Soft Water vs Hard Water

[waterpro]

We bought a house that came with a water softener already installed, and an expensive one at that!  When the previous owners installed it, they placed it outside so that the main water line coming out of the ground went to the water softener first before it then goes inside to the plumbing.  So needless to say, every single outlet in my house and outside faucets dispense soft water, which means I currently do not have any hard water outlets to fill the hot tub or even water my plants with.  I know, I know, what idiot thought that was a good idea!   

I've been reading all over the place that soft water is horrible for hot tubs and from what I've read, the main issue is that soft water will eventually start breaking down the components faster which is why you should always add Calcium Increaser to soft water.  Which I've done and now I'm sitting at about 160 ppm Calcium.

I've also been reading that if you have hard water you should be using an item like Leisure Time Defender which is a scale and stain reducer which will coat the shell and components so you don't get calcium build-up on anything.

So here's my question. If you had the option, which would you rather do?  Fill the tub with soft water and then just add in calcium?  Or fill it with hard water and add in some sort of product like Leisure Time Defender?

I'm going to eventually solder in an outside faucet before my water softener so I will eventually have at least one faucet that isn't soft water.  I just wasn't sure which water (and treatment) would be a better if I had both options available.

I also assume you don't need to use an item like Defender if you had soft water?  Or is it a good idea to use that product regardless of if you originally had soft or hard water?

Thanks!

[A.O.]

I have very soft water in my well, and being that I have a fiberglass pool and an acrylic hot tub I dont worry too much about it and have never had any ill effects due to it. Now if I had a gunnite pool things would be different. I add no calcium or anything else to increase the hardness.
It does seem weird they didn't leave you without an outside spigot that doesn't go through the softener.

[cranbiz]

I was told by my dealer to not use soft water. I'm like you with a softener and everything in the house was on it. What I did was install a hose bib between the pressure tank and the softener to fill the tub and not use softened water to do things outside like washing the vehicles. I add calcium as even my hard water isn't really hard.

Some PEX and some shark bite connectors made the job pretty easy. If the softener is a retrofit to the house, it's not a surprise. That was the situation at my house and the system was installed by the previous owner.

[waterpro]

I have very soft water in my well, and being that I have a fiberglass pool and an acrylic hot tub I dont worry too much about it and have never had any ill effects due to it. Now if I had a gunnite pool things would be different. I add no calcium or anything else to increase the hardness.
It does seem weird they didn't leave you without an outside spigot that doesn't go through the softener.

Ya, it's super weird because even the lawn sprinklers are connected "after" the water softener which is a big no-no.  Luckily for me, we are going to be redoing the side yard where all that stuff is located so I'm going to correct it in the future so the landscaping is fed normal hard water, along with a hard water bib, while the rest of the house will be fed with the soft water. 

Curious, since you're using soft water, would do you use anything like defender for scale buildup?  Or do you think it's not worth it since you have soft water?

[BullFrogSpasMN]

160ppm is decent number for calcium imo, not too hard and not too soft, I keep my showroom spas right around 150ppm

[waterpro]

160ppm is decent number for calcium imo, not too hard and not too soft, I keep my showroom spas right around 150ppm

BullFrogSpasMN, Do you use/need descaling when the calcium is at 150?  I'm so new to this chemical thing and trying to figure out what I need and don't need.  The tub is new so I want to make sure I take care of it from the start.

I'm also still trying to figure out why soft water is so bad. If the sole reason is Calcium, it seems like it would be easy enough to add it Calcium increaser.  Just curious if there's more issues beyond Calcium?  Doesn't a water softener add salt to the water to displace the calcium in the water?  So soft water is low in Calcium and higher in salt?  So is the extra salt in the soft water another reason why soft water is bad?  Or is that low level of salt not an issue and not corrosive to the spa parts? 




 

[BullFrogSpasMN]

160ppm is decent number for calcium imo, not too hard and not too soft, I keep my showroom spas right around 150ppm

BullFrogSpasMN, Do you use/need descaling when the calcium is at 150?  I'm so new to this chemical thing and trying to figure out what I need and don't need.  The tub is new so I want to make sure I take care of it from the start.

I'm also still trying to figure out why soft water is so bad. If the sole reason is Calcium, it seems like it would be easy enough to add it Calcium increaser.  Just curious if there's more issues beyond Calcium?  Doesn't a water softener add salt to the water to displace the calcium in the water?  So soft water is low in Calcium and higher in salt?  So is the extra salt in the soft water another reason why soft water is bad?  Or is that low level of salt not an issue and not corrosive to the spa parts?

150 is a good level, I wouldn't expect any heavy buildup, although I do recommend you 'purge' the spa on a yearly basis with a Total Cleanse product which is made by Hot Tub Serum which will clean all the internal components/plumbing/etc of the spa...super low calcium can lead to 'sudsy' water so that's why they make calcium hardness increaser but at 150 ppm you definitely don't need to increase it any further.  Looks like you got a Bullfrog, congrats and enjoy it!