Watering with soft water

[Billy]

You have to give Shellly credit. He may be stoopid but but he is persistent. One more time from the top:

The idea behind a water softener is simple. The calcium and magnesium ions in the water are ""REPLACED** with sodium ions. Since sodium does not precipitate out in pipes or react badly with soap, both of the problems of hard water are eliminated. To do the ion replacement, the water in the house runs through a bed of small plastic beads or through a chemical matrix called zeolite. The beads or zeolite are covered with sodium ions. As the water flows past the sodium ions, they swap places with the calcium and magnesium ions. Eventually, the beads or zeolite contain nothing but calcium and magnesium and no sodium, and at this point they stop softening the water. It is then time to regenerate the beads or zeolite.

How's that hole coming Shelly? About time to hydrate again, huh?

[Billy]

Don't pay any attention to John, Shelly. Have another big glass of your soft water.

John, we are trying to cull the herd here. Your good sense is just going to confuse him.

[Dioclese]

Similar question here. How about hydrogen sulfide gas from well water. Its filtered out before entering home plumbing. Hose bibs are connected to the same home plumbing.

Normally, I use the 2 standalone faucets outside for irrigation. These have no filtration whatsoever. Any special notes on soaker hoses for this situation?

[J. Clarke]

You're confusing "sodium" with "salt". The process is that sodium ions are picked up on the surface of the zeolite. Not "salt", just one of the chemical components of it. Those are exchanged for less-reactive calcium and magnesium ions in the water, so calcium carbonate (or magnesium sulfate or whatever) gets turned into sodium carbonate (or sodium sulfate or whatever) with a slight release of energy. The calcium and magnesium ions then remain on the suface of the zeolite until such time as it is regenerated by exposure to sodium chloride at which time it picks up the sodium ions and the calcium goes into the brine as calcium chloride.

So the softened water has no "salt" added, what is has is the existing calcium and magnesium compounds turned into sodium compounds. The quantity of the compounds doesn't change, what changes is their chemical composition.

If you think that a water softener works by "adding salt" then try adding salt to hard water and then have the hardness checked with and without salt and see what you get.

[Dan L.]

From my pitiful short garden experience.

• Water from rain is best * then Water from rain barrels * then Water from softener * then Water from the hard line. * Let plants die.

When I use my hard line my garden does not grow very well. Still better than no water at all. I have also found that flowers does seem to hold up better with the soft water than vegetables.

Most water softeners are first run through a sediment filter taking out some nasty stuff first. Hard lines tend to come straight out of the well.

Depending on the size of your garden that softener can get expensive, if it is a large one. If you are very rich and do not care, use the water from the R.O. purification system from your drinking water.

Their are some companies that make inline water filters for the outside water lines (also not cheap). I will let you do the searching.

Enjoy Life ... Dan

[SteveB]

"Dioclese" wrote

Any special notes on soaker hoses for this

Not sure about where you live, but here, the irrigation water is not filtered to a high degree. Fill a glass gallon jug and see if it has sediment or organic materials. This will clog up a soaker from the inside.

Steve

[Dioclese]

Central TX, rural hill country west of IH35.

Do have calcium etc from limestone in well water. Not really concerned about that since the soil is similar due to runoff from rain. I have a sediment filter, hydrogen gas filtration bottle (aerator), and a whole-house carbon filter running inline to the house.

I saw one of those "what ifs" on an educational channel on TV. Evidently, the earth ODed on hydrogen sulfide gas sometime in the past. Killed pretty much everything land and sea. There's potential for that to happen again. The gas is bad ju-ju in concentrations. Thus, the soaker hose question about water with hydrogen sulfide gas. Picture in my mind about a soaker hose is like a holding tank, intermittently burping pure hydrogen sulfide gas in concentration.

[Dioclese]

The filter needed depends on what you want to remove, the concentration of that unwanted substance, AND, how much resulting water you intend to use during a filter change interval. A solar heated still with intermittent manual removal of solids is almost like rain water purity. United States Patent 5181991. Rain barrels are a good idea if you get enough rain, flush the gunk out of barrels and lines once in awhile (green slime, might be black if cold).

----- Dave

[Billy]

Thus, the soaker hose question

[dr-solo]

[dr-solo]

Well I am not confusing anything. salt is NaCl which dissociates in water to Na+ and Cl-. Cl-, BTW is what makes food taste "salty". The sodium ions are exchanged for the calcium and magnesium ions in the water which are stabilized with the chloride ions which are flushed down the drain. The sodium stays in the softened water. This is a BIG issue with people who keep fish because some places have so much calcium and/or magnesium in their water that the sodium ion concentration is thus high enough to sicken and/or kill their fish. This is even a bigger problem when people use salt prophylactically without testing for sodium ion concentration. It is the chloride ions that are helpful to fish, not the sodium.

In addition physicians typically admonish their patients with high blood pressure to not drink softened water, rather, to use RO water for drinking. Ingrid

[dr-solo]

[Jangchub]

The best way to deal with hard water is to use plants which are native or adapted to alkaline soil. Period, the end.

[Billy]

H2S + 2CO2 -> H2SO4 + C2 doesn't make any sense. Makes all other statements questionable.

[Billy]

Soft water is good for the bathtub/shower, laundry, and the dishwasher. For drinking, hard water is probably better (mineral water).

[Charles]

I think it depends on how hard it is and what else is in it. Out city water tastes bad to me, it is very hard. It's no doubt better on a health basis, except when it is so offensive that I don't drink it.

I use an RO filter for drinking water.

[Charles]

The H2S in the well most likely comes from sulfate reducing bacteria acting on sulfates that are already in the water.

[Ryan P.]

I've never been a fan of soft water for bathing or hand washing. I never actually feel like all the soap has been rinsed off of me... almost a slightly slimy or oily residue is left on my skin. Its one of the things I dread when I go to Florida or Vegas and stay at a hotel.

My girlfriend's condo complex is all softened water, and I hate showering there. Of course, Germantown has some terrible ground water with a high iron/sulfer content, so the softener might not be completely to blame...

[Ryan P.]

. . I don't know about the chemical equation there, but I do know that my home inspector told me the same thing about making sure there was a valve on the outside spigots to prevent backflow for that very reason... also good for keeping fertilizers and the like out of your pipes.

[Charles]

Sulfur dioxide and water combine to form sulfurous acid, H2SO3. This slowly oxidizes to form sulfuric acid, H2SO4. Sulfur dioxide can also oxidize to sulfur trioxide, which will then combine with water to form sulfuric acid.

Sulfate reducing bacteria can remove the oxygen from the acid.

H2SO4 -> H2S + 2O2

The H2SO4 while in water will be ionized and may be associated with other cations, calcium, magnesium, the like. So the above description is only a rough description of what is going on.