Water
I decided to jump ahead a bit and populate this section of the blog as I am really excited at a solution that we have found to very hard water. We have been testing it for a little over a month.
We recently moved to Desert Hot Springs California which is just about 15 miles from downtown Palm Springs. Yes we know its hot this time of year!! But its a “dry heat”.
I have always loved this area. But one of the first things we noted when we moved here was how really awful the water was. Pretty much the water is very hard all over the southwest. It practically foams when you turn on the faucet and using a TDS meter (total dissolved solids) it shows that the water here has a huge number of dissolved minerals. It is after all Desert Hot Springs and it is known for its mineral hot springs. There are hotels all over the place advertising that their pools are fed by natural hot mineral springs.
Well that is nice and all, but try to take a shower in it or drink the water and you quickly discover that suds are almost non existent and the water really does not taste very good.
So we researched and researched and decided to purchase an “On The Go” water softener double size. To the left is a picture of our set up.
Note a couple of things:(click on these pictures to enlarge them into a separate window}
- We put quick connect fixtures on everything accept the outflow to the motorhome to make it easy to do the regen process and to pack it up.
- we have a carbon sediment filter going into the softner.
- You can’t see it but there is also another sediment filter inside the motorhome,
- We put a simple digital water meter on the outflow before going into the motorhome.
Our conclusions:
- The difference is amazing. Water+ soap= suds! The softener lowers the dissolved solids by 1/3 and removes most of the minerals that make the water “hard” .
- No more corrosive rings around the sink and faucets from standing water that evaporates.
- The water tastes good and makes great coffee!
- We are glad that we are saving our plumbing from the affects that hard water can have on it over time such as build up of scale and deterioration of seals on toilets, valves and our water pump when we fill the water tank.
- We contacted the company who makes and distributes the “On The Go” product and the service was excellent. He took a great deal of time answering all our questions and helping us understand how the water softener works.(its kind of complicated)
- Maintenance is a breeze. It takes about 1/2 hour to regenerate the softener using two boxes of common table salt. We do this every 2 1/2 weeks or so. Actual time working on it is about 5 minutes. You have to wait for it to do its thing for about 1/2 hour.
- The frequency of regeneration depends on the hardness of your water and how much water you use.
- This product is an excellent value at about $300. including shipping. The additional hardware would be about $50 more.(we opted for the brass fittings)
Recommendation: We highly recommend this product. You can purchase it on Amazon.
