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I am building a home in an area that has hard water (23 grain). I will be using a water softener for the entire house and a reverse osmosis system for my drinking water. Should I install a “whole house” sediment filter before the water is put into the softener? Will this affect my water pressure? Do I need to use more than one? Any suggestions will be appreciated.
Thank You.
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If you have sediment. Seriously, if you do have sediment it will eventially clog the softener. If you put in a sediment filter and you don't have sediment you'll just have a cartridge which will last a really long time, so there's not much risk in putting one in. If you have normal, adequate pressure and your water it not especially dirty then one of the normal hardware store type 10" cartridge filters is fine. You can always upgrade to a more expensive, larger system if you discover later this doesn't work for you.
You might want your exterior hose bibs to not be on softened water. It just wastes money to water your lawn with soft water.
*P.S. If you are on a very low sodium diet, you should avoid drinking softened water. Softening replaces the calcium and magnesium ions with sodium ions. No problem for normal folks, who salt everything we eat anyway, but can be if your sodium intake is severely restricted.
*Craig,You said nothing about a well, so I am assuming that you have municipal water service. In that case, you do not need a sediment filter, in most cases. You may want to talk to some people in the immediate area and see if they ever have sediment in the water supply. If you going to have a well, that is a different issue.Water softeners have a backflush cycle that will remove any small amounts of sediment that might get in.A filter will affect the water pressure, minimally. Depends on the specifics. You do not need 2 unless you expect a high sediment load. Then it nice to be able to switch from one to the other while you clean or replace the element.Suggestions: install a whole house filter sized to meet your needs (probably one rated at 15-20 gpm). If you don't need it, as Wayne said, it will never foul and your out a few buck you didn't need to spend. Its cheap insurance for any sediment you might encounter.
*Check out http://plumbingsupply.com/
*i you have municipal water service. In that case, you do not need a sediment filter, in most cases.Good thing you said, in most cases.I lived in Seattle for a long time. In the heart of downtown. At one point I got one of those big, whole-house filter housings, and put in a string, sediment-only filters. In less than a month, the filter looked like a huge turd.I don't care where you live, if you are on municipal water, just give it a try. You may be very surprised at what shows up in your filter...After this experience, I never drank water straight from the tap again. I always filtered it through a Brita or a PÜR filter. And that was even after the water had gone through the sediment filter first...
*Like I said, in most cases. I have lived in 6 different municipalities and had one well. In none of the city water supplies did I ever see anthing other than minor particulates, usually corrosion products from the piping. Where I am now, I need a sand filter upstream of the sediment filter to get the big stuff out first, or I have to rinse out the filter cartridge monthly. Depends on the system. But the recommendation is to put in a filter. If you don't need it, maintenance is easy. If you do need it, its there.
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I am building a home in an area that has hard water (23 grain). I will be using a water softener for the entire house and a reverse osmosis system for my drinking water. Should I install a "whole house" sediment filter before the water is put into the softener? Will this affect my water pressure? Do I need to use more than one? Any suggestions will be appreciated.
Thank You.