The Salt Free Water Softener ExperimentThe Septic Advantage
As a guy who sells water treatment equipment including salt-using water softeners of all stripes, I often get asked about the impacts of brine discharge to a septic system. While I don't have any statistics at my fingertips, my experience suggests that a higher percentage of water softener purchasers are rural dwellers as compared to city dwellers. As such, they have a septic system that handles their sewage. I live in a city so I just flush and forget but I can imagine that upsetting your sewage system is not something you really want to do.
In the water treatment industry their is much discussion about whether the brine discharge from a water softener can negatively impact a septic system. As you can probably guess, the water treatment industry consensus is that a water softener really doesn't do much to harm a septic bed. Of course, when a septic system fails and a water softener is present, you can guess who the septic guys point the finger at.
So, why bother mentioning this on the salt free blog? Well, no salt, no controversy. Just another reason that I'm hopeful that this technology meets all expectations.
For a more comprehensive overview of this controversy you can read this interesting article: click here.
Comments
Water "treatment" or "conditioning"
Since getting into the water industry and by that I mean professional treatment operations for drinking water I have been perplexed by the lack of education our society has when it comes to the basics of life, i.e. water. I struggle as a business owner with the plumbers, conditioning companies and people who claim to have magiocal powers over hard water to teach people that water treatment and water conditioning are not the same thing though they are connected in a strange sort of way. To say a softner is water treatment is incorrect as to say the flocculation process is water conditioning. Though flocculation does condition the water to some degree it is water treatment and though softening is a part of water treatment it is however water conditioning. Ergo the many problems ensuing with softeners and the other products out there to give hope to people that their water is somehow safe to drink! It will be a long process and I hope that I can be a part of that process in the very near future!!--C.K. Water operation dept
Septic tank in salt softener system
I used to have a salt based ion exchange water softener.Effluent into the septic tank
I opened the lid of the septic tank and found the concrete on the inside very much destroyed, mushy
like fungus. Which makes me believe that a concrete septic tank will be destroyed in time when exposed to salt.
New Old Home in the Country
Minnesota residents coming from Oregon:
We are new to Minnesota and have been here 5 years., Since being here all of the homes we have lived in have Salt softners and having grown up on an island in the Caribbean were taught not to consume salted water for a miriad of reasons, so consuming water from a softner that uses salt to soften seems redundant but has been done here for sooooo long I guess its all right. Well our health has gone down hill over the last 5 years and yes we are both over 4o and 2 kids 6 and 8 we just want to make sure we are not damaging right kidneys and getting in to more health negativity as we and the kids grow older. Need advice and help as to if this issue is valid. Well back to the start, just moved in to a new home in the country and added a new septic to be code. After reading this last post we are concerned our septic may go the same direction. We are on a new well as well and hate to think that salt from our softner is going right back in to the water table for re consumption.
Bob
lovey@teleport.com