How would you fix this?

[Howard LewisParticipant @howardlewis46836]

A thought that may help the O P.

When my wife lost the screw on cap to a stainless steel Thermos flask, I made a new bung from Nylon, and incorporated a groove for an O ring. It seals, perfectly, which the original screw in one did not.

So you seal on the inside of the spout, rather than the outside or top? So what! The objective is to seal the container, to prevent the salt from contaminating the rest of the machine.

Howard

[not done it yetParticipant @notdoneityet]

And it is ‘softened’, not soft.

Only when it has gone through a ‘softener’.

Calcium and Magnesium, as dissolved salts, are likely (on balance) better for us than extra common salt, or nothing at all, in the supply. Brewers like some calcium sulphate in their brewing water supply, as well.

[Adam MaraParticipant @adammara]

The easy answer is a expandable rubber stopper, a search on Google resulted in commercial ones available from 1/2" upwards.

[Speedy Builder5Participant @speedybuilder5]

How about a cork? Cork modified to take the centre plastic bit you think is a vent / valve.

[FMESParticipant @fmes]

Posted by not done it yet on 10/08/2018 20:28:28:

And it is ‘softened’, not soft.

Only when it has gone through a ‘softener’.

Calcium and Magnesium, as dissolved salts, are likely (on balance) better for us than extra common salt, or nothing at all, in the supply. Brewers like some calcium sulphate in their brewing water supply, as well.

The post was referring to softened water, – that which had been processed through a 'softener'.

Your statement that calcium salts were replaced by Sodium salts simply isn't true.

The Brine solution is used to 'clean' the anionic resin which has captured the unwanted minerals during use, at the end of a cycle, and is known as a resin regeneration.

This 'regeneration' washes the brine / mineral mix to the drain and is followed in the norm by at least two pure water rinses including a backwash, to remove any trace of the sodium from the resin tank.

So in effect while you may not be getting additional calcium , magnesium and additional dissolved salts, you aren't as I said before, getting any more sodium in a glass of softened water than you are in a glass of cows milk.

Softened water also helps with the reduction of eczema in children when used for washing purposes.

Regards

[SillyOldDufferModerator @sillyoldduffer]

Posted by FMES on 11/08/2018 10:20:35:

Posted by not done it yet on 10/08/2018 20:28:28:

And it is ‘softened’, not soft.

Only when it has gone through a ‘softener’.

Calcium and Magnesium, as dissolved salts, are likely (on balance) better for us than extra common salt, or nothing at all, in the supply. Brewers like some calcium sulphate in their brewing water supply, as well.

The post was referring to softened water, – that which had been processed through a 'softener'.

Your statement that calcium salts were replaced by Sodium salts simply isn't true.

The Brine solution is used to 'clean' the anionic resin which has captured the unwanted minerals during use, at the end of a cycle, and is known as a resin regeneration.

This 'regeneration' washes the brine / mineral mix to the drain and is followed in the norm by at least two pure water rinses including a backwash, to remove any trace of the sodium from the resin tank.

So in effect while you may not be getting additional calcium , magnesium and additional dissolved salts, you aren't as I said before, getting any more sodium in a glass of softened water than you are in a glass of cows milk.

…

Regards

Is that true FMES? Just checked my memory with Wikipedia which says:

Conventional water-softening appliances intended for household use depend on an ion-exchange resin in which "hardness ions"—mainly Ca²⁺ and Mg²⁺—are exchanged for sodium ions.^[6] As described by NSF/ANSI Standard 44,^[7] ion-exchange devices reduce the hardness by replacing magnesium and calcium (Mg²⁺ and Ca²⁺) with sodium or potassium ions (Na⁺ and K⁺).

I thought the Calcium and Magnesium ions ended up in the resin leaving the anions to bond with Sodium and thus stay dissolved in the water. This paper also says Sodium ends up in the water, and gives figures.

Is the confusion between two different types of softener? Are household system softeners always osmosis types (which do remove Sodium as well), as opposed to the resin type in my dishwasher?

No need to panic people, theoretical discussion.  Softeners are believed safe unless your doctor tells you different, which is unlikely.

Dave

 

Edited By SillyOldDuffer on 11/08/2018 19:22:44

[not done it yetParticipant @notdoneityet]

Spot on Dave,

It is why it is called ‘ion exchange’. Hardness ions are replaced in the supply by sodium (Potassium salts are a good deal more expensive than sodiom salts, so only used for specialist applications).

