Hard vs. Soft Water

[Zee09]

If you have experience with both like a vacation house vs a regular home, can you tell the difference.
Like the feel, texture and smell etc.
I am not talking about scale issues etc.
Like showering, car washing and so on.
I have my own thoughts, what about you?
Compare natural hard vs soft with no treatment. Also, my experience is with well water.

Please no posts that we have medication for that etc. as we all have already heard that before. lol

 

[walterjay]

I like water that is naturally soft. In the 1-2 grains per gallon range. I despise water that has been softened by water conditioning to the range of 0 hardness. I have no use also for hard water which would be over 7 grains per gallon. Thankfully mine is naturally soft with no odor and taste good. I do however have to correct the ph of 5.7 to 7.0

 

[Zee09]

I like water that is naturally soft. In the 1-2 grains per gallon range. I despise water that has been softened by water conditioning to the range of 0 hardness. I have no use also for hard water which would be over 7 grains per gallon. Thankfully mine is naturally soft with no odor and taste good. I do however have to correct the ph of 5.7 to 7.0

Not too far away from you our water is hard as a rock.... Interesting....

 

[I<3oil]

Can absolutely tell a difference betwixt them. The feel is definitely one area the other is after getting out of the shower or bath, skin feels dry and almost itchy a little bit with hard water. Sometimes also feels like you didn't get all the soap rinsed off of you and it dried. Hard water ftl.

 

[billt460]

Out here soft water is an absolute must. Unless you want dents in your car when you rinse it.

 

[BrianF]

Absolutely there is a difference. For instance, our acreage has hard water and we use a water softener to help. You can tell when it's either not working or out of salt. You start to lather up in the shower and its instantly evident.

The town my work is based in used to have hard water and then it for some reason had to go all RO water. Massive difference in feel, taste and ability to not corrode things.

 

[Pablo]

Our mountain water feels fine but is hard enough to leave long term Ca and some Mg build up on sink spigots mostly. Ours is a shallow well and I started to not trust bacteria and other living critters. PLUS as a bonus, there is some S in some form, coming from who knows where. I can smell it only at the last sink upstairs ONLY in the run. H2S is like that. There are no chunks or sediment, etc so I don't need a whole house pre-filter.

So I added a softener, air injector and whole house UV light. I use KCl instead of NaCl. It's not perfect, but not too slimy, just use much less soap which is a bonus. So a tiny bit more K at the taps, rather than Na - plus good for plants and our septic system leach mound. In the DW we just use low cost citric acid instead of rinse aid. Perfect!

Then for drinking we have a RO tap. The water tastes awesome.

 

[walterjay]

Not too far away from you our water is hard as a rock.... Interesting....

I worked for years with wells and water treatment. I remember one case where the wells were only 60 feet apart. Incredbly different water out of each one.

 

[skyactiv]

My first house, now my younger sisters, uses city water and sewer. That water is hard.

On the other hand, my parents home in the Toledo suburb sources its water from Lake Erie and is soft for city water. They don't use a softener or filter.

My current home is on well and septic. My water is far from being free with the hydrogen peroxide, resin and salt. It is actually very high quality and not the stinky sucky well water most people think of. It's cheaper than a water bill but not a cheap setup where you simply dump salt and all is well.

 

[walterjay]

I had customers with poor water quality ask me if drilling a new well would solve their problem. I always told them they would either get better water, the same water, or worse water. How lucky do you feel today...

 

[Pablo]

My first house, now my younger sisters, uses city water and sewer. That water is hard.

On the other hand, my parents home in the Toledo suburb sources its water from Lake Erie and is soft for city water. They don't use a softener or filter.

My current home is on well and septic. My water is far from being free with the hydrogen peroxide, resin and salt. It is actually very high quality and not the stinky sucky well water most people think of. It's cheaper than a water bill but not a cheap setup where you simply dump salt and all is well.

H2O2 for????

 

[kschachn]

H2O2 for????

It would be used as a disinfectant. Maybe a shallow well where bacterial contamination is a concern.

 

[Zee09]

I worked for years with wells and water treatment. I remember one case where the wells were only 60 feet apart. Incredbly different water out of each one.

I have two houses about 150 yards apart with a creek that separates them. One well got an acceptable gpm at 300 feet and the other was over 700 feet.. Funny drilling got cheaper as time went on. In 1999 it was $13 a foot and not too long ago it was a good bit cheaper..same company and no obstructions etc

 

[Zee09]

I had customers with poor water quality ask me if drilling a new well would solve their problem. I always told them they would either get better water, the same water, or worse water. How lucky do you feel today...

My guy was honest too. He wrote the Cecil county regulations etc. Straight up no bs.

 

[PimTac]

Yes there is a difference.

 

[JustinH]

Texas hill country where I live, you can tell as soon as you get in the shower. Soap does not lather up all that well.

When I spend a week in NY with soft water I can tell from the later right away.

 

[2strokeNorthstar]

I cant personally, you didn't want to hear about the scale or build up which is my only complaint.

 

[ecotourist]

On our farm we had a hand dug well - maybe 20' deep. Excellent tasting but hard water. We never had running water and I was only a kid so I don't remember much about it.

In the small town I grew up in the town water system used very hard well water. It had a bad smell, left a heavy scum in the bathtub, and never seemed to get your hair very clean. My mother used rain water and melted snow to wash clothes.

Where we live now the water is so soft it leaves almost no "water spots" on a washed car. Excellent for showering. Uses very little soap.

So yes there is a difference. A big difference.

 

[kschachn]

Harness is relative, where I live the hardness is in excess of 30 grains. There is no way I’m subjecting my plumbing, fixtures, hot water heater and myself to that abuse. A softener is necessary for me without question.

A different place we lived in had a hardness of 5 grains or so, that was tolerable I guess. And when we had Lake Michigan water there was no hardness to speak of and consequently no deposits on our fixtures.

 

[Zee09]

On our farm we had a hand dug well - maybe 20' deep. Excellent tasting but hard water. We never had running water and I was only a kid so I don't remember much about it.

In the small town I grew up in the town water system used very hard well water. It had a bad smell, left a heavy scum in the bathtub, and never seemed to get your hair very clean. My mother used rain water and melted snow to wash clothes.

Where we live now the water is so soft it leaves almost no "water spots" on a washed car. Excellent for showering. Uses very little soap.

So yes there is a difference. A big difference.

Yeah my water leaves nasty light gray water stains and I no longer wash my car with it.