Well water and kitchen use

[Mozart]

I am currently building a new house on our farm and have to make plumbing decisions. We will be getting a water softener due to the mineral content of the water.

My plumber says he can set up the faucets so that when you are using cold water it will be “unsoftened” . I am going to do that with the main faucet over the sink and the laundry room sink (for dog drinking water)

I will also have a pot filler tap. Can you boil pasta and other food in softened water? It is just salt, right? (Hopefully this is sufficiently farm related for this forum…:uhoh:)

TIA!

[Ticker]

We put 2 inline filters on our cold unsoftened water tap.

We don’t use any softened water during food preparation. just in case there could be a cumulative issue.

[atr]

I’d also run the unsoftened water to the pot filler at this point.

Our water is pretty high in mineral content. We have two inline filters, but ours are at the point that the water comes into the house, so prior to the softener and the kitchen lines–in our case, cold kitchen sink and fridge water. The fridge has an additional built in filter for the cold water and ice.

[whitney159]

We have a whole house softener, but a reverse osmosis filter at the kitchen sink we use for drinking and cooking.

[2DogsFarm]

I’d use the softener for both kitchen taps - hot & cold.
When my old softener failed the rust that built up & stained my kitchen sink was evidence of how much the softener helped.
The sink I added to the Master Bath in my original rehab was not plumbed correctly so it has only unsoftened water & the corrosion to the brushed nickel drain is unsightly & irreversible.
If I did not have to tear out tile this would be corrected, as it is I live with the discolored drain.

[moving_to_dc]

If the water is really hard, I think you will regret not using softened water EVERYWHERE in the house.

Unsoftened water is going to leave NASTY clogging build up on toilets, faucets, sinks, EVERYWHERE. It might also be discolored and smell like rotten eggs if you have a high sulfur content. It will also stain your clothes as you wash them. Heck, my un-softened sprinkler system in Oklahoma even stained the OUTSIDE of my brick house!

I don’t know why anyone would want to leave the cold water untreated…

The only water that bypasses the softener is outside spigots - hydrants - and sprinkler systems.

[Jim_in_PA]

A lot of folks handle water for the kitchen that way…I know I would if I had the choice. One thing I’ll suggest is that your plumber not use copper for this purpose…go with PEX. Even with a softener and other treatment, any hint of acid will ultimately damage copper pipes. And in new construction, PEX is a dream…it’s like running cables through the walls and because things are typically “home run” to a manifold, you have a lot more control for turning off things when maintenance requires it.

If there is any taste/odor as 'moving mentions, a charcoal filter at the kitchen sink can be used to mitigate.

[roseymare]

As far as health and concern about sodium in softened water, the flip side is hard water can be problematic for those who suffer from kidney stones, or animals with bladder stones.

[pluvinel]

[QUOTE=roseymare;8858069]
…the flip side is hard water can be problematic for those who suffer from kidney stones, or animals with bladder stones.[/QUOTE]

The flip-flip side is that you don’t need mineral blocks if you have water with lots of minerals in it.

I would recommend doing a water analysis on the well water and using those results for determining how to treat.

[Mozart]

Thanks for the suggestions. Having lived on this site for 4 years with no water softener I know we need one, it is clear from the stains. The issue is that you need a source of unsoftened water for drinking water, both human and pet, and for watering plants . What I am struggling with is… where?

Dog bowls will be in the mudroom and laundry sink is adjacent so it would be handy there. I think I need a source somewhere in the kitchen for drinking water.

Plumber (who is using PEX by the way) initially suggested the reverse osmosis in addition to water softener and I like that idea but DH is balking. Plumber’s alternate suggestion is having a tap that, when you turn to the cold side, will produce unsoftened water. This would only be used for drinking water but I suppose that we would also use cold water for rinsing produce. I don’t want the staining but I also don’t want to walk to the laundry room for drink of water. See my dilemma? Realistically though, nobody likes to drink the well water because of the taste, we drink bottled water from a water cooler. But sometimes we run out and have to drink well water

I also wonder if I need an unsoftened source for the pot filler. Is it safe to use softened water for cooking? Maybe I should make that the only unsoftened source? (other than laundry room)

Welcome to Overthinking Every Detail, the Home Builder’s edition.

[OTTBs]

[QUOTE=Mozart;8858948]
Realistically though, nobody likes to drink the well water because of the taste, we drink bottled water from a water cooler. But sometimes we run out and have to drink well water
[/QUOTE]Do you have a whole house water filter, or even just one for the sink? If so, what kind of filter do you use in it? Because I just found out, after over a year living on well water, that you should NOT use the pleated filters with well water. I knew some kind of bacteria could attack the cellulose filters, but didn’t know it was actually not recommended to use the pleated filters. I’m using string wound filters now, they last a lot longer before getting black and my shower doesn’t smell “poopy” anymore.

