Insignificant/ Significant things that BYP or just wind you up a little

[Asian Boss]

The water here is really hard but I like it. I prefer the taste, thought it was better for your health and it seems better for washing.

It does seem to knacker shower mixer bars but that's not a big deal.

[mangocrazy]

In Sheffield we're fortunate to have soft water, but in Stafford (where I used to live) and in our gaff in France the water is proper 'ard. Especially so in France - there's a reason there are limestone 'grottes' in the area. The French water is so hard it's seen off 3 (or is it 4?) cylinder elements in less than 10 years and we're only there a couple of months a year. So I've fitted a water softener and we'll see how it goes. But the immediate difference is the appearance of the stainless steel sink. It no longer has little calcium encrustations wherever there was once a droplet of water.

Mrs Mango is ecstatically happy about this.

I'd recommend a water softener to anyone who lives in a hard water area.

[KungFooBob]

Have to say our water softener is doing a stand up job. We waited to get it before redoing the bathrooms, a year in said bathrooms are still scale free despite our tap water being harder than Phil Mitchell.

Our water is so hard the plumbers turn up in pairs.

[Mr. Dazzle]

The water here is really hard but I like it. I prefer the taste, thought it was better for your health and it seems better for washing.

It does seem to knacker shower mixer bars but that's not a big deal.

We've got a three knob tap in the kitchen. Hot, cold and hard. I'm with you, hard water tastes way nicer...hence the tap.

[cheb]

The water here is about as soft as you can get. Before they installed a modern treatment works some decades ago, the water had a slight brown tinge from the peat, tasted lovely and was mildly acidic. Acidic enough to work as a descaler as I found out when I moved up here and my kettle was slowly cleaned up.

[Felix]

Jock water. Heed under the mains tap and gulp Its great. I also prefer it to the bottles shit Aldo sell, Govansprings or something like that.

[mangocrazy]

The water here is really hard but I like it. I prefer the taste, thought it was better for your health and it seems better for washing.

It does seem to knacker shower mixer bars but that's not a big deal.

We've got a three knob tap in the kitchen. Hot, cold and hard. I'm with you, hard water tastes way nicer...hence the tap.

It's also to do with water byelaws. At least one tap in the house must be unsoftened water.

[Yambo]

Our water is very hard frequently around 1500 ppm of dissolved solids and although drinkable, tastes awful. I have an RO filter for drinking water (I actually brought it for aquarium water and drinking)because bottled water is expensive.

When I lived in Preston the water was beautiful, soft and acidic. It came out of Thirlmere in the Lake District. In the aquarium I had Symphysodon Discus breeding in tap water.

[Mr. Dazzle]

The water here is really hard but I like it. I prefer the taste, thought it was better for your health and it seems better for washing.

It does seem to knacker shower mixer bars but that's not a big deal.

We've got a three knob tap in the kitchen. Hot, cold and hard. I'm with you, hard water tastes way nicer...hence the tap.

It's also to do with water byelaws. At least one tap in the house must be unsoftened water.

Well....if that's true, the fitter didn't mention it. I had to specifically ask for it! Thw garden tap is hard water too, maybe that's sufficient.

Our water is very hard frequently around 1500 ppm

IIRC anything more than a couple of hundred is considered hard. I wouldn't be surprised if 1500ppm would be considered unacceptable in the UK.

[Yorick]

The water in Bradford was so pure, you could put it straight into a car/bike battery. It was ideal for cleaning wool so that's why Bradford became the wool capital of the world.

[Count Steer]

The water here is really hard but I like it. I prefer the taste, thought it was better for your health and it seems better for washing.

It does seem to knacker shower mixer bars but that's not a big deal.

We've got a three knob tap in the kitchen. Hot, cold and hard. I'm with you, hard water tastes way nicer...hence the tap.

It's also to do with water byelaws. At least one tap in the house must be unsoftened water.

Whyzat? Not heard that before.

[mangocrazy]

Found this online - seems reasonably authoritative:

Prior to June 2007 it was common practice to leave one tap in the kitchen connected to none softened water. The historic water industry byelaws were revoked by The Water Supply (Water Fittings) Regulations 1999. This set of water regulations set out to harmonize and modernize water byelaws which to that date were different between the various local water suppliers. Since The Water Supply (Water Fittings) Regulations 1999 many clarifications have been made. Specifically, in 2007 WRAS (Water Regulations Advisory Scheme) published a document called Information for Installation of Ion Exchange Water Softeners for Systems Supplying Water for Domestic Purposes.

To the point, this document outlines the correct advice with respect to drinking ion exchange softened water. If your water hardness is above 425 mg/l as CaCO3 and there is no sodium present in the water supply before softening, you should have a hard water tap. Below this level it is not actually required, although advised.

So my information is outdated - I had a softener fitted to my house in the early '90s when the byelaws stipulated one tap should be unsoftened water (or so I was told). Unless you have very hard water that is no longer a requirement, apparently.

[Yambo]

Our water is very hard frequently around 1500 ppm

IIRC anything more than a couple of hundred is considered hard. I wouldn't be surprised if 1500ppm would be considered unacceptable in the UK.

If we have a wet winter it'll be OK. Last winter was 'normal' with lots of rain and the water was just under 300 ppm about 10 days ago. My RO water is around 60 ppm (I have a couple of 'filters' that put some minerals back into the water).

If we have a dry winter though the quality is poor and if you couple that with a lot of tourists in the summer by July it's awful and by September is brackish. The hills around the village are full of cisterns and there's a huge supply of fresh water under the eastern (sea side) of the village. That's the main supply. Some of it is under the sea and a dry winter and a lot of tourists is not good. A few years ago after two consecutive dry winters the water killed off a lot of plants around the village, notably geraniums and pelargoniums.

Very few people drink the tap water here although my sister (still living in the Dover area) thought it was just fine.

[Mr. Dazzle]

I just like the taste

[Count Steer]

@mangocrazy Thanks.

Probably important for people on a low sodium diet to know (and anyone with a newish baby)....chances are though, that anyone with a water softener drinks Perrier/Buxton/Pellegrino etc

[Yorick]

@mangocrazy Thanks.

Probably important for people on a low sodium diet to know (and anyone with a newish baby)....chances are though, that anyone with a water softener drinks Perrier/Buxton/Pellegrino etc

In the late 80s Yorkshire Water were selling water to Perrier. It only came to light when we had water shortages in Bradford

[Count Steer]

@mangocrazy Thanks.

Probably important for people on a low sodium diet to know (and anyone with a newish baby)....chances are though, that anyone with a water softener drinks Perrier/Buxton/Pellegrino etc

In the late 80s Yorkshire Water were selling water to Perrier. It only came to light when we had water shortages in Bradford

I remember those Perrier labels....'Bottled at t'Source'

[Yorick]

@mangocrazy Thanks.

Probably important for people on a low sodium diet to know (and anyone with a newish baby)....chances are though, that anyone with a water softener drinks Perrier/Buxton/Pellegrino etc

In the late 80s Yorkshire Water were selling water to Perrier. It only came to light when we had water shortages in Bradford

I remember those Perrier labels....'Bottled at t'Source'

I knew you'd be funny, eventually

[mangocrazy]

When we're in France at the house we hardly ever drink the tap water anyway, as a few miles away there is a natural spring where all the locals go to fill up their water bottles. It is quite definitely the best tasting water I have ever drunk. There's nearly always a queue there.

[KungFooBob]

I never drink water. Fish piss in it.