In article >,
"Ed Pawlowski" > wrote:

> Mark Thorson wrote:

> > When I was a kid, a friend of mine across the street
> > had a water softener at his house. I always thought
> > the water tasted terrible over there. Borderline
> > undrinkable.
>
> The proper setup is to use softened water for washing, the hard water for
> drinking, but it may still need filtering of some sort.

Soft water doesn't taste any better than the hard water it was made from.

> Softened water is
> usually a bit higher in sodium content and avoided for that reason.

If it isn't a whole lot higher, than you didn't need a water softener to
begin with. Hard water just means that there is calcium and magnesium
in there. That doesn't work well with soap. The water softener simply
replaces the calcium and magnesium with sodium.

> Water should be tested to determine what is really needed. Many have a
> sediment filter as the first step to remove particulates, rust, sand, and so
> forth. The softener is designed to removed the dissolved solids. Can't say
> what the back much was, but it may have well been a buildup of gunk from
> years of use. If you get a buildup of minerals on the toilet bowls, you are
> drinking that stuff too if not removed first. That does not mean it is
> harmful though.

In fact, people used to travel far and pay a whole lot of money for
"mineral water".

--
Dan Abel
Petaluma, California USA