Using water softener?

[Joe Hogan]

Hard water promotes scale on water heating elements and introduces grit into the water system that wears seals out prematurely. Most of the hard water elements bypass filter elements. And scaling clogs up shower heads and faucet screens.

Curing the curse of hard water RV plumbing issues

By Russ and Tiña De Maris For folks who live up in the Pacific Northwest, the curse of "hard water" probably never enters your vocabulary. It never did for us

www.rvtravel.com

 

[AbdRahim]

First they are heavy, need to be cleaned about once every two weeks. We had one in Yuma, AZ. I think (100 gallon FW tank) and we filled up tank about every 3-5 days, I cleaned the thing like every two weeks. It made water feel slimy, way too much softening. So we used it for half fill, and bypassed it for the other half of tank, that made it better. But lots more work than we thought, sold it before we left Yuma. Cannot remember the brand we used. In my opinion, hooking up a water filter to the hose bib line, then using the one supplied by Newmar in the house should keep water quite nice, it won't soften it any. We lived with the hard water. And water is different everywhere, so you might need it one place and not need it again for 6 months. You are carrying around an extra 75 lbs.

I don’t know how much you use your rig. I was basically full time over the last year and now see brown scale build upwhere the water comes out at the top of the toilet. Also, a light brown streak, which I cannot get off with Dawn. Have you or anyone her tried purging your water system with 50% vinegar and water?
I was hoping not to need to carry around another item.

 

[LMHS]

What does hard water do? I live in an area with "very hard" water. I do not have a water softener. The local water has "eaten" the metal in my water faucet. It has "eaten" the metal in my showerhead. It eats any "base" metal. It takes a little longer to eat the brass fittings.

I used to work at Home Depot. I was told to push the extended warranty on anything that had water running thru it unless the house had a whole house water softener on it. The life expectancy of a water heater was about 3 to 5 years. It fills up with lime scale. Even with flushing out the tank, the water heaters filled up with lime scale. Some of the people who returned water heaters under the warranty did so every two years. I asked a few why they didn't have water softeners. Most said the water "ate" the water softener! Granted, not everywhere has water this hard. I am more concerned with the high levels of dissolved arsenic than "hard" water.

I have learned that using liquid soaps and detergents helps with buildup. I also use about cup of baking soda with each wash load in my washing machine and white vinegar in the rinse dispenser. It helps with the detergent/hard water film between the monthly deep clean cycles. The liquid automatic dishwasher detergent has a softener agent build into the formula.

Water Hardness Map of the United States – H2O Distributors

Water Hardness Map of the United States, Water Hardness Table of Classifications and links to more information about water softening and effects.

www.h2odistributors.com

 

[Rustymayes]

I built a simple system out of ABS pipe and a filter assembly that I used at the dock for my boat. I filled my fresh water tank with it and washed the boat with soft water. I use it for the Dutch Star now. I have been considering hard mounting it in the coach at some point. I am still figuring out our long tern use of the coach before making modifications. For the foreseeable future we will use it for one or two night trips and don't use much water. I do think soft water makes a difference especially since I am on well water out in the country.

 

[Bucky573]

I have a water softener installed in my wet bay on motorhome. If I had it to do over, I would look at going with a

Capacitive Electronic Water Descaler System​

This will work for daily use of water, but not long term storage like filling you freshwater tank.
It doesn’t require regeneration.

 

[JRS]

We're full timers and my thoughts on our 16000 On-The-Go water softener which sits outside. It's set up prior to the carbon filter. We stay at enough locations where city water is supplied throughout the year (which is treated with chlorine). In 3.5yrs of full time it seems to work without treating the softener. Now..... if it wasn't used often there may be a need to treat it.
Been actually surprised how hard water can get in some areas! Hard enough to almost walk on.... lol

 

[bpaikman]

We have a water softener in our house and an RO (reverse osmosis) system at our kitchen sink.
1. So, we fill the 100-gal coach tank with softened water before trips (we don't carry a lot of heavy stuff, so weight isn't an issue). That will be used for the kitchen sink, toilet, and bathroom sink.
2. We make a bin full of ice in the RV fridge, which lasts the whole trip - we don't use much ice - instead, we chill our water and other drinks.
3. When we run out of the 100 gal of water (not sure how long that takes - a few days probably, we start using campground water with an in-line filter and coach filter. I've thought about a softener, but I'm fine with the campground water, except for rinsing my hair.
4. I also bring a gallon of water from our kitchen RO purifier and a small bottle - that's for the final rinse of my hair when I wash it every few days, if I use the campground showers (which I usually do). I buy distilled water if I run out. A gallon will last me at least 2 weeks, I think.
(And I microwave the bottle to warm it a bit before leaving for the ahowers.)
It sounds like a lot of trouble, but it's not. The final rinse makes my hair easier to style and the style lasts much longer - most days I can just brush and go.
5. And we always wipe down the shower anyhow, even at home - not because of water spots, but to prevent mildew or mold. It's not much trouble - we keep a dedicated handtowel hanging outside the shower.
_____So, we're hoping that since we're not full-time and we flush and purify the tank before trips with softened water, plus using the initial 100 gallons, plus the in-line filters... we'll be ok.
We don't drink campground water - we've been buying bottled water and use very little of our pre-trip-made ice. I bought a Berkey drinking water purifier that I plan to use for long trips - it'll take a bit of getting used to, but should cut down on bottles. I can fill drinking water bottles from it and keep them in the fridge.

 

[lostinfla]

Although a water softener will reduce the amount of water spots when washing, it will not eliminate them. It takes a deionizer or good reverse osmosis system for that. When installing a water softener, you should always use a sediment filter before the unit. On the coach as mentioned previous, I run the original filter system (with charcoal filter) in line before the softener. We don't use the water to drink at all or for ice. We buy ice and bottled water as needed, and only use the "soft" water for shower, dish washing, and toilets. When washing the coach, I use a system similar to This. It removes basically all solids in the water and returns 0ppm water. Not to be used for consumption though.