Pool with a water softener... (HOA, tile, approval)

[Cbink]

Ethanw this is directed towards you as I saw you have experience in this but also open to anyone else that can help.

I'm getting a pool put in. Dig is imminent (waiting on HOA approval).

I have a water softener which is not on a loop. All of my outside taps are on the softener (I'll be honest I wasn't actually aware of this until today).
I've read it's not great to fill a pool with softened water. Anyone have any experience of this?
If its an issue I can see two solutions:

1) Bypass the softener whilst filling the pool
2) Have the pool builder dig down and intercept my water line before the softener. The softener has can external shut off valve which is accessible so I'm assuming this wouldn't be too difficult.

Any thoughts?

Thanks!

[Schumacher713]

The PoolForum

[azinwood]

Same situation for us. All outside connections are soft.

We just bypassed the softener when filling. Took only two days, so it was easy. We top off the pool with soft water, no biggie.

[Cbink]

Originally Posted by Schumacher713

The PoolForum

Thanks, I'd posted it in Forum Index • Trouble Free Pool too.

Originally Posted by azinwood

Same situation for us. All outside connections are soft.

We just bypassed the softener when filling. Took only two days, so it was easy. We top off the pool with soft water, no biggie.

Great, thanks. This was going to be my quick fix (no more money!) solution so I think I'll just stick with it. Further research has indicated that topping off with softened water is fine but it's best not to fill with it.

[azinwood]

I don't think its necessarily bad, you just have to balance for the lack of calcium so the water doesn't leech it out of the tile and surroundings.

I think the biggest effect would be what it would do to your softener. More than likely I would assume that you would deactivate the resin fairly quick if you have to pass tens of thousands of gallons of water through it in a matter of days.

[ethanw]

Don't use the softener water. Chemical balance not easy and the pool interior don't like that. If you have a sprinkler in the back just tap into the main sprinkler line so that will bypass the softener. That's what I did.Yo Ned a permanent solution

Originally Posted by Cbink

Ethanw this is directed towards you as I saw you have experience in this but also open to anyone else that can help.

I'm getting a pool put in. Dig is imminent (waiting on HOA approval).

I have a water softener which is not on a loop. All of my outside taps are on the softener (I'll be honest I wasn't actually aware of this until today).
I've read it's not great to fill a pool with softened water. Anyone have any experience of this?
If its an issue I can see two solutions:

1) Bypass the softener whilst filling the pool
2) Have the pool builder dig down and intercept my water line before the softener. The softener has can external shut off valve which is accessible so I'm assuming this wouldn't be too difficult.

Any thoughts?

Thanks!

[Cbink]

Just as an update. I had the pool builder intercept the line before the softener, giving my an autofill with unsoftened water as well as an additional tap outside which is unsoftened. Minimal expense incurred and a permanent solution.