Hard water??? Soft water???

[Garyjr]

Well folks my Sundance Maxxus is scheduled to be delivered later this morning, and I just thought of something I figured the experts on this site would know.  I have a Culligan water softener installed on my home, so should I fill my tub with soft water from the system, should I bi-pass the water softener and fill it with hard water, or should I use a mixture of hard and soft?  Or, does it make no difference what I fill it with?

Thanks in advance,
Jr

[vlady]

I have a Sundance Cameo for a year now.  My dealer told me to use 1/2 soft and 1/2 hard water during the fill.  I believe I saw this same information in the manual.  I've had no problems using this method.

Congraulations on the new tub!

[Chas]

Do not fill your spa with soft water. If your water is extremely hard, you can mitigate it somewhat with the addition of SOME soft water, but generally not more than 20  - 25% which means about the top three inches of the tub.

[Tatooed_Lady]

I'll be doing my next fill by soft water, out of necessity....the hard water spigot got knocked off the side of the house, so the only one left is softened...hopefully I won't have any issues.... *sigh*

[sledjunkie]

I have a whole house culligan system and I fill my tub with it. My culligan system is not a softener, but rather an automatic backwash system which filters using active carbon. It filters for sediment (iron).

My well water is on the soft side. My hardness measures 60 and I leave it at that.

[Spatech_tuo]

Do not fill your spa with soft water. If your water is extremely hard, you can mitigate it somewhat with the addition of SOME soft water, but generally not more than 20  - 25% which means about the top three inches of the tub.

I always tell people 75% hard / 25% soft.

[Brewman]

I'll be doing my next fill by soft water, out of necessity....the hard water spigot got knocked off the side of the house, so the only one left is softened...hopefully I won't have any issues.... *sigh*

Many water softeners have a bypass valve on them- if you have a softner with this valve, you could concievably fill up with hard water.

 (or maybe you could cajole a neighbor out of a few hundred gallons of their outside water)

 I won't bother asking how you managed to knock the outdoor spigot off your house!

[vlady]

Sundance Owner's Manual http://www.sundancespas.com/Communications/InstructionManuals/06880EngMan.pdf, Page 19  
Fill Hot Tub
• Place the end of your garden hose into the empty filter bucket.
CAUTION: Never fill with water from a water softener. If your
water is extremely “hard”, it is preferable to fill half-way with
hard water and the rest of the way with softened water. Or,
you may fill entirely with hard water if you use a special water
additive available from your Sundance dealer.

[The_real_Clown_Shoes]

Hard water is better than soft.  Everyone is going to use Defender or Stain & Scale anyway, so why increase your workload by needing to add Calcium Hardness Increaser?

[Tatooed_Lady]

I'll be doing my next fill by soft water, out of necessity....the hard water spigot got knocked off the side of the house, so the only one left is softened...hopefully I won't have any issues.... *sigh*

Many water softeners have a bypass valve on them- if you have a softner with this valve, you could concievably fill up with hard water.

 (or maybe you could cajole a neighbor out of a few hundred gallons of their outside water)

 I won't bother asking how you managed to knock the outdoor spigot off your house!

*lol* *I* didn't knock it off...the hubby did, but in his defense, the spigot is on the side of the house that's RIGHT up against the driveway, and the house IS 50+ years old, so I guess it's possible that it's been "tapped" enough times that it finally just gave up....he shut the water off, I sealed with caulk, and we'll get it fixed....."eventually". Til then, however.....DOH.
Our softener is old as the hills, I'll have to see if there's a bypass valve on it...somehow I doubt our neighbors would be willing to part with the water....but hey....if they don't KNOW they're parting with it.....hmmmmmm..... KIDDING!