Today's Little Project

[danemodsandy]

Wednesday is normally a day off for me, which means projects.

Today's was a twice-yearly little ritual I hate doing, but OH, the payoff!

I refer to cleaning my Shower Massager hand-held shower head. Here in bustling Waterloo, Iowa, we have some of the hardest water you ever saw, brimming with calcium. This means that anything with a spray or aeration function clogs up after a time, due to calcium buildup in the holes of the aerator or sprayer.

So, today I disassembled the head of the unit, got out the CLR, and soaked everything well for an hour or so. That got followed up with scrubbing with an old boiled toothbrush, part by part, then re-assembly and testing.

Bliss! I now have a soft, rain-like shower again, instead of the needle-like blast I was getting. There is a place in this world for pressure-washing, but the shower ain't it, right, fellas? ;-)

Next up - the sink sprayer. Amazing what a difference these little jobs make in one's quality of life.

 

[applianceguy47]

HARD water is not fun. I couldn't live with out a softener.

Have you considered a water softener. Maybe your living situation has limits.

They make small water softeners that don't take up much space.

As for cleaning aerators, soaking in vinegar over night or even for a few days is a eco-friendly and product safe way of removing scale and lime. Don't let it dry on porcelain, however.

I'm not sure how these new electronic softeners work, but it might be an option for you. Something to research.

It is just night and day taking a clean shower. Also having clean laundry and dishes.

http://www.easywater.com/a-better-way-to-treat-hard-water-1/?ac=2550&gclid=CKvltbbHlbQCFSFyQgodnhgA_Q

 

[danemodsandy]

Limit

"Maybe your living situation has limits."

I'm in a rental, and while I love my landlord and landlady dearly, I'm not making them a present of a softening system when I leave here.

 

[mattl]

Bliss! I now have a soft, rain-like shower again, instead of

...<a name="start_43931.645977"> There is a place in this world for pressure-washing, but the shower ain't it, right, fellas? ;-)
</a>

 

 

Well, no.  I like the hardest force I can get.  U'm, that is on most of my body.  Hate wimpy soft showers, the more force the better.  I enjoy my shower, 4 body jets and a strong shower head going all at once, hot and steamy for relaxation or cool for a good wake up..

 

[whirlcool]

You'd love our shower. The water pressure is so strong it'll blow you against the back wall of the shower if you aren't ready for it.

Personally I think having strong water pressure with a strong stream is more eco friendly. With this set up I can be in and out of the shower in 6 minutes flat.

At other places where the water pressure is low and the stream of water is soft it can take me 20 minutes or more to get all the soap out of my hair and off of me.

 

[yogitunes]

couldn't you rent a water treatment system from someplace like Culligan?.....that way when you leave, they remove the system....it may be a option

 

[danemodsandy]

Way Ahead of You

Another of my landlord's tenants wanted to do that - cost was about $50-$60 a month, and the landlord was not enthusiastic about having the plumbing altered.

Just doesn't feel like an option. A bottle or two of CLR a year is way cheaper than that.

 

[dustin92]

We also have rock hard water here. It does have fantastic pressure, I usually run my shower at about half pressure... any higher and the pressure blows the hand held shower out of its holder, or the shower curtain out of the shower. Both of our showerheads have rubber nozzles that can be rubbed to remove the deposits. The sink aerators/ screens need to be soaked or the water flow is reduced to a trickle rather quickly. For some odd reason, the screens in the washers and dishwsher do not get blocked as quickly. We need to install a water softener as soon as finances allow, but we do have a reverse osmosis system for drinking water, because the city water is undrinkable without filtration. Our water has a little rust/iron, a lot of calcium, a lot of chlorine, and sulfur smell. Nasty stuff!

 

[applianceguy47]

Having an R.O. system is an excellent product. Once you get a water softener, it will help keep the filters in the R.O. system from plugging up as quick as they will.

 

[washer111]

@applianceguy47

Those magnetic systems aren't softeners, they are conditioners.

They are only "UP-TO" 80% effective: They use pseudoscience to lure you in, and someone, they work, only enough to descale pipes and such. They may alter the taste of water, but once the water leaves the tap, the "magnetism" that was in the pipes could very wear away quickly.

Using a convential Salt (Potassium or Sodium) water softener is the best way to ensure soft water. If you/your council is concerned about the effects of salt in river systems and such, using potassium is a far safer alternative.

Depending on your hardness (ours is 25 Grains per Gallon), I would recommend a MINIMUM of 24K (total) capacity for you, esp. with a family of four. If the hardness is higher, or you have a bigger family, then 32 - 48K may be needed. If you size the system properly the first time, then you won't have it regerating every night, wasting 80gallons of water and 12lbs of salt - a properly sized system will do that 1-2 per week. Our softener regenerates every 2-3 nights, because it was undersized...

