Softened water

Last post 02-05-2006 11:23 AM by sue1002. 5 replies.

• 27/04/2006 04:11 PM
  bogweevil Location: Joined on: 02 Mar 2004 Posts: 2,766	Reply | Contact Everyone says that softened water will damage soil structure if used in the garden - is this really true? Beware the bat-eared bogweevil

• 27/04/2006 05:11 PM

  In reply to

  sue1002 Location: Ipswich, Suffolk Joined on: 06 Sep 2005 Posts: 9,505

  Reply | Contact Don't know about changing the soil structure but [url=http://www.britishwater.co.uk]www.britishwater.co.uk[/url] quotes "Q [i]Do plants like hard or softened water? [/i]A It is worth checking with your local garden centre. The level of sodium in softened water may be harmful to some plants. Most indoor plants usually prefer rainwater to tap water. It is an unnecessary waste of softened water to use it to supply a garden hose." Rainwater is soft as opposed to our hard tap water and the plants grow better when watered with rainwater. When you think of all the added stuff in our tap water its no wonder they grow better with rainwater. I always use a water filter for drinking water (I can tell the difference between filtered and ordinary tap water in my tea) and one bonus is that the kettle never needs descaling! sue1002

• 01/05/2006 09:47 AM

  In reply to

  Digger Location: Northern UK Joined on: 18 Jul 2005 Posts: 5,230

  Reply | Contact Hi Sue1002, The tap water around here is very soft and no one suffers from "scale" i have seen many products advertised that get rid of "scale". does this scale make the water taste funny? i have only ever seen it once back in 91 just before the gulf war i was at henlow camp in Hertfordshire and i remember taking the lid off the kettle to fill it with water and inside the kettle it looked as though something was growing in there, i dropped the kettle and shrieked in horror, but everyone was laughing saying that it is limescale and it happens everywhere. This encounter put me off using the local water supply and i bought bottled water to brew up with, surely this horrible thing that grows inside appliances is not good for you is it? what happens if you water your seedlings with it? to see it is gross, and it freaked me out for many months afterwards, maybe that scale stuff grows on peoples insides when they drink the water? don't drink it sue1002 and don't let the dogs drink it, if it happens all over the south of England maybe the pipeline from us in the north is a real solution? bye for now my friend. digger Sage of the fells

• 02/05/2006 09:49 AM

  In reply to

  sue1002 Location: Ipswich, Suffolk Joined on: 06 Sep 2005 Posts: 9,505

  Reply | Contact Hi Digger, yes the limescale in the water does taste funny, before I started filtering my drinking water I didn't really notice it that much. Sometimes OH will fill the kettle up with tap water and the tea has a film floating on the top of it. I've never really thought about what happens to your insides though. I did read somewhere about filtering water for pets and apparently it is not advisable, so the dogs drink it straight from the tap, and the water I use in the kettle and for cooking is always filtered. The hard water around here really clogs up the washing machine and when we got a new one last year I was talking to one of the girls up the school saying that I was thinking about using Calgon but I wasn't impressed by the price of it. She had recently had an engineer out for her washing machine and he told her that soda crystals do exactly the same job, so I have been using them with every wash. sue1002

• 02/05/2006 10:45 AM

  In reply to

  Digger Location: Northern UK Joined on: 18 Jul 2005 Posts: 5,230

  Reply | Contact Hi sue1002, Would it be too much trouble to use the launderette? i know it is more convenient to have your own machine but they cost a lot,how long does a washine machine last in your neck of the woods? we have had a washing machine for a good five years and although its a bit bashed and battered it still works! it must be a terrible pain having to deal with limescale does it clog up the taps?. our water comes through limestone hills to get to the reservoir but we never have limescale. A few people that i know from around here have their own supply from boreholes or streams. Although a beck runs by the allotment and the water is sweet in fact at the veg show last year i put a table display of veg and made a sign saying "these plants are irrigated with crystal clear water, from a natural stream which has it's source in the snow fed pennine mountains" and lots of people were interested, water is perhaps the only thing we have an abundance of in these parts hereabouts. digger Sage of the fells

• 02/05/2006 11:23 AM

  In reply to

  sue1002 Location: Ipswich, Suffolk Joined on: 06 Sep 2005 Posts: 9,505

  Reply | Contact Hi Digger, if I used the launderette I would be living down there, the washing machine is in use every day and sometimes can do two washes a day, my one (£450) lasted for five years, it packed up with a load in it, the one before that was 7 years old, so when we bought a new one last year we got a cheaper one (£250). They just don't make things to last these days. Last year was a really expensive year for us, it was the first bank holiday in May when the washing machine packed up, two weeks later the TV blew up and a week later the fridge freezer went. Everything was around 5 years old. The next thing likely to go would be the dishwasher as that is coming up to the same age, but instead the gas cooker (only 3 years old) decided it didn't like the battery ignition any more, whenever I put a new battery in it, the battery would last a couple of days and give up the ghost, each time I took the battery out the casing on it had bubbled so have had to resort to using a lighter for the last few months. We picked up a new dishwasher at the weekend and a new cooker is coming today (courtesy of the pups). This time the cooker is mains ignition so we don't have the same problem, I have always preferred cooking with gas than electric. The taps do get limescale, more so on the hot one than the cold, and am forever having to clean it off. sue1002