Using water softener?

[B&T RVers]

<div class="bbWrapper">Looking for input on getting a water softener. Is it worth it? What should I look for?</div>

 

[Old-RV'er]

<div class="bbWrapper">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&#039;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.</div>

 

[RKins]

<div class="bbWrapper">I bought one but haven&#039;t had to use it yet. The one we bought can be recharged with only 2 gals of water while some of the more popular ones, you have to let water run through it for 20 minutes. Very wasteful IMO.</div>

 

[Neal]

<div class="bbWrapper">There are areas of the US where you&#039;ll need it such as the AZ area, UT, I&#039;ve even had on the eastern shores of VA. You don&#039;t want hard water in your RV so I would nearly say a water softener is required to have in hard water areas. You can use test strips that come with it, or buy separately, to test your water. This is what I&#039;m doing in higher risk areas to see if I need to setup the water softener. Some stated it&#039;s heavy, you can mitigate most of that by emptying the water out when stowing. Here is what I use. The bigger one means less time between regens, in AZ for one person with the larger unit regen is weekly using salt.<br /> <br /> <div class="bbCodeBlock bbCodeBlock--unfurl js-unfurl fauxBlockLink" data-unfurl="true" data-result-id="8704" data-url="https://www.amazon.com/dp/B085Q2LBJV/?tag=rvf01-20" data-host="www.amazon.com" data-pending="false"> <div class="contentRow"> <div class="contentRow-main"> <h3 class="contentRow-header js-unfurl-title"> <a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/B085Q2LBJV/?tag=rvf01-20" class="link link--external fauxBlockLink-blockLink" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-proxy-href=""> On The Go OTG4-VM-DBLSOFT Portable Compact Double Standard 16, 000 Grain Water Softener w/Brass Fittings, Back-Flush Adapter for RV/Marine Models - - Amazon.com </a> </h3> <div class="contentRow-snippet js-unfurl-desc">On The Go OTG4-VM-DBLSOFT Portable Compact Double Standard 16, 000 Grain Water Softener w/Brass Fittings, Back-Flush Adapter for RV/Marine Models - - Amazon.com</div> <div class="contentRow-minor contentRow-minor--hideLinks"> <span class="js-unfurl-favicon"> </span> www.amazon.com </div> </div> </div> </div></div>

 

[Fish]

<div class="bbWrapper"><blockquote data-attributes="member: 2" data-quote="Neal" data-source="post: 48324" class="bbCodeBlock bbCodeBlock--expandable bbCodeBlock--quote js-expandWatch"> <div class="bbCodeBlock-title"> <a href="/goto/post?id=48324" class="bbCodeBlock-sourceJump" rel="nofollow" data-xf-click="attribution" data-content-selector="#post-48324">Neal said:</a> </div> <div class="bbCodeBlock-content"> <div class="bbCodeBlock-expandContent js-expandContent "> There are areas of the US where you&#039;ll need it such as the AZ area, UT, I&#039;ve even had on the eastern shores of VA. You don&#039;t want hard water in your RV so I would nearly say a water softener is required to have in hard water areas. You can use test strips that come with it, or buy separately, to test your water. This is what I&#039;m doing in higher risk areas to see if I need to setup the water softener. Some stated it&#039;s heavy, you can mitigate most of that by emptying the water out when stowing. Here is what I use. The bigger one means less time between regens, in AZ for one person with the larger unit regen is weekly using salt.<br /> <br /> <div class="bbCodeBlock bbCodeBlock--unfurl js-unfurl fauxBlockLink" data-unfurl="true" data-result-id="8704" data-url="https://www.amazon.com/dp/B085Q2LBJV/?tag=rvf01-20" data-host="www.amazon.com" data-pending="false"> <div class="contentRow"> <div class="contentRow-main"> <h3 class="contentRow-header js-unfurl-title"> <a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/B085Q2LBJV/?tag=rvf01-20" class="link link--external fauxBlockLink-blockLink" target="_blank" rel="nofollow ugc noopener" data-proxy-href=""> On The Go OTG4-VM-DBLSOFT Portable Compact Double Standard 16, 000 Grain Water Softener w/Brass Fittings, Back-Flush Adapter for RV/Marine Models - - Amazon.com </a> </h3> <div class="contentRow-snippet js-unfurl-desc">On The Go OTG4-VM-DBLSOFT Portable Compact Double Standard 16, 000 Grain Water Softener w/Brass Fittings, Back-Flush Adapter for RV/Marine Models - - Amazon.com</div> <div class="contentRow-minor contentRow-minor--hideLinks"> <span class="js-unfurl-favicon"> </span> www.amazon.com </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> <div class="bbCodeBlock-expandLink js-expandLink"><a role="button" tabindex="0">Click to expand...</a></div> </div> </blockquote>That&#039;s what I have. The well water at the resort in Florida is almost orange so filters and softener are needed. I think I did regen on it about once per month this winter.</div>