[allons-y]

Well (haha), I guess I’m living in LaLa land. I have well water, no filters, havent analyzed it… No staining, sweet, clean looking, pure tasting, no odor… never even thought about it other than “it’s free! mostly”.

I come from central florida where wells are used for lawn sprinklers, and stink stink stink from sulfur. We tried to fill our pool, thinking the Chlorine would fix it right up. WRONG It was a horrible, slimy, stinking, yellow mess.

I love my well here in Mississippi. I know theres no fluoride for grandbabies teeth, but some think nowadays thats not a good idea anyway.

[Jim_in_PA]

“Ideally” we would be able to just enjoy well water the way it comes out of the ground. Where I grew up in NE PA, the well water was fabulous. Here where I am in SE PA, there’s no issue with taste, but because of underlying limestone deposits, our water is a bit acidic and we also have some significant sediment that originates in our well. (268’ deep) We filter for sediment and the drinking water dispenser in the fridge has a charcoal filter, too. We’ve chosen not to soften, acid reduce and even filter beyond sediment because we like our water’s taste and how it works with soap/detergents. But we pay a price with its effect on our copper pipes accordingly.

[cayuse]

We have used softened water for cooking for years and we’re still standing. I would not use my water unfiltered for any purpose, it’s nasty!

[whbar158]

We had a whole house softener in Tucson. Without it the water was way too gross to drink! I honestly had not heard of any issues of cooking and drinking softened water. My parents have a well (in NC) with semi hard water and their water tastes fine and doesn’t leave too many hard water stains especially compared with our water in Tucson. Our water here in Georgia is semi hard but nothing crazy and we don’t treat it. IMO if it’s bad enough you need a whole house softener the water won’t taste great to drink untreated.

[Mozart]

[QUOTE=OTTBs;8859461]
Do you have a whole house water filter, or even just one for the sink? If so, what kind of filter do you use in it? Because I just found out, after over a year living on well water, that you should NOT use the pleated filters with well water. I knew some kind of bacteria could attack the cellulose filters, but didn’t know it was actually not recommended to use the pleated filters. I’m using string wound filters now, they last a lot longer before getting black and my shower doesn’t smell “poopy” anymore.[/QUOTE]

We are currently living with and using water direct from the well, no filtering and no softener. But I will keep your comments in mind if we end up using a filter.

[Mozart]

I thank everyone for their comments and insight. At our last house, about 20 miles away, iron was the big issue. Here is seems lime and calcium are the big issues. There is a bit of rust staining here too but not as bad as the last house.

Current plan:

Laundry room faucet (from which I will be getting the dogs’ drinking water) will have direct line only for the cold water, hot water will be softened.

Kitchen faucet: softened water only (because I think even cold water use for rinsing produce will be significant) but there will be an unsoftened beverage faucet for drinking water. We are looking into an inline filter for that line alone, maybe with a filter it will be drinkable and we can forgo the bottled water.

Pot filler: I am now waffling on even having one as it can’t be wall mounted (exterior wall, we live in very cold climate) and I wonder if it will take up too much precious counter space. The whole point of a pot filler was so that I did not have to carry a big pot of water back and forth from a sink but the sink is in he island immediately opposite the cook top so do I even really want/need one? If I get one, it will be softened water.

Decisions, decisions!

[Pennywell_Bay]

We have water softener through out the whole house (our water is freaking terrible and you can taste it in the unsoftened and nonfiltered barn water. Blech).

We use filters on our refrigerator and kitchen faucet (when we remember). Considering the bog dogs lived until 15 in this set-up- hopefully cumulative effect is not a worry.

[Jim_in_PA]

[QUOTE=Mozart;8866318]

Pot filler: I am now waffling on even having one as it can’t be wall mounted (exterior wall, we live in very cold climate) and I wonder if it will take up too much precious counter space. The whole point of a pot filler was so that I did not have to carry a big pot of water back and forth from a sink but the sink is in he island immediately opposite the cook top so do I even really want/need one? If I get one, it will be softened water.
Decisions, decisions![/QUOTE]

To this day, I’m sorry I didn’t put in a pot filler when I was renovating our kitchen back in 2003. While I understand your concern about an outside wall, with care and closed cell foam insulation, you don’t have to rule out a pipe in that location if you really want/need it. It’s a matter of taking care during insulation to insure that exterior freezing temps don’t reach the pipe.

[danacat]

[QUOTE=whitney159;8857409]
We have a whole house softener, but a reverse osmosis filter at the kitchen sink we use for drinking and cooking.[/QUOTE]

DITTO. Love it.