New KitchenAid DW with Water Softeners

[ozzie908]

Water softeners

I was always led to believe that softened water was bad for your health? I have seen warnings for people with raised blood pressure not to drink it, So would that mean you would have to get a seperate water supply for drinking and cooking if so that would be very expensive to install.
I have fitted at my Mums house a electric magnetic device that is meant to inhibit scale build up by not allowing the calcium to stick to itself thus no problems its been in now for 10 years and the washer has no sign of scale nor the kettle the dishwasher does use its own salt pot but thats set very low, The water is so hard there it comes out the tap fighting...

Austin

 

[passatdoc]

To the best of my knowledge, whole-house softener systems in the USA are plumbed to the hot water line, to avoid addition of sodium to one's drinking water. This assumes of course that you use the cold water tap to obtain your drinking water. I suppose someone might try to make hot chocolate using hot water from the hot water line, which might lead to extra salt being ingested. But someone preparing coffee or tea in a coffee maker or with hot water from an electric kettle would/should start with cold water.

 

[joe_in_philly]

Interesting, Ivan. I think the duties of a good wife and mother were reflected here too, but the appliance manufacturers certainly put it in such a way that time-saving appliances would allow you to do more things for your family.

 

A whole house water softener, as you can see at the models sold at Sears, cost about $400-$600. Not that much. They are fairly easy to install if you have one already, although you would probably need a plumber if the house wasn't designed with one in mind.

 

My understanding is that the amount of sodium imparted into the water depends on the hardness of the water.  The homes we had water softeners in had both the hot and cold water supply softened, with the cold water supply going to the kitchen sink bypassing the softener. You would be drinking and cooking with unsoftened water. So really, only the water you drank from a bathroom sink would be soft water.

 

 

http://www.sears.com/shc/s/s_10153_12605_Appliances_Water Softeners_Water Softeners?keyword=water softener&sLevel=2&prop17=water%20softener

 

[retropia]

Farm Living

Relatives on a farm had a whole-house water softener; every faucet dispensed softened water. In the kitchen, a small cold-water-only faucet, that bypassed the water softener, was installed next to the main faucet. This was used to dispense non-softened water for drinking and cooking, as it tasted better than the softened water.