Water Softeners and Air Filtration Systems - Would you run drinking and cooking lines off a water softener?

Hello,

I am a novice when it comes to water softeners. My plumber hooked up the house to draw water from the softener for my water heater, baths and laundry. The rest of the house he said should not be connected. Today, I realized my water line for my fridge is coming off of a "softened" line.

is that ok?

You can drink softened water, it just generally does not taste very good. Depending on the reason you're softening the water in the first place, this might be the way to go - my best friend lives in Maryland and has well water so full of iron and rust that they soften all of the water in the house, including the drinking water.

I do and after 10 years I'm still alive.

I use potassium chloride (KCl) instead of sodium chloride (NaCl).

My softener treats the entire house, inside and out. My water is 26+ grains hard. Here the average life of a water heater is 1.5 to 2.5 years ... mine is 10+ years old. Can't remember the last time I replaced a faucet seal or washer.

I disagree with your plumber but I've run into those opinions before ... seems you can't teach old dogs new tricks.

There will be more repair business for the plumber if 1/2 the house is softened.

Gianni,

It depends. If you are on a sodium restricted diet, you should consult with your medical practicioner for your particular situation. With 20 gpg hardness treated, the amount of sodium in one gallon of softened water is equivalent to the amount of sodium in a 8oz glass of milk.

If it is an issue, you may want to consider a reverse osmosis drinking water system to reduce the sodium up to 94%; other unwanted dissolved solids from 65%-99% depending on what is filtered. The unit can be plumbed to a refrigerator off the unit in many cases. Depending on what is in your water, I would stay away from the WATTS r/o recirculating system that re-feeds the contaminants like arsenic, nitrates, & hardness back into your hot water line.

If you can provide specifics as to what is in your water being treated, we can make a more suitable recommendation. Good luck out there!

Art

Gianni,

Did the plumber give you any reason not to hook up portions of your water distribution system to a softener? There may be a few reasons why some water locations may not be softened but for most homes there are benefits to soften water.

Soft water to the fridge will not cause any harmful disadvantage and in fact has many advantages. However, it serves both the equipment and water/ice production an advantage to have a properly set up RO leading to it. Your ice cubes will be clearer and drinking water taste better. Harmful scale build up by calcium/sodium should not occur.

Any RO that feeds water back into to hot water line will not harm or add anything to the water. It is a way so that waste water, typical with an RO system, can be saved, or at least not wasted. That might results to hundreds of gallons and, if you are on city water, that can represent a significant amount combined with additional costs.

Gianni,

Do you have any results from water testing? Are you on city water or a private well? RO's that introduce waste water into the hot line may or may not be ok depending on what was in your water to start. Please respond and we can help. Thanks.

Art