My wife had a baby in early September. [img]/forums/images/icons/laugh.gif[/img] Before she came home from the hospital I had a UV light added to my water since she was worried that there could be bacteria in the water that wasn't harming us but could hurt the baby. [img]/forums/images/icons/frown.gif[/img] I was OK with adding it since I no longer need to worry about a bacteria problem and I don't have to pay to have the water tested periodically.
While the plumber was there, I had him install a water softener. Our water tested to be moderately hard. I wasn't seeing any problems but I decided to have the softener installed anyway.
Finally, I get to the question. How much salt should the softener be using? The plumber put three bags in the barrel in early September and I can't tell that the level has changed much, if at all.
The softner has a dial. The dial is noted with the number of people in the house. The dial is turned to line up the number of people with the water hardness. In my case its set for 4 people and a hardness of 10. Based on the setting the softener does its job and regenerates at the appropraite time.
Should the tub the holds the salt have water in it? When first installed I could see water. Now I have to dig down into the salt to get to moist salt. There really isn't any standing water in the tub.
Finally, I was expecting to feel slimmy when we showered or washed our hands but this really isn't the case. We use all liquid soap products. Do the liquid soaps act differently, in softened water, versus bar soap. Or is it simply that we didn't have very hard water to begin with and the softener isn't making the water that "soft."
Until we built our house last year I always had city water. It was full of chlorine and tasted funny. The well water is a nice change from that but unfortunately I have no experience with water softeners.
Thanks,
Kip