when can a person drink the water coming from Softner ??

[steve]

when can a person drink the water from a water softener or is this water always considered "do not drink" I ask due to animals, "Dogs & cats",, where I get them water everyday, and would not want them to drink RO water, due to lack of minerals in water etc.. Can somebody advise what is best and safest!
thanks in advance,
Steve

[pawaterguy]

when can a person drink the water from a water softener or is this water always considered "do not drink" I ask due to animals, "Dogs & cats",, where I get them water everyday, and would not want them to drink RO water, due to lack of minerals in water etc.. Can somebody advise what is best and safest!
thanks in advance,
Steve

Either are fine. RO water would be better but also more wasteful depending on how you feel about your animals. The only issue I've ever heard of with soft water was with cats that got stones alot. If you or your animal is looking to your water for your mineral intake...you're doing it wrong. (I say that jokingly...but, it doesn't translate in typed print). In all seriousness...minerals come from food. Hydration comes from water. The calcium in hard water comes from limestone rock in the ground. It's not in a soluble form yet and your body really does little to nothing with it. It's a common misconception.

[steve]

thanks for the insight pawaterguy, I was afraid of the sodium in the water for the dogs and cat and knew it was not good for humans to drink so figured the same for cat & dog. RO water would take so long to fill a 2 gallon pale every morning, "big dog". Thus the reason for the question. Since I installed the iron filter, I am hoping to cut way back on the regeneration of the softener, but just getting all that up and running. Started up Terminox Iron filter this weekend. Seems to be doing good, waiting on test kit to be sure of what it is actually doing. My iron was >8.0 PPM. Will post results once I get the kit and test water!
again thanks for insight, just was not sure!!

[pawaterguy]

thanks for the insight pawaterguy, I was afraid of the sodium in the water for the dogs and cat and knew it was not good for humans to drink so figured the same for cat & dog. RO water would take so long to fill a 2 gallon pale every morning, "big dog". Thus the reason for the question. Since I installed the iron filter, I am hoping to cut way back on the regeneration of the softener, but just getting all that up and running. Started up Terminox Iron filter this weekend. Seems to be doing good, waiting on test kit to be sure of what it is actually doing. My iron was >8.0 PPM. Will post results once I get the kit and test water!
again thanks for insight, just was not sure!!

The sodium is really a non-issue as well in most cases. It depends a bit on how hard your water is (the sodium ion on the resin is exchanged for the calcium one...IE: the harder your water the more exchange is happening) but most times, unless you are on a sodium restricted diet due to heart issues there is no fear. There is more sodium in a piece of white bread than in a glass of water. For example...a typical glass of softened water that was 15 to 20 grains hard will be have about 30 - 40 milligrams of sodium. Compare that to a slice of whole wheat bread that would be about 200mg. So, yes it does add but it's very minimal in comparison to the rest of your diet. Here is a nice chart with sodium contents of most foods: http://fcs.tamu.edu/food_and_nutriti...food-b1400.pdf

[steve]

again, great insight, thanks for sharing your knowledge,, I am sure there is a lot of us out there (all day long) scratching their head saying what to do now, I know I did at one time and still do some. Have gained a load of knowledge in this since the beginning but will never know it all or expect to, that is when I reply on people like yourself, that are wiling to share their un-bias opinion and knowledge,
thanks again so much!!
Steve,