Reducing water hardness to prevent scale buildup

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stoobloo

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I have a hot water cylinder, the immersion has failed twice already and out of good will they've replaced it. I live in a hard water area total hardness (330ppl) and ultimately the warranty of my cylinder, as well as most manufacturers have terms to the effect of 'must be below 220-270ppl'.

How can I reduce this hardness, without using a salt using water softener?
 
JohnD said:
Move house.

Why don't you want a softener?
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Due to family, I can't move house.
Softeners are expensive to have fitted, take up significant cupboard space which we can ill afford, plus the ongoing cost of filling it with salt. They also need replacing every so many years.
 
stoobloo said:
Due to family, I can't move house.
Softeners are expensive to have fitted, take up significant cupboard space which we can ill afford, plus the ongoing cost of filling it with salt. They also need replacing every so many years.
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they work.

nothing else does.

are as easy to fit as a washing machine, but not as big.

Mine is in the garage as that's where the watermain comes in. I suppose it could go in a corner of the kitchen, with a lift-up worktop to refill it, and something, like an appliance on rollers, next to it for access every ten or fifteen years when it needs servicing.

Once you have had one you will not want to be without it. Laundry, skin, hair, shaving, house cleaning, all easier. Think of the money you will save on descalers and lime cleaners. Your washing powder use will halve. your mirrors and shower screen will sponge clean. Your towels will work. tea will taste better.
 
garygooner said:
aquabion are good but ridiculous price
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I've fitted a few now and I'm not very impressed over the duration.

Lots more criteria now been added to speccing and installing... Starting to sound like a cop-out.
Boil taps are a no-go so can see elements not far behind.
 
Our Harveys unit is 10 years old. Never missed a beat and the cost of salt isn't that high compared to the price of limelight and the hours to remove the mess that hard water produces.

Buy once , buy wisely
 
Ok the ones I fitted customers said they were good .(n w london areas) but what they cost you be better off with softner probably same price. 22mm was £500 ish.
 
It was not an Aquabion, but same sort of thing we had fitted as part of our first combi install (as required by the manufacturer).
After a quite a few years with various boiler breakdowns, the boiler started kettling, the heat exchanger was scaled up and pinholed.

The Vaillant tech suggested a new boiler and fitting a water softener to stop it happening again .

When the water softener was installed, we discovered that we had been very, very lucky as the anti-scale device looked OK on the outside, but was totally rusted inside and was perilously close to creating a flood on the mains incoming pipe, which (due to the cranky layout of our house) was directly above the electric meter cupboard.
If you have one fitted, be very careful where you put it.

Our water softener came with us when we moved.
 
A water softener is the only way to reduce water hardness. My last water softener lasted 28 years and was serviced only once in that time. I now have a Minimax M3 made by Harveys and it fits easily into a kitchen cabinet with room to spare.
 
garygooner said:
aquabion are good but ridiculous price
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stoobloo said:
Rather their price than a water softener install.Have you used them yourself?
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dilalio said:
I've fitted a few now and I'm not very impressed over the duration.

Lots more criteria now been added to speccing and installing... Starting to sound like a cop-out.
Boil taps are a no-go so can see elements not far behind.
Click to expand...
I'm not impressed either. I've had a definite fail and Aquabion pretty much thobed me off.
 
JohnD said:
tea will taste better.
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SWMBO (and our granddaughter) would strongly disagree with that and both also dislike the taste of softened water here. I have to (re)fill plastic bottles with water for tea making and in the fridge for drinking.

In the UK it's usual to have a drinking water tap in the kitchen that is not softened, but ours was retrofitted after the house was built and the main incomer is in the garage, but kitchen is many 10s of metres away with no easy route for another pipe to be run.

Our Harveys softener failed within its 10 year warranty and was fixed for free by the original installer (even though we were second owner). Effectively completely rebuilt. Which reminds me - I must re-order salt blocks from him!
 
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