Well water vs softner water

[Constance]

Our well water has a lot of iron in it.   :-/
I had one dealer say we need to use our well water to fill our new spa and one dealer say to use the softner water.  What do most of you country people do?  
Connie

[new owner]

I'm no expert but we are also on well water. We were told by several sources NOT to use softened water. Not sure why but it seems soft water is not good for your hot tub, and in some cases doing so can VOID YOUR WARRANTY.

There are chemicals that can take the metals out of your water, so that may be the way to go. (This is what our neighbor with LOTS of metals in his water did, and they have had crystal clean water for months.)

You should take a water sample to your dealer and get advice on this. OR maybe some eperts here can weigh in....

[HotTubMan]

Water softened with salt based products will cause metal (ball bearings, heaters) to corrode and oxidize quickly. An iron filter works. You will get alot of the iron out with scale inhibitors and filtration.

[Warkovision]

Perhaps one of those magnetic water treatment systems would help?

[aaahhh]

I also have a well water with plenty of iron in it. I brought two samples to my dealer one hard and the other soft. He said I would be a perfect fit for Soft Soak. I am three months in to a new spa today and am having no problems. I do need to add calcium hardness increaser every week, However it's really inexpensive.  My weekly maintainance only takes a few minutes. It's the weekly filter rinsing that takes the time.  I have my water tested weekly by my dealer and it scores very well.

[HotTubMan]

aaahhh;

If you are using softened waer and you have jets with ball bearings, YOUR JETS WILL SEIZE much sooner than with balanced water not containing salt. You wouldn't likely notice within 3 months.

[HotTubMan]

aaahhh;

If you are using softened waer and you have jets with ball bearings, YOUR JETS WILL SEIZE much sooner than with balanced water not containing salt. You wouldn't likely notice within 3 months.

[Chas]

You generally should not fill a tub with softened water. It is chemically aggressive, and usually contains some salt. That salt is not much worse than the chlorine you're adding, but damage done by soft water is actually not covered by some manufacturers.

In some parts of the country people fill with soft water (either from a softener, or because it comes out of the tap that way) and then add calcium to bring the water up to a good level. This works, but you must do the testing and keep the water at the appropriate levels.

If you are trying to get rid of metals, use a filter or add a metal treatment such as "Metal Gon" by Liesure Time.

If you have a calcium problem, fill the tub with part soft water: no more than 25%. To do this, you would fill the tub up to within about 3" of your normal level with straight water, then finish with the soft water.