Water softeners

[mocruising]

Does any one use a water softener on board if so, where did you get it and what do you replenish/fill it with. I have a spare water filter housing could I just fill it with dishwasher salt and load the water through it.

 

[nimbusgb]

Does any one use a water softener on board if so, where did you get it and what do you replenish/fill it with. I have a spare water filter housing could I just fill it with dishwasher salt and load the water through it.

You need a gel resin chamber to soften the water. Running water through dishwasher salt will just make it salty!

No reason why a domestic water softener wouldn't work perfectly well on a boat. It will soften tap/stream/well water. The one I fitted at home has a glassfibre treatment cylinder with an all plastic/nylon control head and runs off a 12v source. Would last a lifetime even at sea.

This subject came up a couple of years back. I know that the water in Greece in incredibly hard with the heads, tanks and pipework all suffering from calcification. My domestic unit recyles the resin every 3000 litres of water used so I would only need to do a recycle once a season if I fitted a similar unit to the boat.

Mine came from EMWC