How's the water? (Phoenix: rent, new home, water heater)

[LBTRS]

I must add that I have no idea if most houses have soft water loops, I assume they do. When we purchased our home and I asked "what is a soft water loop?" I was told what it is and that "most houses in Phoenix have soft water loops because the water is so hard here."

[Sco]

Originally Posted by DetroitN8V

IMO the water here tastes terrible. It's also very hard so it's likely that you'll have a water softener and an RO system for drinking water. I believe most houses in the valley are set up that way. Someone correct me if I'm wrong.

In my experience very few people have either a water softener or RO system. IMO, the ones that do fell victim to the hype and marketing pitches. The water is fine as is, no special treatment is necessary.

[DetroitN8V]

Originally Posted by Sco

In my experience very few people have either a water softener or RO system. IMO, the ones that do fell victim to the hype and marketing pitches. The water is fine as is, no special treatment is necessary.

There's no marketing hype that affected my taste buds. The tap water here tastes terrible to me. The RO water is much better. When house hunting, most homes we saw had both and we were shown a lot of houses.

Hard water has also been proven to shorten the lifespan of appliances due to scale buildup. That's science. Not marketing hype.

[DetroitN8V]

Originally Posted by LBTRS

Most kitchen faucets are not softened as there is one faucet in the house left with unsoftened water for drinking, cooking, and watering plants. Normally the ones that have softened water out of the kitchen faucet are softeners added to a house without a soft water loop. A soft water loop leaves the kitchen faucet and outside spigots with unsoftened water.

My kitchen sink is on the softener. I think that's actually a good thing because otherwise, I'd be feeding my dishwasher hard water.

[LBTRS]

Originally Posted by DetroitN8V

My kitchen sink is on the softener. I think that's actually a good thing because otherwise, I'd be feeding my dishwasher hard water.

I was just going off of what the construction supervisor told us when we built out house.

Is yours a salt based softener? Are the outside spigots softened also? How do you water plants with softened water?

I'd be interested to hear from someone in the know of what the normal setup is for a soft water loop.

[DetroitN8V]

Originally Posted by LBTRS

I was just going off of what the construction supervisor told us when we built out house.

Is yours a salt based softener? Are the outside spigots softened also? How do you water plants with softened water?

I'd be interested to hear from someone in the know of what the normal setup is for a soft water loop.

I'd be interested too. I certainly don't know. Ours is a regular water softener but we use potassium chloride (I read that it's slightly less "slimy"). My sprinklers, drippers and hose bibbs are in front of the softener so they do not get softened water.

[cjs123]

I don't care for the taste of the water here; I've lived in different parts of the Phoenix metro valley and used to buy bottled (nothing fancy, just filling the gallon bottles at the water machines) and then when I bought a house, I got a reverse osmosis water system which has been great.

[LBTRS]

Originally Posted by DetroitN8V

I'd be interested too. I certainly don't know. Ours is a regular water softener but we use potassium chloride (I read that it's slightly less "slimy"). My sprinklers, drippers and hose bibbs are in front of the softener so they do not get softened water.

Oh, the potassium ones are safe to drink and for watering plants so they can cover the whole house.

It is my understanding, with a salt water loop, the kitchen faucet is not softened but the dishwasher is softened.

[Ponderosa]

Originally Posted by DetroitN8V

My kitchen sink is on the softener. I think that's actually a good thing because otherwise, I'd be feeding my dishwasher hard water.

and hard water to your ice maker if you have one meaning those nasty floaties in your cubes.

[Ponderosa]

Originally Posted by LBTRS

Oh, the potassium ones are safe to drink and for watering plants so they can cover the whole house.

It is my understanding, with a salt water loop, the kitchen faucet is not softened but the dishwasher is softened.

could be. the dishwasher is hot water so the entire hot side could be soft. I did my own "loop" and never considered putting the kitchen sink on the hard side. Suds is what we want! I've got an RO for the plant/drinking needs.