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Should water softener lower tds?

sjwhite

Member
Messages
37
Location
London
Hi my water from the tap is reading 190 it then goes through a sediment filter, carbon filter and a water softener vessel before 40/40 RO, but its still reading the same tds levels before the ro.

Tds after ro is 10 and the ro waste tds is reading 390.

Do the readings sound about right or do I need to change anything?

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Sounds decent enough, a softener won't lower TDS it just aids in protecting a RO in very hard water areas, with your tap TDS you orob don't need a softner tbf.

 
I'm curious why you would go to the added expense of a water softener when your water isn't that bad. In a town near us their water is from boreholes and their tap tds is around 550. That's water softener territory.

Exactly why they call it a water softener is beyond me as it doesn't change the tds of the water as @Trev81 has stated. What it does is remove the calcium and magnesium ions from the water (this is what causes the hardness) and replace them with sodium ions.

Its the calcium and magnesium in the water that is hard on membranes whereas sodium is more gentle.

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No chaps, definitely not God.

When we were visiting friends down south about 10 years ago, they also got a visitor (friend) from Milton Keynes whose business was supplying and fitting water softeners. This was in the early days of wfp and r/o's for us, so I asked the question if we could use a water softener to replace our r/o. The reason behind this was that our r/o was a 225GPD and was very slow. I was looking for a cost effective (cheap) alternative. (In those days the next step up was 3 x 100GPD membrane upgrade which I didn't think much of. 150GPD membranes weren't available at the time from RoMan and they were my only known r/o component supplier back then. 4040's were the next step after a Merlin (didn't want that) but they were much more expensive than they are now and I felt that it was like going from a 1 tonne pickup to a 150t dump truck.)

His immediate response was no and explained what it did as opposed to how an r/o works.

So this info was the result of a simple question at the right time directed to the right person.

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No chaps, definitely not God.
When we were visiting friends down south about 10 years ago, they also got a visitor (friend) from Milton Keynes whose business was supplying and fitting water softeners. This was in the early days of wfp and r/o's for us, so I asked the question if we could use a water softener to replace our r/o. The reason behind this was that our r/o was a 225GPD and was very slow. I was looking for a cost effective (cheap) alternative. (In those days the next step up was 3 x 100GPD membrane upgrade which I didn't think much of. 150GPD membranes weren't available at the time from RoMan and they were my only known r/o component supplier back then. 4040's were the next step after a Merlin (didn't want that) but they were much more expensive than they are now and I felt that it was like going from a 1 tonne pickup to a 150t dump truck.)

His immediate response was no and explained what it did as opposed to how an r/o works.

So this info was the result of a simple question at the right time directed to the right person.

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You sure know your stuff Mr. Spruce :thumbsup:

 
You sure know your stuff Mr. Spruce :thumbsup:
Thanks @steve garwood for your kind comments./emoticons/smile.png

In comparison to the likes of Alex Gardiner, Doug Atkinson and a few others I know very little. As I've often said, what they have forgotten I still have to learn; and possibly will never learn.

Personally, I'm just glad I can still be of help in my own way. I'm not able to do the same amount of work as I used to be able to do (age and health) so the least I can do is pass on my experience to others; the next generation of windies you might say.

There are a few of us windies in town who draw on each others help and experiences as well, so I probably receive more than I give, especially in the form of encouragement to keep going. But it's my experience and may not be what others experience.

I believe we all need each other to push us forward. We are stronger as a collective.

I'm also very grateful for forums such as this as there are always little tips that come our way that I might have rejected outright. I'm a devil for being a creature of habit which isn't a good thing when it comes to finding new ways of doing things. I don't have experience with electric hose reels so look to those (@Green Pro Clean Ltd and @Damo for example) who have them and watch with interest how they get on with them. (I'm looking forward to the next phase of @Damo 's roller system.)

I don't have experience with having your work on the cloud and that scares me to death as does the thought of being able to take card payments at the door.

I had one of my customers persuade me to link my phone to my bank account. Honestly, I was not happy about doing that. Now she 'pings' me the window cleaning money. Unfortunately I'm an old man in a young person's technology world./emoticons/sad.png

Years ago I tried to get people to pay me via bacs, with limited success. A young couple who have recently started up have been pushing this successfully so I have renewed enthusiasm to push this. I have quite a number paying me this way now which is great.

As I say, I probably get more than I receive.

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Last edited by a moderator:
Your posts Spruce have help me no End read plenty of them enjoyed every one always to the point and explained in such a way that even I can understand.

Keep up the great work.

 
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