Lime in water supply

holyhead

Can anyone recommend suitable water treatment system or supplier of to treat lime in water. Have had to replace one shower unit already which packed up due to lime in a house in Callan town. Any suggestions or advice would be gratefully appreciated.

gorilla_ie

the lime in callan is absolutely terrible .. A water softener is your only job

http://www.celticwatersolutions.ie/water-softeners-to-buy-from-cws/water-softeners-ireland

Cabaal

As stated above lime in callan is very hard, water softner is the only real solution

Softner should set you back between upto 900 for buying it and installing it

Salt for the unit lasts between 4-6 weeks and costs around 9e a bag

You can buy the salt in the coop in west street, i recommend the rock salt rather then the fine salt

holyhead

Thank you Cabaal and Gorilla. All information is much appreciated. Cheers!

PhilipMarlowe

You could try Cantwell Electrical, out Urlingford/Thurles direction. I know they do all sorts of water pumps etc.

KK4SAM

You could try Henry Maher Cuffesgrange, keep it local ,recommend faucet for untreated water if you have young or old in the house wit you.

Cabaal

KK4SAM wrote: »

You could try Henry Maher Cuffesgrange, keep it local ,recommend faucet for untreated water if you have young or old in the house wit you.

Actually i got henry to fit mine and i believe he fit three others for people i know

He's spot on,

holyhead

Thanks you to all who have posted so to date in reply to my query. It sounds like Henry Maher is a good solution to my lime problem. Will check him out and see how I get on I think. someone kindly PM his number. So cheers.

Cabaal

PM sent holyhead

cocoshovel

The water around here makes me feel really unwell. It has a terrible taste off of it, that I'm unsure how to describe.
But about 5 minutes after it hits my stomach I get a terrible churning feeling, and my stomach shudders and I feel like I need to throw up, but never have actually. It lasts for about 2-8 minutes before it goes away. I don't know what it is but its made me stick to bottled water for the past few years.

Also yesterday I noticed the water was pure white for a while. Too much lime?

Edit: I have a water filter, and it still makes me feel like this when filtered through it.

KK4SAM

Sounds like saturated air to me.Let it settle for 10 min and then try it .Are you Public or private ? Whats the pressure like ?

holyhead

Once again thanks to everyone who posted and pm me. Met with Henry this week and should have my filter installed shortly. I see he advertised on this weeks front page of the KP. Anyway looks like a solution is now at hand.

cargo

I see Kilkenny CoCo have a useful little faq on their website about "hard water". Might be worth a read for some info.

http://www.kilkennycoco.ie/eng/Services/Water_Services/News_and_Announcements/Hard_Water_Information.html

Hard Water
Many public water supply schemes in County Kilkenny supply “hard water”. Normally this means the water comes from groundwater wells, but can come from rivers, and contains dissolved calcium or lime and magnesium from the limestone bedrock. The dissolved minerals can sometimes make the water appear cloudy when heated.
Groundwater wells are being used more and more by Local Authorities to supply water as the water produced is usually of better quality and requires less treatment than river water. This trend will continue into the future and additional schemes are likely to be supplied from groundwater.

It is perfectly safe for everyone to drinkand is good for you - drinking hard water will increase intake of essential minerals – calcium and magnesium and may have a protective effect against cardiovascular disease and reduce risk of high blood pressure. However, when hard water is heated calcium deposits or ‘lime scale’ might form. This can affect household appliances such as kettles, dishwashers, washing machines and some heating systems.

What can I do?
Kettles
Try to only boil only what you need and don’t leave the surplus boiled water lying in the kettle. Kettles can be descaled by half filling with half water / half vinegar, leaving overnight, rinsing, refill and boil water, then discard water and kettle is ready for use.

Washing Machines
A wide range of products are commercially available to prevent the deposition of lime scale during the heating of water in washing machines. Varying the dosage of washing powder may also work.

Heating Systems
Indirect heating systems where water is re-circulated are generally not affected by limescale. Direct heating systems, where fresh water replaces heated boiler water, may experience some blockage of pipes and reduced boiler efficiency. Symptoms of this would be rattling in the pipes when the water is heated, and gradually longer heating times. Consult a plumber if such problems are suspected.

Dishwashers
Dishwashers generally have built-in water softeners. Householders should ensure these are set according to manufacturer’s instructions.

Shower Head
If limescale has built up – soak the shower head in half vinegar / half water solution for three hours or overnight to remove the limescale.

Soften the entire water supply?
Chemically softened water is not suitable for everyone to drink - particularly for infants and other risk categories. For that reason it is recommended that entire mains water supplies are not softened, so Kilkenny County Council does not have this option.

The “soft” option
Even though the hard water is perfectly safe to drink, meets all the required drinking water standards and is good for you, some people may choose to ‘soften’ their supply.
Hard water can be ‘softened’ by chemically removing calcium (by ion exchange) from the water and replacing it with sodium chloride or potassium chloride. Each individual household has the option of installing their own domestic water softeningunit.There are no grants or funding available from central Government or from Kilkenny County Council to assist with the installation of softening units, or the purchase of new appliances.

Softening units work by chemical, electric or magnetic processes to prevent scale deposition. The effectiveness of the units cannot be guaranteed, nor can Kilkenny County Council recommend any particular unit. Care in the design and installation of softening systems is essential, in order to prevent excessively high levels of chemicals in the softened water. For this reason, consideration could be given to softening only the water sent to the domestic hot water system and the cold water supply to the kitchen sink should be excluded from the softening process.

The water quality (including hardness) of all public water schemes in County Kilkenny is continuously monitored by Kilkenny County Council to ensure compliance with drinking water regulations and to ensure that a high quality product is consistently delivered to all our customers.

KilkennyCountyCouncil, Water Services Section,
County Hall, John St, Kilkenny.
Phone: 056-7794090
Email: waterservices@kilkennycoco.ie
Web: www.kilkennycoco.ie

Dan Jaman

cargo wrote: »

I see Kilkenny CoCo have a useful little faq on their website about "hard water". Might be worth a read for some info.

http://www.kilkennycoco.ie/eng/Services/Water_Services/News_and_Announcements/Hard_Water_Information.html

Hard Water

Softening units work by chemical, electric or magnetic processes to prevent scale deposition.

KilkennyCountyCouncil, Water Services Section,
County Hall, John St, Kilkenny.
Phone: 056-7794090
Email: waterservices@kilkennycoco.ie
Web: www.kilkennycoco.ie

Jeez, I hope nobody falls for the 'magnetic' bullshote.

Sky King

Washing machines live longer with Calgon!

(Though you'd probably buy a new washing machine every 2 years with the money you'd spend on it.)