Trying to find out if my water is soft or not...?

[PoopyTeaBags]

Ok long story short moved to the country got well water with a soft water treatment system that uses salt.... I cant give this to my plants.... There is a nozzle off of the soft water contraptoin that has a hose hook up... My guess is its for non soft water since there is a shutoff valve that says soft or not soft.... how ever i have no idea if the water that comes out of the spickett...

is there a way to check to see if its soft water or not?

 

[sparkjumper]

Good question so I'll bump it up fer ya

 

[Sleepy]

hard to say...

do you have a Culligan Man near you, thet will come out and test it for free...but you already have the softener...hmmm...

call your local municipality, and ask. they should know.

i use the softened water for my plants, but we have the reverse osmosis filter to remove all the salts...you could look into getting one of those installed next to your softener...never buy bottled water again!

 

[fastnick1oo]

Maby You'll find something in petshop, tester in paper or liquid form.
...or maby just call to Your water suplier, just like Sleepy suggested. : )

 

[I N Hail]

PTB,,Don't guess you can call your water supplier sense you use well water,,,LOL

Take a sample to the county/state water department and have them test it
they'll let you know whats in it.


PeaceINH

 

[fishheadbob]

Don't ever call the Culligan man unless you need to feel you might die from drinking well water. There are sales pitches, and then there are sales pitches, and then there is the grandaddy of all salesmen, a.k.a. the Culligan man. No matter what your water quality, you will definitely feel a strong need to buy whatever he is selling. I don't believe there has ever been an instance where the Culligan man has said "Your water is great; you don't need my product"
.
The nozzle and hose off your softener may be before the water goes into the softener unit, but more likely it's a drain or flush to rid the unit of old salt, sediment, and general gunk.
Since there is a shutoff valve that says soft/non soft turn it to non soft and run 20 gallons or so through a household faucet to get the softened salty water out of your pipes. Draw a glass and look at the water. Look OK ? Try it, you will survive. Then do what a previous poster suggested, take a sample to your local government agency that checks water. They're not hard to find what with the invention of the telephone; they might do it free, they might charge you 30 or 40 bucks . The important thing is that they are objective, not water softener salesmen .
If your water is in fact lousy you will need an RO system, bottled, distilled, or rainwater to have a decent grow.
good luck

 

[Lazyman]

A local aquarium shop might be able to test it for you, but yeah I'd hook RO to the non soft water and use that.

 

[PoopyTeaBags]

i figured it out guys
Ppm's are a way to tell but still not 100%

 

[RoomRaider]

Just bathe in it? Soft water has a hard time washing soap away, you feel slippery. Alot of times people with soft water take 2 showers. You need that extra one to make sure all the soap and everything is off. Not accurate by far, but gives you general idea

 

[PetFlora]

Simple and dramatic test we used to sell water softeners. Take a clear jar and put 4-8 ozs of tap water. Add 2 drops of liquid soap comparable to the old Ivory soap. Tighten the lid and shake. If water is soft, you will have an incredible amount of froth-like soap bubbles. This froth will stay there at least 10 minutes. The faster it dissipates the harder the water. I have tested municipal water that was so hard you couldn't get any froth!

 

[mr-natural78]

I just found a test kit at walmart last night for texting if your water is hard or not. It is one of the tests with test strips. It has a color comparison chart that reads PPM. May not be real acurate, but it would give you a ballpark idea of how your water is and it was like 7 bucks or something. It was in the plumbing section.