Water softener in house plus RO filter

[mggray87]

My whole house has a water softener. It uses the salt. I bought a buckeye hydro 3 filter RO premium filter plus chloramines removal filter. Should I run this from hose on hard hard water. Or run it after my whole house filter. I have a catalytic carbon tank and a softener for whole house. I've read softeners are bad for beer. But my question is. Is it bad even with RO filter after that?

 

[VikeMan]

The reason water softeners cab be "bad" (or at least not ideal) for beer is that they replace ions like Calcium and Magnesium with (typically) Sodium. An RO filter will remove that sodium. And removing chloramines before the RO stage might extend the life of the RO membrane (or the carbon stage which I imagine your "3 filter" filter has before the RO stage).

 

[Buckeye_Hydro]

You'll want to feed the RO system water that has been pretreated by your CGAC tank and softener.
Russ

 

[Buckeye_Hydro]

Is your CGAC tank in place to deal with hydrogen sulfide (rotten egg smell)?

 

[mggray87]

Is your CGAC tank in place to deal with hydrogen sulfide (rotten egg smell)?

I'm unsure I don't get that smell. I got the catalytic carbon for chloramine removal. I think

 

[mabrungard]

Be cautious in using a carbon filter for whole-house use. Striping the disinfectant from the water can create the conditions in which biologic hazards can grow in the house's piping and faucets. It's better to remove disinfectants from water, just prior to use or consumption.

With regard to the softener, that softened water is probably better than the raw water as the feed water for the RO system. Softened water is far less likely to scale up your RO membrane. The only downgrade for using the softened water for the RO feed is that your sodium content in the finished RO water will be slightly higher ( maybe 5 ppm in most cases). That is no problem, in my opinion.

As mentioned, don't use the raw softened water for brewing. It's full of sodium (or potassium) and the desirable Ca and Mg are gone.

 

[mggray87]

Be cautious in using a carbon filter for whole-house use. Striping the disinfectant from the water can create the conditions in which biologic hazards can grow in the house's piping and faucets. It's better to remove disinfectants from water, just prior to use or consumption.

With regard to the softener, that softened water is probably better than the raw water as the feed water for the RO system. Softened water is far less likely to scale up your RO membrane. The only downgrade for using the softened water for the RO feed is that your sodium content in the finished RO water will be slightly higher ( maybe 5 ppm in most cases). That is no problem, in my opinion.

As mentioned, don't use the raw softened water for brewing. It's full of sodium (or potassium) and the desirable Ca and Mg are gone.

I just swapped it and put it post carbon and softener and now it's coming out 8-9tds after 5 gallons. Maybe it will drop more but it's way lower now. So I'll just leave it here??

 

[Buckeye_Hydro]

yes

 

[Buckeye_Hydro]

What is the diameter and the height of your cat carbon tank? Does it have a backwashing valve on top of the tank?

 

[mggray87]

What is the diameter and the height of your cat carbon tank? Does it have a backwashing valve on top of the tank?

I wanna say it is a 8" diameter x 5ft tall pentair valve on top. Auto cleans and backwashes itself every 2 weeks or so. I forgot what it's set at.

 

[Buckeye_Hydro]

So maybe a 9" x 48" (just the tank part)?

 

[Buckeye_Hydro]

That size tank holds only 1 cuft of cgac media. If we provide for adequate contact time with the cat carbon, 1 cuft will provide for:
1.5 gpm with a 5 minute empty bed contact time
2.5 gpm with a 3 minute empty bed contact time.

If I took a guess you are running water through that tank much faster than 1.5 to 2.5 gpm. What's the result? The effluent from that tank still contains chloramine.

 

[mggray87]

That size tank holds only 1 cuft of cgac media. If we provide for adequate contact time with the cat carbon, 1 cuft will provide for:
1.5 gpm with a 5 minute empty bed contact time
2.5 gpm with a 3 minute empty bed contact time.

If I took a guess you are running water through that tank much faster than 1.5 to 2.5 gpm. What's the result? The effluent from that tank still contains chloramine.

It's 10" diameter tank.

 

[Buckeye_Hydro]

A 10" x 54" tank with hold 1.5 cuft of media. If we provide for adequate contact time with the cat carbon, 1.5 cuft will provide for:
2 gpm with a 5 minute empty bed contact time
3.5 gpm with a 3 minute empty bed contact time.

Still a very very small tank for cgac and chloramines.

 

[mggray87]

A 10" x 54" tank with hold 1.5 cuft of media. If we provide for adequate contact time with the cat carbon, 1.5 cuft will provide for:
2 gpm with a 5 minute empty bed contact time
3.5 gpm with a 3 minute empty bed contact time.

Still a very very small tank for cgac and chloramines.

Well it's what I have. I still use the tablets on brew day to remove chloramines. I also use your to unit with chloragaurd added so hopefully in clear after alllll that

 

[Buckeye_Hydro]

Assuming that's the only water in the house running (the RO), then your empty bed contact time will be fine, and with the carbon filters on your RO you'll be more than good to go.