Stopping rock / limescale in water heater: water softener?

crashbox · Dec 5, 2020

Mains water round here is from chalk source, so every year or two the hot water heater elements go, and have to get the rock out. Had over a wheelbarrow out of the 100 gallon heater!

Now got grant for heat recovery system so worried about that rocking up too...

Anybody use a water softener? Does it work, and is there much maintenance?

Note borehole not an option, we had one and that was the opposite: acid water full of iron ocre sludge!

Thanks

CB

upnortheast · Dec 5, 2020

Our borehole water goes through a softener. Uses about 2 pallets a year of salt No maintenance at all -- Water use about 16 cu m day

Screwfix have a range of units, though probably for a domestic situation

BWT Automatic Metered Water Softener 25Ltr - Screwfix

Order online at Screwfix.com. Water softener which uses an ion exchange process to remove the minerals responsible for scale and scum. Makes water that is kinder to the skin and allows soaps, shampoos and detergents to lather and rinse away more easily. Softened water helps extend the life of...

www.screwfix.com

Probably need to take advice on the size required for your water use.

When we started we seemed to be using lots of salt. Due to our layout it was simple to take the cow drinking water off after the iron /manganese filter but before the softener. This helped salt useage significantly.

Not sure where you are but Dales water at Ripon supplied ours , as part of the borehole filtration setup

bigw · Dec 5, 2020

Water softeners are pretty simple as said above. We remove iron out of our borehole which is also pretty straightforward through a treatment plant.

pappuller · Dec 5, 2020

bigw said:
Water softeners are pretty simple as said above. We remove iron out of our borehole which is also pretty straightforward through a treatment plant.

same here, do you ever need to give your borehole a deep clean ?

pappuller · Dec 5, 2020

crashbox said:
Mains water round here is from chalk source, so every year or two the hot water heater elements go, and have to get the rock out. Had over a wheelbarrow out of the 100 gallon heater!

Now got grant for heat recovery system so worried about that rocking up too...

Anybody use a water softener? Does it work, and is there much maintenance?

Note borehole not an option, we had one and that was the opposite: acid water full of iron ocre sludge!

Thanks

CB

we have high iron borehole water and as said have a full treatment plant in, we deep clean our borehole every 8 weeks with a borehole cleaner, removes all traces of ocre sludge and saves the pumps, pulling 750l per hour and its cleaned to drinking water standard so supplies everything including robots except the house.

dairydurham · Dec 5, 2020

Dales Water here too

pappuller · Dec 5, 2020

Our borehole cleaning plant right to left, holding tank, pump,manganese cleaner,iron cleaner,softener,2x particle filters 10micron/5micron, uv filter. Water runs in through that order.

bigw · Dec 5, 2020

pappuller said:
same here, do you ever need to give your borehole a deep clean ?

We have to lift the pump periodically and circulate it in oxalic acid as it gets pretty minging with iron deposits which affects flow rates.

upnortheast · Dec 5, 2020

bigw said:
We have to lift the pump periodically and circulate it in oxalic acid as it gets pretty minging with iron deposits which affects flow rates.

Ours has been running 6 years & never had to touch the hole ?

pappuller · Dec 5, 2020

bigw said:
We have to lift the pump periodically and circulate it in oxalic acid as it gets pretty minging with iron deposits which affects flow rates.

We leave our pump in situ and circulate upto tank with cleaner, boresaver its called.

bigw · Dec 5, 2020

pappuller said:
We leave our pump in situ and circulate upto tank with cleaner, boresaver its called.

I could likely do the same but our pump isn’t deep so pretty easy to pull out and do it

pappuller · Dec 5, 2020

bigw said:
I could likely do the same but our pump isn’t deep so pretty easy to pull out and do it

It also cleans the liner and the holes

upnortheast · Dec 5, 2020

pappuller said:
We leave our pump in situ and circulate upto tank with cleaner, boresaver its called.

So do you have a pipe going back down the hole to circulate ?
Our pump is 30 metres down so big job pulling it up

sjt01 · Dec 5, 2020

Gave up with water softeners for the dairy hot water, went to Siliphos or Combiphos. Works well, needs topping up once or twice a year.
https://www.bes.co.uk/cistermiser-combimate-dual-fit-scale-reducer-17067/
Work so well we have them in the cheese and elsewhere on the farm. No power needed, low maintenance. We have seriously hard water, from our chalk borehole. Mains water into the cheese room is as bad, and also responds to this

bigw · Dec 5, 2020

pappuller said:
It also cleans the liner and the holes

Do you just tip the powder in or mix it with water?

O'Reilly · Dec 5, 2020

We have a domestic water softener just for the hot water heaters, works well, doesn't use much salt.

O'Reilly · Dec 5, 2020

Shop around for them though, was quoted £1400 for one, think our buying group got one for less than half that in the end.

pappuller · Dec 5, 2020

bigw said:
Do you just tip the powder in or mix it with water?

Tip the powder down the hole and can recirculate back to hole, usually pump for an hour and off for 5 or 6. Do this for 2 days

bigw · Dec 6, 2020

pappuller said:
Tip the powder down the hole and can recirculate back to hole, usually pump for an hour and off for 5 or 6. Do this for 2 days

Do you pump the boresaver through your treatment plant too?

Horn&corn · Dec 6, 2020

pappuller said:
Tip the powder down the hole and can recirculate back to hole, usually pump for an hour and off for 5 or 6. Do this for 2 days

Does yours smell sulphurous a couple of days later? We usually have to dump the water for a couple of weeks as smells so bad after treatment. Still better than £15k/yr water bill!

Stopping rock / limescale in water heater: water softener?

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