Any horror stories for NOT having a water softener?
 

My house is in Historic District/Lady Lake.

I've been researching about Water Softeners, and I haven't seen any ultimatums about them, i.e. "You must have a water softener or your pipes will clog up and then you have excavate under your house to fix them..." or something of that nature.

Any thoughts?

Are water softeners a "must have" if you live in TV?

Thanks in advance.
Back9

They are not totaly necessary, but they are definitely an asset in my humble opinion.
Our dishes come out better from the dishwasher, and the laundry uses less powder and does not need added softeners.
I also like a filter on the drinking tap, as I can't stand the clorine taste of unfiltered water..
However. Many of our friends do not have it, and are more than happy without it, so it comes down to preference in the end.
As for the pipe work, the only ones I worry about clogging up, are the ones pushing my blood around!

It is a personal decision. But, I think the water in The Villages is as good as most places I have lived, and I have never had a water softener or whole house filter.

Us too.

Ditto

I think the answer has to do with the age of your house and the composition of your pipes. In '15 I bought a house which was 25 years old. In early '18 one copper pipe developed a pinhole leak and flooded the interior of the house. Took 4 weeks to repair what should have been a 2 day job. Every workman who came out commented that "once you have a pinhole leak , you will have others." Who knew that copper pipes were bad in Florida? Up north they are an asset. One of the stopgap fixes suggested was installation of a water softener. To properly fix the problem would have cost 5% of the home's value--if it could be done. Four different companies came out to give me an estimate and 2 of them flat-out declined to do it. This was for a small house.

Never needed one where I am, I'm just glad I don't get this horribly tainted water that all these other places do. My dishes, clothes, and tap water are just fine. But I'm also not one to spend a bunch of money because others tell me I should. It amazes me how many people who haven't even moved here yet are convinced to spend thousands of dollars before they even get a chance to find out if they need to.

We find the water suitable. No problems with laundry. Drinking water tastes better than ours in Ohio. Been here 10+ years.

We have no big problem other than bloodshot eyes after a shower. Not buying enormous amounts of bottled water will be nice and I have seen with my own little bloodshot eyeballs the filters when they are changed on The Nova System. There is stuff in the water. We're in the 4th quarter of life and I don't want to leave to much money to the kids. Can't wait. Should have done it two years ago but you know how it is. Why do today what you can put off till tomorrow.

You don't have to have it but it's a nice thing to have. Hope that helps. We live in the Historical Section.

Hmm, I am only seeing testimonies, not people telling you to buy something before you get down here. There are facts and opinions being presented, for and against, but nobody is pushing anybody to buy something "water untried."

Having a water softener is 100% personal preference. there are THOUSANDS of homes in The Villages that do not have water softeners or water filters. It is important to note that a water SOFTENER and a water FILTER are two different things.....although some companies will sell and/or combine both.

I personally like whole house water filter. I recommend the NOVA filter system, as it does a good job at a good common sense price.

So, a few facts;

1) Prices for water systems vary...a lot. Some companies are known for being very "hard sell" with high mark-ups. There is sometimes no correlation between what you are charged and the quality of what you are buying.

2) Some people LOVE softened water....especially if they had a softener for years in their "old house". I personally do not like the feel of softened water....I think it feels somewhat "slimy". Just my personal opinion. In a 12 year old home I recently bought, there was a working water softener. I ripped it out and tossed it and installed a NOVA filter instead.

3) Water in Fenney, etc, is a BIT harder than the northern part of The Villages.....I do not find it objectionable.

4) If you do not like Chlorine taste, etc, you want a Filter.....a softener only softens.

5) To the post that focused on the 25 year old house with copper water lines.....yes, older Florida homes were built with copper pipes embedded in concrete. Builders have learned that it was not a good idea, just like cast iron waste pipes in concrete or below is also bad. Once copper starts leaking it will continue to develop more leaks. You are better off re-plumbing the entire home. Having a water softener will SLOW the amount of failure, but not eliminate it. You will still need to re-plumb.

6) All homes built in at least the last ten years or so in The Villages have CPVC water lines.....not copper.

Hope this helps.

Frank D.

Frank, regarding your item 5, are you really saying that a water softener is any kind of a solution for copper water pipe leaks?

Great question.....in a word...No. I have been told by various Plumbers, etc, that if a Florida house has copper pipes that have not yet started to leak, softer water tends to slow down the corrosion process. It does not stop it. I was just told last week that a Plumber was telling us a story that a homeowner that had copper pipes that has not had a leak "suddenly" started to have a few leaks. Upon further investigation the homeowner stated that their water softener stopped working 6 months prior and they did not get around to fixing it.

That being said, if I had an older home in Florida with copper pipes I would much rather put my money into pipe replacement than a water softener. Re-plumbing the home solves the problem for good, while a softener will at best retard the corrosion process.

There are many variables, such as the hardness of the water, whether it was L-Hard or M-hard Copper, etc,etc.

A friend of mine was doing extensive remodeling on his 1960's Florida home....we was just ready to install all new tile when he found he had bad pipes under the slab. He had to jackhammer parts of the slab to replace some old cast iron pipes. While an added expense and a pain, it would have been much worse if he found out after he laid all the new tile.

I would like to add that for most of The Villages this is a non-issue.

Hope that helps!

Frank

What is it about Florida water and copper pipes that make them corrode?

Back in MA we had all copper pipes and fittings... house was built in the 50's. The only piping problem we knew of up there was bronze fittings tended to leak but not copper ones.

Nova Filtration (an advertiser here) who has a reputation for great all house water filter systems says the following about putting a water softener into a home in The Villages. Remember, they also sell water softeners so they seem pretty honest.

"The water in TV is not very hard on scale of 15 it is approx. 8.6, very hard water is generally a level of 11 or more.

In our opinion a softener is not required but a option that can be added later to our Whole House Triple system."