I live in hard water area and I am thinking of getting a water softener..... 
the type that uses salt.
To keep this short....I would not be able to take an "untreated" pipe to my 
kitchen sink.

SO I/we would have to drink the processed  "soft" water.

Would this be ok........from a safety and taste point of view?

Not too much info out there on the net on this specific area. I would love 
the joys of kettles that didn't fur up...lots of soapy suds and chrome taps 
that don't look tatty after a while.........ah!!!! I hate hard water!

But can I drink the soft stuff


thanks

Barry
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Water softener companies always advice having at least one hard water
(untreated tap) Water softeners of the traditional type (the ones with salt)
do regular rinses with the salt water which will increase the level of
sodium in the tap. To be honest with you I would try and have one untreated
tap, for health and also for tast, IMHO!

Cheers

Lloyd
"bs"  wrote in message
news:2MqdnSoAOp7Q3fzfRVnytQ@brightview.com...

> I live in hard water area and I am thinking of getting a water
softener.....
> the type that uses salt.
> To keep this short....I would not be able to take an "untreated" pipe to
my
> kitchen sink.
>
> SO I/we would have to drink the processed  "soft" water.
>
> Would this be ok........from a safety and taste point of view?
>
> Not too much info out there on the net on this specific area. I would love
> the joys of kettles that didn't fur up...lots of soapy suds and chrome
taps
> that don't look tatty after a while.........ah!!!! I hate hard water!
>
> But can I drink the soft stuff
>
>
> thanks
>
> Barry
> -- 
>
>
> ---------------------------------------------------------------------
> "Are you still wasting your time with spam?...
> There is a solution!"
>
> Protected by GIANT Company's Spam Inspector
> The most powerful anti-spam software available.
> http://mail.spaminspector.com
>
>
>

On Sat, 16 Apr 2005 17:41:52 +0100, "bs" 
babbled like a waterfall and said:


>I live in hard water area and I am thinking of getting a water softener..... 
>the type that uses salt.
>To keep this short....I would not be able to take an "untreated" pipe to my 
>kitchen sink.
>
>SO I/we would have to drink the processed  "soft" water.
>
>Would this be ok........from a safety and taste point of view?


The flavour of the month was that hard water mitigated heart problems.
Based on lower heart problems in hard water areas.

But then the same people expect you to keel over dead from eating a
chip.......

No way should you drink artificially softened water as the sodium content is 
quite high and would almost certainly give you more intake than the 
recommended limits.
I can also speak from experience on this as I had a water softener back in 
the early 80's and then there was no recommendation to put in a separate 
tap. In fact, in the sales pitch they used to tell you how much less tea and 
coffee you can use compared with hard water. At the time my son was a few 
months old and he continually suffered really bad constipation. Just a few 
months after, there was a feature on 'That's life' with other people having 
the same problem with their young children. Since this was highlighted water 
softeners have always been sold with the recommendation of having a 
un-softened supply for drinking.
You could try one of the electronic water conditioners. These obviously 
don't soften the water but it helps to suspend the calcium particles so they 
tend not to stick on the surfaces of kettles and the like Of course you 
still get some scale but it's easier to remove.

"bs"  wrote in message 
news:2MqdnSoAOp7Q3fzfRVnytQ@brightview.com...

>I live in hard water area and I am thinking of getting a water 
>softener..... the type that uses salt.
> To keep this short....I would not be able to take an "untreated" pipe to 
> my kitchen sink.
>
> SO I/we would have to drink the processed  "soft" water.
>
> Would this be ok........from a safety and taste point of view?
>
> Not too much info out there on the net on this specific area. I would love 
> the joys of kettles that didn't fur up...lots of soapy suds and chrome 
> taps that don't look tatty after a while.........ah!!!! I hate hard water!
>
> But can I drink the soft stuff
>
>
> thanks
>
> Barry
> -- 
>
>
> ---------------------------------------------------------------------
> "Are you still wasting your time with spam?...
> There is a solution!"
>
> Protected by GIANT Company's Spam Inspector
> The most powerful anti-spam software available.
> http://mail.spaminspector.com
>
>
> 

and of course you need untreated tap for gardening purposes.
Odd drink from softened tap no harm, but all that sodium bad for blood
pressure.

We have the water softener under the sink (a good but expensive one that
doesn't need an electrcity supply). This supplies the boiler, washing
machine, dishwasher, shower etc and the hot tap at the kitchen sink - so
most of the washing-up water is softened. The kitchen cold tap is straight
from the main and we also have a drinking water filter plumbed off the cold
water supply feeding a small tap next to the sink.

I've heard that softened water has increased levels of sodium so not good
for blood pressure.

The softened water feels soft and is great for washing - bodies and clothes
etc.
"bs"  wrote in message
news:2MqdnSoAOp7Q3fzfRVnytQ@brightview.com...

> I live in hard water area and I am thinking of getting a water
softener.....
> the type that uses salt.
> To keep this short....I would not be able to take an "untreated" pipe to
my
> kitchen sink.
>
> SO I/we would have to drink the processed  "soft" water.
>
> Would this be ok........from a safety and taste point of view?
>
> Not too much info out there on the net on this specific area. I would love
> the joys of kettles that didn't fur up...lots of soapy suds and chrome
taps
> that don't look tatty after a while.........ah!!!! I hate hard water!
>
> But can I drink the soft stuff
>
>
> thanks
>
> Barry
> -- 
>
>
> ---------------------------------------------------------------------
> "Are you still wasting your time with spam?...
> There is a solution!"
>
> Protected by GIANT Company's Spam Inspector
> The most powerful anti-spam software available.
> http://mail.spaminspector.com
>
>
>

"bs"  wrote in message 
news:2MqdnSoAOp7Q3fzfRVnytQ@brightview.com...

>I live in hard water area and I am thinking of getting a water 
>softener..... the type that uses salt.
> To keep this short....I would not be able to take an "untreated" pipe to 
> my kitchen sink.
>
> SO I/we would have to drink the processed  "soft" water.
>
> Would this be ok........from a safety and taste point of view?
>
> Not too much info out there on the net on this specific area. I would love 
> the joys of kettles that didn't fur up...lots of soapy suds and chrome 
> taps that don't look tatty after a while.........ah!!!! I hate hard water!
>
> But can I drink the soft stuff
>
>
> thanks
>
> Barry
> -- 
>
>
> ---------------------------------------------------------------------
> "Are you still wasting your time with spam?...
> There is a solution!"
>
> Protected by GIANT Company's Spam Inspector
> The most powerful anti-spam software available.
> http://mail.spaminspector.com
>
>
>

It's normal to have a little tap fitted to your sink to give you untreated 
water, this is normally tee'd of from your existing pipe work before the 
bypass plumbing is added so I doubt would take up any more room.

I did drink softend water for a couple of years, didn't notice any problems 
but it's not recomended.