Science question about softened water and taste

[GaryS]

I've seen on this forum that some people cannot taste a difference in their soft and hard water. If my hardness is 15 then I must imagine the amount of sodium required to soften that water will be detectable. Then I think back to chemistry class and realize that it is the NaCl that makes things 'salty'.

Here is my question: after regenerating the beads with brine water then the beads have sodium ions attached. What happens to the chloride ions? are they just suspended in the water and will go out into the house plumbing with the excess Na? If that is the case, then I guess it would be salty (NaCl). If not, and they are washed out the drain with the Ca and Mg, then a whole lot of sodium ions in the water with fewer chloride ions will not make the water salty. Just high in sodium.

Thanks in advance for any replies. I may just have too much time on my hands :)

[Gary Slusser]

They go out to drain during the slow rinse after brine draw and then rapid rinse and any settle rinse.

The amount of sodium added is 7.875 mg/l for each grain per gallon of compensated hardness removed.

Gary
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Doug Aleshire, Super Moderator 2

[rav12]

Not sure if peope can taste the difference but I doubt of the water is going to taste salty. Softeners work on the principle of ion exchange so basically the Na ions swap places with the Ca and Mg ions leaving compounds like Na2CO3 in the water which is not NaCl. The Ca/Mg get flushed out during regeneration. In this sense "softened" water is not the same as "soft" water in that extra minerals are still present in the water.

I recently installed a softener (we have a hardness of around 16 GPG) and I can certainly taste the difference.