 

[lostinfla]

<div class="bbWrapper">I did a permanent installation in a bin, plumbed in with bypass valves so it&#039;s in use all the time. I typically do a regen once a month. I made a regen adapter out of a filter housing that I fill with salt and attach to the in line to avoid removing the unit from the coach. Has worked great for the past 2 years or so. Don&#039;t think I&#039;d ever go back to hard water.</div>

 

[FL-JOE]

<div class="bbWrapper">The On The Go Softener is a wonderful product IMHO. We have been using ours for maybe 2 years. I have never heard of having to &quot;clean&quot; an RV water softener so I&#039;m not sure what product one of that previous poster is talking about. Depending on how hard the water is where we are camped, I may have to add salt and regenerate my softener anywhere from every 2 weeks (very hard water) to every 6 weeks (fairly soft water). I also run my water through two 10&quot; water filters prior to it going through the softener.<br /> <br /> As far as water being wasted when you regenerate or backflush a softener. Part of that process calls for running the water on high for several minutes. When I come to that part I hook the outlet to my black water flush and use the water to dump and rinse, that way I&#039;m not really wasting any water or letting it just spill out on the ground.<br /> <br /> In order to protect our plumbing and keep our tanks and systems as fresh as possible I would never travel without filtering twice and using a softener. However we are full time travelers with a on-board washer/dryer. I suppose if you were only seasonal part time campers without a w/d unit you could get by without one.</div>

 

[Texas Clodhopper]

<div class="bbWrapper">I also use an On the Go softener and wouldn&#039;t think of not having it. If nothing else I don&#039;t have hard water spots on the shower glass and the fixtures.</div>

 

[lostinfla]

<div class="bbWrapper"><blockquote data-attributes="member: 62" data-quote="Texas Clodhopper" data-source="post: 48485" class="bbCodeBlock bbCodeBlock--expandable bbCodeBlock--quote js-expandWatch"> <div class="bbCodeBlock-title"> <a href="/goto/post?id=48485" class="bbCodeBlock-sourceJump" rel="nofollow" data-xf-click="attribution" data-content-selector="#post-48485">Texas Clodhopper said:</a> </div> <div class="bbCodeBlock-content"> <div class="bbCodeBlock-expandContent js-expandContent "> I also use an On the Go softener and wouldn&#039;t think of not having it. If nothing else I don&#039;t have hard water spots on the shower glass and the fixtures. </div> <div class="bbCodeBlock-expandLink js-expandLink"><a role="button" tabindex="0">Click to expand...</a></div> </div> </blockquote>That&#039;s true. We used to have to wipe the glass after every shower.</div>

 

[JRS]

<div class="bbWrapper">I think it&#039;s needed. I added a sediment filter prior to our On The Go 16K unit. Both stay outside at the faucet</div>

 

[Webz]

