Water Test Results - HELP

I purchased a home last year and insisted on a comprehensive water test. The test showed 3 items of concern, but my inspector insured me that those items were as a result of the water softener which he did not bypass to get a sample. I accepted those answers but am now not certain that they were accurate.

In the last several months living here I have found the water to taste bad, poorly lather and leave a salty residue on washed dishes. I have had a (non-copper) pipe corrode and leak and a minor flood from a supply line nut corrododing away and coming free.

To recheck the test results, and to make sure I am setting my softener correctly I brought a sample of water to my counter health dept that I bypassed the softener to get. I requested a hardness test and a corrosivity test and I am concerned by the results, the TDS in particular.

LSI: -0.75 Alkalinity: 136 mg/l Hardness - Calcium: 208 mg/l Hardness - Total: 244 mg/l TDS: 1309 mg/l pH: 7.16 @ 17.7 pH

Here is an excerpt of the ORIGINAL test results (it is 3 pages long in total with nearly a 100 items on it): No bacerial results Inorganic metals all ND or very low, except for Sodium at 640 mg/l Alkalinity: 120 mg/l Chloride: 520 mg/l Flouride: ND Hardness: ND

Reply to
Michael
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Reply to
dpb

No, it adds sodium

CaCO3 + NaCl yields NaCO3 + CaCl (which is what is flushed out doing regeneration, never enters your water)

Reply to
dadiOH

Sorry, I typoed and missed the word "not".

Reply to
Michael

The softener may not be working right and adding sodium and chloride to your water. Substitute potassium for sodium if you are using salt substitute instead of softener salt (sodium chloride).

Yes road salting can cause high sodium, chlorides and TDS and all three are corrosive to metals. So get tests for pH (yours is a bit low), total hardness, TDS, chlorides, sodium, sulfates, iron, nitrate and Coliform bacteria.

Your nitrate is somewhat high and that can be a health concern, especially for a fetus and infants. Nitrate fluctuates seasonally with precipitation levels and snow melt.

The Langelier Saturation Index (LSI) is not a good corrosivity test, there are others that are much better but IMO none will benefit you much in identifying what might be causing corrosion and we know that high TDS, chloride and sodium will cause it.

Gary Slusser Quality Water Associates

Reply to
Gary Slusser

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