New Grower Hard water?

[lykaboss]

ok so i am on well water and my water softner shit the bed, its completely out and will need to be replaced. The qoute i got for a new one was 3200 installed RIP O!!. Will hard water hurt autos even if the PH is correct?

 

[Jackal]

What's the PPM? I would look into a RO system, that would be alot cheaper.

 

[lykaboss]

I honestly don't know, I don't have a way to measure that nor do i understand the calculations about PPM missed that in college lol. Can a RO system be used in place of a water softner for the whole house?

 

[coszumel]

I use R/O water in my grow. You have to add Cal/Mag if you go that route.


Cosz

 

[Jackal]

Maybe not the best choice for the whole house, they do waste alot of water. RO is good for growing thou.

Got this peace of info from Google.

Hard (alkaline) water contains a number of minerals (e.g., Ca++, Mg++, K+) which are essentially nutrients to the plants. Water softeners remove these minerals by replacing them with sodium, which forms slightly salty water. It is much better to water with hard water, because artificially softened water may prove harmful after some time. Occasionally, water may be acidic (sulphurous). Counteract this by mixing one teaspoon of hydrated lime per quart water and watering with the solution once a month.

 

[The Medicine Man]

A water softener shouldn't cost more than 900 bucks installed, IMO. I got a real nice setup for around that. 3200 is a wicked rip. There's no other companies around that could do it? If you're handy, you could buy one and install it yourself. What happened to the softener? Does it just need a resin change perhaps? An RO system could be good if your PPM's arent terribly high. Otherwise you'll be spending loads replacing the membrane and other filters every few months.

An RO system for whole house is gonna be expensive. More than 3200 bucks for sure. Most RO systems are going to put out just a couple hundred gallons a day at most. Mine was 150 bucks and does 100 gallons a day. That's a trickle. I've been through the gamut with my water here at the house. We've got one of the worst residential iron problems the big water company has ever seen. Straight from the well my water looks like apple cider and reeks of sulphur, plus has radon that's around 15x the EPA's limit. Yea, nasty. So we've got an intense filtration/aeration system that overall cost about 9k dollars, but most of that was the radon setup.

I would size up a water softener online and have a plumber come and install it if you can't find another company to do it for cheaper.

 

[Bushdocter]

If your handy or don't mind studying a bit you can build your own custom RO unit by buying the parts and building it yourself, the last unit I built was $300 less than an equivelant unit on ebay and mine uses better quality parts. I use this supplier http://www.appliedmembranes.com/

if you have a water report post it, alot of times you can make great plant water by just filtering out a couple contaminates, its for plants so it doesnt have to be potable.
you'll
btw, for the coffee lovers out there, brew a pot with RO water and enjoy, you'll never use straight tap again.

 

[AutoMan]

That sucks lyca....guess it kinda puts ya somewhere besides the southeast where my well water is fantastic...
That being said, the posters above are correct....it's gonna be a stiff hike on ya water cost either way ya go....I was involved in industrial DI adn RO systems and it seemed to cost a mint for either....our systems HAD to produce 20k in 24 hours with a 10k backup of RO.....
Bushdoctor knows what he's talking about....we made all of our coffee out of RO ....nice.

 

[Muddy]

You need to get yourself a liquid pH tester like a Hanna Combo or something similar. Practically a must for checking water, adjusting pH, checking run off, etc. If you know the PPM of your water you may not need to filter it. Matter of fact, your plants may benefit from the minerals already in the water, and as previously stated, you won't need to add cal/mag to the RO water to buffer it.

RO filters are often only put in the kitchen to filter water for drinking and cooking. Not really necessary for showers, laundry, etc. Most install under the kitchen sink. As to water softeners, check with companies like Culligan that rent/lease them. I was able to get a system that came back off of a 1 year lease for about half the cost of a new system. Not many moving part to break, basically just a big vat of salts that the water is run through.

 

[Bushdocter]

IMO if you use the salt exchange method for your water, you should pick up an ro unit for cooking and drinking.