Water sofeners with septic tank...

[Rick Denney]

It should make little difference to yoru pallate. I'd proabably go with Sodium if its cheeper. I you have high blood preasure, and you are drinking your soft water (not recommended), then maybe the potassium is better. It will still take you an hour to rinse off in the shower regardless.

Only if it's oversoftened.

We use considerable treatment because our water is acidic, hard and also contains dissolved iron that ruins everything it touches.

First, we use an acid neutralizer step. Then, we run it through a manganese green sand iron filter (which is flushed with a potassium permanganate solution). Then, we soften it using a standard ion-exchange softener that is flushed with salt brine. Finally, we filter it with activated charcoal (a big sucker--not one of those Britta toys). The product is plenty safe to drink, and it also doesn't tear up our plumbing, appliances, and bathroom fixtures.

Hard water does not rinse as effectively as soft water. It makes the soapy feel go away faster, but the soapy feel isn't soap in the first place. The soap rinses pretty quickly. What makes the "squeaky clean" feel is undissolved soap curds that hard water cannot rinse away. Soap curd will dry skin in a hurry.

Soft water rinses more effectively and doesn't leave calcium or other mineral deposits in the fixtures.

Plastic is no help, by the way. In San Antonio (HARD water), I routinely had to soak my plastic shower heads in acid cleaners to dissolve the built-up calcium deposits so they would work again. All those deposits were building up in the other appliances, too, but were harder to remove.

And an ion-exchange water softener doesn't add much salt at all to the water at the tap. The brine is used to wash the pellets in the ion-exchange bed, which is then rinsed very thoroughly during the regeneration cycle before being put back into service. Our iron filter works exactly the same way, and we would have terrible stains from the purple potassium permanganate if it wasn't being thoroughly rinsed.

Rick "who uses the standard softener pellets with the iron remover sold at Home Depot, etc." Denney

[LoyalTubist]

Most cities in Southern California have very hard water. Actually, it's OK for drinking (filtered with Brita) and bathing. The worst part about it is what it does to the faucets and other hardware. I bought a new shower head when I was still living with my ex-wife and I think its weight doubled in six months from all the sediment.

Another horror story: Yes, the water in Germany is quite drinkable. When I was stationed in Berlin, I went to the Italian restaurant across the street from the barracks. I told the waiter that I needed a glass of water so I could take a pill. He brought me back a glass of tap water. I asked him why he didn't get me a bottle of water, he said there is nothing wrong with the tap water, if all I was going to do was use it to swallow a pill.

When he brought the glass to me, it looked like it had been previously used for milk--the water looked whitish-grayish. The waiter told me to wait and let the sediment fall to the bottom. It then looked like it had a layer of dirt.

Later, I asked some of the locals why they didn't have the water softened. They said that they mainly use the water for cleaning, and this was like having a built-in scrub brush.

Nice!