Hope this is of help to everyone. A link is attached to explain how they fool you with so called "salt-free water softeners."
(These things are much akin to those "detergent saving" LAUNDRYBALLS of yesteryear: Those magnetic softener guys are the same guys, basically. Magnetic systems ONLY work 100% in closed circuit solutions, like Nuclear Power Plant cooling systems.

Magnetic water treatment pseudoscience

A retired chemistry prof's view of magnetic water treatment and pseudoscience.

www.chem1.com

 

[applianceguy47]

Thanks for the information.

I kind of suspected that. I've done a little research on that and that is what I've found, too.

I want to keep the water from clogging my appliances AND I want soft water.

The compact, electronic system would be nice, but, it won't work for me.

It is just myself and I try and use water miserly. When I do use it, I want it to be soft.

I like the softener I have because it is so compact, only about 28" tall, and it connects with washing machine hoses. It takes one bag of salt that lasts about a month. And its light enough that if I need to move it, I can pick it up. Also, it has a meter so it won't cycle unless a certain number of gallons flow through it. It uses minimal water to flush and can be programmed to run when you want.

http://www.waterboss.com/watersoftenermodel700.shtml

 

[washer111]

Interesting...

Our softener gives us around 400gallons between regenerations. I do try to save where possible around the home.
For example, our Solar Water Heater has a bad leak (worsened lots lately) in the closed loop heating circuit it has, to protect against hard water, well, since I've been filling that up, we tend to take longer showers with hot water. We don't now!
I rinse off quickly, then shut off the water, wash myself thouroughly and then rinse off again. Much better savings than those prickly "saver" shower heads.

I am also guilty of the old "If its .... let it mellow" idea - though I do get the bleach stuff through their daily, to eliminate odours. But since our toilet uses about 3 gallons to flush, I just cannot justify using that much water to flush such a small amount of waste.

The washing machine: Well, being a Miele, I'm sure not using the water plus option would be fine, but, due to the machine's worser than average rinsing ability (accoding to a "Choice" magazine), I use water plus, increasing the water levels (and thanks to my menu digging) adds an extra rinse.

But our softner uses between 1 and 2 bags of salt monthly. When we initially started it about 2 years ago, we were going on one bag, but since I had refurbished it, I believe the water meter was stiff, and not working as well. So, I know that accounts for the extra usage (although less salt appears to be used in each regeneration). We have a Fleck 5600 Econominder Head and a 24K (Total) capacity, which gives about 18K in regular (economical) use.
Could I ask about your grain capacity?

 

[applianceguy47]

"The Model 700 can soften up to 70 grains per gallon "

 

I use about 1000 gallons of water a month including some garden watering. 

This is in the U.S, and is vastly less than the typical person who uses 2400 to 3000 gallons a month.  And I'm implementing a Grey water system so just about all my water will go to gardening.

 

You mentioned yellow water.  Keep in mind that liquid waste is most often <span style="text-decoration: underline;">sterile</span> when it leaves the body. It can safely be disposed of on surface ground, or, ideally diluted with water and applied to plants as a ferilizer. 

 

I don't use out dated flush toilets anymore.  I have a composting toilet that has a urine separator.  You can buy a separator seat adapter.  I've found that solid waste is best NOT to be mixed with liquids.  I use a little bit of water to flush the liguid area, so there is no crystalizing/urine smell.  Maybe a cup of water.

 

Your softener was using how much salt? 

I just replaced a 25 y.o. Culligan that my parents had in their home. 

 

Oh, my unfortunate parents,  they were never good with plumbing.  The softener they had did not have a meter, so it would run every couple of days even if they weren't home.  But here is the thing.  They had this large plastic salt bin, but it had a small crack in the bottom.  So the brine was trickling out.  There was a crack in the basement floor. 

 

The brine was leaking out and into the crack.  When I finally checked this out, the concrete around the softener was all pitted from all that salt.  Metal in the area was rusting badly,  just a bad situation.  So they just kept adding salt.  They must have been adding 4 to 5 bags of salt a month.  Culligan loved them, as they were delivering the stuff.

 

I replaced it with a metered softener and they use about a bag a month, now.  And the new softener is all one piece, like mine, and when it runs it uses very little water, you can't even hear it running.

 

I'm going to check out potasium, if that would be more eco-friendly option.  Thanks for the tip.

 

It seems the Aussies are properly concerned about the environment, like most conscious nations/people.  I've seen several videos on Youtube, from people from Australia, talking about thier Grey water systems. 

 

Have you read the Humanure handbook.  If your concerned about not wasting water AND if your interested in gardening and want rich soil, you may enjoy it.

Nature's Head |

www.natureshead.net

 

[cadman]

Waterboss

Big fan of the Waterboss! Our well water was surprisingly soft, but had a lot or iron content that was hard on the washers and made cleaning bath fixtures a real chore. I put in a model 700 and use the green bag Rust Remover salt. Works great! A buddy has one but doesn't care for the constant electrical draw (it keeps track of time of day and usage data) and so plugs it in once a week and manually regenerates. We regen every 400 gallons. Now rust free!