<div class="bbWrapper"><blockquote data-attributes="member: 185" data-quote="lostinfla" data-source="post: 48464" class="bbCodeBlock bbCodeBlock--expandable bbCodeBlock--quote js-expandWatch"> <div class="bbCodeBlock-title"> <a href="/goto/post?id=48464" class="bbCodeBlock-sourceJump" rel="nofollow" data-xf-click="attribution" data-content-selector="#post-48464">lostinfla said:</a> </div> <div class="bbCodeBlock-content"> <div class="bbCodeBlock-expandContent js-expandContent "> I did a permanent installation in a bin, plumbed in with bypass valves so it&#039;s in use all the time. I typically do a regen once a month. I made a regen adapter out of a filter housing that I fill with salt and attach to the in line to avoid removing the unit from the coach. Has worked great for the past 2 years or so. Don&#039;t think I&#039;d ever go back to hard water. </div> <div class="bbCodeBlock-expandLink js-expandLink"><a role="button" tabindex="0">Click to expand...</a></div> </div> </blockquote>I too have the water softener installed in a different bay. Also have valves too isolate it while it is removed for regen. <br /> Sounds like you have a better idea. Could you explain your regen adapter a little more? A picture would help me. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f609.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=";)" title="Wink ;)" data-smilie="2"data-shortname=";)" /><br /> Thanks</div>

 

[dave burns]

<div class="bbWrapper">Started using On the Go a few months ago and I would never go back. What a difference it makes.</div>

 

[lostinfla]

<div class="bbWrapper"><blockquote data-attributes="member: 746" data-quote="Webz" data-source="post: 49323" class="bbCodeBlock bbCodeBlock--expandable bbCodeBlock--quote js-expandWatch"> <div class="bbCodeBlock-title"> <a href="/goto/post?id=49323" class="bbCodeBlock-sourceJump" rel="nofollow" data-xf-click="attribution" data-content-selector="#post-49323">Webz said:</a> </div> <div class="bbCodeBlock-content"> <div class="bbCodeBlock-expandContent js-expandContent "> I too have the water softener installed in a different bay. Also have valves too isolate it while it is removed for regen.<br /> Sounds like you have a better idea. Could you explain your regen adapter a little more? A picture would help me. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f609.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=";)" title="Wink ;)" data-smilie="2"data-shortname=";)" /><br /> Thanks </div> <div class="bbCodeBlock-expandLink js-expandLink"><a role="button" tabindex="0">Click to expand...</a></div> </div> </blockquote>I made it from a filter housing (holds just shy of 2 salt containers). Connects in line with quick connects on the valve I installed to transfer the salt to the tank. Works great without wrestling with the tank. <br /> <br /> <script class="js-extraPhrases" type="application/json"> { "lightbox_close": "Close", "lightbox_next": "Next", "lightbox_previous": "Previous", "lightbox_error": "The requested content cannot be loaded. Please try again later.", "lightbox_start_slideshow": "Start slideshow", "lightbox_stop_slideshow": "Stop slideshow", "lightbox_full_screen": "Full screen", "lightbox_thumbnails": "Thumbnails", "lightbox_download": "Download", "lightbox_share": "Share", "lightbox_zoom": "Zoom", "lightbox_new_window": "New window", "lightbox_toggle_sidebar": "Toggle sidebar" } </script> <div class="bbImageWrapper js-lbImage" title="20210810_173642.jpg" data-src="https://rvforums.com/attachments/20210810_173642-jpg.8409/" data-type="image" data-lb-sidebar-href="" data-lb-caption-extra-html="" data-single-image="1" > <img src="https://rvforums.com/attachments/20210810_173642-jpg.8409/" data-url="" class="bbImage" data-zoom-target="1" style="" alt="20210810_173642.jpg" title="20210810_173642.jpg" width="1816" height="4032" loading="lazy" /> </div><div class="bbImageWrapper js-lbImage" title="20210810_173611.jpg" data-src="https://rvforums.com/attachments/20210810_173611-jpg.8410/" data-type="image" data-lb-sidebar-href="" data-lb-caption-extra-html="" data-single-image="1" > <img src="https://rvforums.com/attachments/20210810_173611-jpg.8410/" data-url="" class="bbImage" data-zoom-target="1" style="" alt="20210810_173611.jpg" title="20210810_173611.jpg" width="1816" height="4032" loading="lazy" /> </div></div>

 

[Webz]

<div class="bbWrapper">Thanks for the pics. Now I&#039;ve got something to do tomorrow. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile :)" data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" /></div>

 

[hipchem1]

<div class="bbWrapper">Just bought my onthego and will try it this weekend.</div>