Regeneration of the resin is accomplished by removing the hardness ions and replenishment by sodium ions by virtue of a very high brine concentration being washed through the resin – and the brine is then flushed away, along with the Calcium and Magnesium ions.

As far as keeping the loo clear – yes, less limestone build up with soft water, but neither soft nor hard water kills toilet bacteria, etc. But water hardness chemicals are disolved in the water, so very little will be deposited on the loo – only where the water evaporates, leaving limestone scale. A similar chemical process as to the building of stalactites and stalagmites. Fairly simple chemical reactions.

Most reduction of skin ailments is more likely down to not needing chemical fabric softeners. Every little helps, for those that suffer skin problems.

 

Edited By not done it yet on 11/08/2018 19:46:54

[FMESParticipant @fmes]

Posted by SillyOldDuffer on 11/08/2018 19:21:14:

Posted by FMES on 11/08/2018 10:20:35:

Posted by not done it yet on 10/08/2018 20:28:28:

And it is ‘softened’, not soft.

Only when it has gone through a ‘softener’.

Calcium and Magnesium, as dissolved salts, are likely (on balance) better for us than extra common salt, or nothing at all, in the supply. Brewers like some calcium sulphate in their brewing water supply, as well.

The post was referring to softened water, – that which had been processed through a 'softener'.

Your statement that calcium salts were replaced by Sodium salts simply isn't true.

The Brine solution is used to 'clean' the anionic resin which has captured the unwanted minerals during use, at the end of a cycle, and is known as a resin regeneration.

This 'regeneration' washes the brine / mineral mix to the drain and is followed in the norm by at least two pure water rinses including a backwash, to remove any trace of the sodium from the resin tank.

So in effect while you may not be getting additional calcium , magnesium and additional dissolved salts, you aren't as I said before, getting any more sodium in a glass of softened water than you are in a glass of cows milk.

…

Regards

Is that true FMES? Just checked my memory with Wikipedia which says:

Conventional water-softening appliances intended for household use depend on an ion-exchange resin in which "hardness ions"—mainly Ca²⁺ and Mg²⁺—are exchanged for sodium ions.^[6] As described by NSF/ANSI Standard 44,^[7] ion-exchange devices reduce the hardness by replacing magnesium and calcium (Mg²⁺ and Ca²⁺) with sodium or potassium ions (Na⁺ and K⁺).

I thought the Calcium and Magnesium ions ended up in the resin leaving the anions to bond with Sodium and thus stay dissolved in the water. This paper also says Sodium ends up in the water, and gives figures.

Is the confusion between two different types of softener? Are household system softeners always osmosis types (which do remove Sodium as well), as opposed to the resin type in my dishwasher?

No need to panic people, theoretical discussion. Softeners are believed safe unless your doctor tells you different, which is unlikely.

Dave

Edited By SillyOldDuffer on 11/08/2018 19:22:44

Dave,

Your paper is quite correct, the Ion exchange process does indeed add a small amount of Sodium to the outlet water by the way of Ion exchange, but NOT as a result of using the brine to regenerate the resin.

Quote "

In other words, if your water test tells you that you have 18 grains per gallon hardness, installing a water softener will add about 35 milligrams of sodium to each 8 oz. glass of water you drink.

To put this in perspective, a tablespoon of catsup has 204 mg. of sodium and a slice of whole wheat bread has 211."

**LINK**

Household softeners are not normally reverse osmosis types.

Regards

[not done it yetParticipant @notdoneityet]

A reverse osmosis set up is not really a water softener, per se. It is a water purification process. All ions, whether cations or anions, and virtually all organic material, is removed by passing the water, at considerable pressure, backwards through a semi-permeable membrane (which would normally operate in the opposite direction (passing water from a lower concentration of dissolved solids to one of higher concentration, without passage of the solute).

An ion exchange water softener – yes, the ‘normal’ type of softener – leaves the water with the same molar concentration of dissolved solids but with sodium salts, not the ‘hardness’ salts. These work at high flow rates at low pressure difference suitable for virtually full flow in a domestic water system. The flow rate of a reverse osmosis system is far lower in a domestic situation and usually provides only limited rates of flow for drinking/cooking purposes.

A reverse osmosis set up to provide treated water for bathing and toilet flushing would necessitate a quite large installation with costs far higher than simply exchanging the ‘hardness’ ions for those that do not cause the hardness problems.

Reverse osmosis is more akin to distillation.

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