House Soft water system question..

[Scubabum]

I have really hard water where I live and was thinking of having a soft water system installed on my house. Any problem running the soft water through the RO/DI or should I have a bypass installed? Thanks in advance.

 

[tripdad]

That's how mine is set up, have no complaints. Filter and di resin life is similar to a previous residence without softener.

 

[dbl]

It's actually better to use a softener before your RODI unit. It acts as a pretreatment for the RO and will extend the life of your membrane.

 

[MnFish1]

It's actually better to use a softener before your RODI unit. It acts as a pretreatment for the RO and will extend the life of your membrane.

I thought a water softener just exchanges Ca/Mg, etc in 'hard water' for sodium - the same TDS would be present in the original tap water and the 'soft water' no?

 

[dbl]

I thought a water softener just exchanges Ca/Mg, etc in 'hard water' for sodium - the same TDS would be present in the original tap water and the 'soft water' no?

Here is my understanding. The softener adds sodium or potassium as it removes the calcium and magnesium. Your TDS may in fact go up slightly. But it's easier on the membrane as they are designed to remove the salts.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

The DI will deplete a bit faster using the softener (because the membrane rejects calcium and magnesium better than sodium), but the membrane may last longer since calcium carbonate deposits on it is a frequent failure mode. So using the softener first is usually recommended.

 

[Scubabum]

Thanks everyone. Appreciate the responses.