"JustTom" wrote

On Fri, 24 Oct 2008 14:36:16 -0400, "Steve Young"
bowtieATbrightdslDOTnet wrote:

Reverse osmosis will remove the minerals, but it isn't practical for whole
house use. Many do it for drinking water only. Personally, I drink hard
water and send the house water through a softener. We have a separate
cold hard water spout at the kitchen sink. There is evidence that
drinking hard well water reduces heart attacks. Speculation is that it's
the magnesium in hard water. Along with calcium, magnesium also gets
replaced with sodium or potassium for soft water. If I had to choose
which of the 2 soft waters I had to drink, it would be potassium.

Yes, the testing company recommended a softener for the house, and an
RO under the kitchen sink for drinking water. I believe the price
for installation of both systems was quoted to be around $2300.

I believe the RO price was somewhere around $800 for a 50 gpd system ,
and then had to deal with expense of the filters. After thinking
hard about it, decided that paying $33 cents a gallon for the RO
Culligan water at Walmart made more sense, and even with a softener,
will continue to do this for my drinking water.

As for the softener, I've been delaying installation, because of the
way my outside lines are laid out. I used to have public water and
the outside lines to my pastures and barn was teed off where the
public line came. Unfortunately, I had to dig the well on the other
side of the house, resulting in the animal and garden water sources
now going first into the house.

I am/was concerned about my cattle/pigs and small animals
(rabbits/chickens/ducks) drinking the sodium boosted water, so I've
held off for about a year trying to come up with another solution
other than redigging all of the outside lines. But my water is so
hard (36) that I fear for my appliances and hot water heaters,
clothes don't seem to come as clean, and I'm tired of eating off of
plates and glasses that look like they've been dipped in chalk, or
rather my wife is tired of having guests do so.

How does water straight from your well taste? If it isn't so high in iron
that it makes it unpalatable, I would be inclined, (for health reasons), to
drink it with only minimal processing. ( i.e. a .5 micron beverage filter).
The only problem/concern is where the hard water is used in coffee makers
and other boiling devices, as it requires frequent cleaning to not become
clogged with mineral deposits.

I would supply hard unprocessed water for all drinking, gardening, livestock
and then route the household water through a softener and into the house
distribution system. I would install a separate line for a hard water tap
at the kitchen sink and to ice makers. Personally, I have no love for RO or
distilled water. I believe they are damaging to ones health. Distilled
water is a leaching solvent and I would rather keep the minerals in my
bones.

I had a hardy 6 foot tall uncle that drank only distilled water the last 30
years of his life and when he died, he was a little over 3 feet tall. (a
little exaggeration, but not by that much

Steve Young