Combing 2 supplies into 1


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Old 02-13-16, 09:17 AM
H
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Combing 2 supplies into 1

I need to take 2 water supplies and combine them. How to go about doing this?

More Info:
I live on well water and have a couple systems conditioning/filtering the water. My main water goes thru the Iron Breaker 3(remove iron and sulfur smell), then the line T's and one line goes to the water softener which does 95% of the house. The second part of the T goes to a whole house carbon filter which does the sink cold water and fridges(we have 2 kitchens). However, the hardness of our water is 22 and even tho it tastes great, it leaves a lot of residue. We don't like drinking soft water nor think it's the healthiest option. What I would like to do is combine the soft water and carbon filtered water on the cold kitchen lines. Following? Make sense? LOL

Can I just "T" the lines back and it'll basically be a 50/50 mix? Or should i put some sort of control valves/mixing valves inline to control the mixing? Ideally I'd like to mix the water to achieve a 5 hardness.

Thanks for any help!
 
  #2  
Old 02-13-16, 04:27 PM
Z
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hi Hicca –

I’m no plumber but if you just tee back I don’t see how that’s a 50/50 mix. I think it would only be a 50/50 mix if the resistance across the softener would be the same as the resistance across straight pipe. It seems to me to get the 5 hardness at the sinks/fridges you would need a mixing valve to mix water which bypasses the softener with water which flows through the softener, the location of that valve ahead of the carbon filter.

But I’m no plumber and I might not be visualizing the problem properly – plus I’m not real great with fluid dynamics, usually makes my head spin and I get lost real easy, lol.

Hopefully one of the plumbers/resident experts here will weigh in.
 
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Old 02-14-16, 06:13 AM
Z
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I agree with Zoesdad, you'll need a mixing valve both to control the 50/50 mix as well as to help ensure the filtered water doesn't backflow into the rest of the house water (negating the use of the softener).

I would consider using just the softener for the whole house including the kitchen sink.

Then get a point-of-use water filter at your sink for drinking and cooking plumbed off your main water line. The point-of-use filter goes under the sink and has it's own mini-faucet. That way you're using softened water for washing dishes and general use, but unsoftened and filtered water for drinking.
 
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Old 02-14-16, 04:53 PM
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Thanks for the replies everyone. I will get a mixing valve and for the reasons stated. I've thought about the POU filter, not sure I want to deal with 2 of them plus my fridge lines for water/ice. The wife says the soft water also makes her baking/cooking not as good as cooking with very low hard water. We grew up in Chicago with Lake Michigan water which I believe is around a hardness of 5. If my cold is around a 5 and my hot is soft, cleaning should be no issue. However, I might look into a separate spigot for drinking water and have the cold and hot faucet soft. Luckily I can do all this work myself so it doesn't cost me too much besides time

Btw, what mixing valve do you guys recommend?
 
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Old 02-14-16, 06:26 PM
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I have never heard that softened water makes any difference to cooking but there is a bit of a misconception that drinking it is not good for your health.

This is the CDC's take on sodium from softened water:
The CDC recommends limiting daily total sodium intake to 2,300 mg per day,[SUP][12][/SUP] though the average American consumes 3,500 mg per day.[SUP][13][/SUP] Because the amount of sodium present in drinking water—even after softening—does not represent a significant percentage of a person's daily sodium intake, the EPA considers sodium in drinking water to be unlikely to cause adverse health effects.[SUP][14][/SUP]
There is a small amount of sodium in softened water in proportion to the water's hardness.
For your hardness the sodium content in a 8 oz glass of water would be 41 mg* of sodium.
8 oz of milk has 240 mg, 8 oz of orange juice has 248 mg, 1 raw apple with skin has 138 mg, 2 slices of whole wheat bread has 56 mg sodium.
 

Last edited by GregH; 02-15-16 at 02:58 AM. Reason: *Typo
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Old 02-14-16, 07:16 PM
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It's not about health, it's about taste. We do not like drinking soft water. As for baking, we have four kids and my wife does a lot of home cooking. If she says she notices a difference, you go ahead and prove her wrong… LOL
 
 

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