Well water/water softener, could it cause rust?

[ryan2022]

Hi guys, I haven't had any issues, I was just wondering about the salts used in our water softener. Could it contribute to rust as opposed to city water?

We have a well, and use a softener, just wondering what your thoughts were.

I'm thinking the PPM of the salts is so minimal compared to road salt, it shouldnt cause an issue.

Just feelin' parranoid!

 

[The_Jeff]

Are you washing the outside or putting it in your radiator?

 

[ryan2022]

I'm washing the outside....although I did top up the rad with it in the summer. I should have used distilled, but the bozo at honda only sold me 1 gallon of premixed coolant so it left me short.

 

[StevieC]

Nothing to worry about... I'm on well water with a softener and no ill effects. My dad has even used it to fill his radiator.

Sleep easy.

 

[The_Jeff]

You could plumb your house with a "T" for outside spigots so the softener kicks in later. Would save salt. Might be a good way to plumb anyway, if your builder was thinking.

 

[StevieC]

Originally Posted By: eljefino
You could plumb your house with a "T" for outside spigots so the softener kicks in later. Would save salt. Might be a good way to plumb anyway, if your builder was thinking.


That's how we did it when we replaced the water system in our house a couple years ago.

We put all the toilets, and outdoor water on the water that has just been filtered and run through the iron remover, only the sinks/showers have the softened water and the reverse osmosis.

Saves a ton of salt!

 

[Chris142]

The cooling system magazines we get at the shop had an article about water a few months ago.

It said to use distilled or deionized water only. Do not use water that has been softened with salt.

 

[StevieC]

Oh we know that... Dad drives s/b's and doesn't care...

Only distilled in my truck!

 

[dishdude]

I wish I had a water softener for when I wash my car, a lot less water spots to deal with!

 

[StevieC]

Use the Mr. Clean car-wash kit. It works great and stops all hard water spots... I use this because my softener doesn't soften the garage water.

 

[ryan2022]

Thanks guys, I'm going to check my plumbing, but I'm not concerned about it now. I always like the odd plumbing project though.....maybe in the spring!

 

[dishdude]

Originally Posted By: StevieC
Use the Mr. Clean car-wash kit. It works great and stops all hard water spots... I use this because my softener doesn't soften the garage water.


I have one, and it does work great. Tried it first on a black car and I was amazed! That sold me on it.

 

[StevieC]

I use it on my Austin Mini and my VW Cabriolet because they are both convertible and would leak like crazy if I took them through a pressure car wash... It always leaves the cars dry, and because my water is soft already it never needs a filter change.

 

[Gary Allan]

Quote:
It said to use distilled or deionized water only.



DI water has even more salt than water that's just softened. They, at least in commercial usage (boilers), use the same brine soak to regenerate the resin.

What you won't have is any acid in the water with a DI system ..if by chance your ground water has acid content after you've extracted the opposite ions.

 

[ryan2022]

thats interesting to know!

I havent had the PH of the well tested, might be interesting. I've got testing strips, I should dig them out.

 

[StevieC]

C-rappy tire carries a good water testing kit that will test for hardness, PH etc. it's near the Rain-Fresh water filter kits in the plumbing section. About $10

 

[doitmyself]

Originally Posted By: Gary Allan
Quote:
It said to use distilled or deionized water only.



DI water has even more salt than water that's just softened.



Gary, my Culligan deionizer columns at work produce water that is more pure than distilled (< 3 micromhols EC), regarding ionic mineral removal. How could DI water have more salt than softened water?


In Michigan, some of the rain water has a pH around 4.5 so our cars just melt away as we drive.

 

[crw]

How old is your house? I would strongly suspect that your outdoor spigot is not on the soft water.

I live in a part of the country with perhaps the hardest water, and it all comes from wells. Let me tell you, I would MUCH rather wash the car with soft water, except for the fact that I wouldn't want to run soft water out of the outdoor spigot for various reasons. Rust is not an issue in my opinion. With hard water, you are left with a quite a bit of calcium on the paint unless you carefully dry it with a soft towel!

When I was young my dad had hooked up hot and cold soft water to a garage faucet. He did this so that he could wash the car in the middle of winter, INSIDE the garage. Worked great!