes in your house]

• a softener which has not been properly looked after may release germs into the water.

But this seems to be rather ambiguous in parts.

[Nick Trollope]

Couple of thoughts;

Hard water is much nicer "tastier", if water tasted of anything.

300mg/L of sodium I'd hope that this is 300 micro-gm/L, the UK Gov's recommended max consumption is 6 milli-gm. The also recommend drinking at least 1L per day. Even given the difference between milli & micro-grammes, 300ug/L is still quite alot of sodium. If you believe the gov's salt consumption recommendations, that is.

In this day and age does hard water really matter - most modern appliances are capable of handling it (why do we put salt in our dishwashers?) and given the question marks about softeners (not to mention the costs) why use them? Also, I thought that the consumption of magnesium and calcium was beneficial, so why remove it?

And why doesn't this site default its' character set when you cut and paste?

[Deimos]

I have read in several places that drinking hard water if far healthier than soft water (ignoring water softeners). Thus if you are lucky enough to have hard water, then you are lucks and it would be strange to try and turn in back into a less healthy form at cost to yourselves.

Ian

[Suze01]

For us, the important part of having a water softener is the comfort factor when showering/hairwashing, not having scaled-up baths, shower doors, tap fittings. Having a 'clean' kettle, not damaging expensive appliances,  being able to use a lot less soap/detergents etc. Drinking the stuff didn't even come into the equation, apart from filling the kettle we buy bottled water for drinking neat or with syrops .

[napoleon]

We have used a water softener for 25 years and my next job at Easter is to install the old one in our house in France. We agree completely with Suze's comments about the reason for having one. It is there for our comfort.

When we first (25 years ago) made enquiries about the health aspect it was very uncertain as to the possible benefits or hazards associated with drinking softened water. We decided to follow what we considered to be the most sensible route and made sure all drinking and cooking water was direct from the mains, bypassing the softener. I doubt if there is sufficient evidence available even now to make health judgements with any certainty. We will continue to play it safe.

                                                              Alistair