About speedball1 Expertise About me: My Plumbing Expertise: I retired from plumbing after a lifetime in the trade. all phases from service and upkeep to construction, both residential and commercial. I am qualified to do anything in plumbing from fixing a leaky faucet to drafting a set of plans for a commercial shopping center and supervising the construction. My last five years were spent as a trouble shooter for a large plumbing company. I took on all my companys complaints. I have been a expert on the plumbing page at Askme.com. In a field of 200 experts my rating was number one. You may also find me at Answerway.com and AskMe Help Desk.com. This is fun for me and if I can help anybody out that`s iceing on the cake. Degrees & Certifications: As for degrees, I don`t have any. Just a Journeymans ticket, but hey! How about fifty years experience?
Experience Life Experience? Hmmmmmmm! Ran away at 15 and joined a carnival, Navy at 17 Merchant marine at 19 I've had a hellava life.
Question Had a Sears water softener in the house when I bought it-- looks like the one that came with the house when it was built in 1956. Old fiberglass tank type with zeolite pellets and salt. The internal horizontal tube about two-thirds up from the bottom finally broke up and I've bypassed the softener completely. Water isn't that hard anyhow, clothes and dishes wash clean, etc, so I don't care. So here's the real question: I've always had some brownish stains (iron) on fixtures and etc, but I think it's a little worse since installing a pipe and valves that bypass the softener. I don't have any iron pipe inside the house (all copper) but I think the mains in my community might be iron in places. How much iron filtering does the water softener usually do? Should I install a softener to cut down on the iron staining and can I tone down its effect on the water (saltiness, slipperyness) while still cutting down on the iron?
-T
Answer Tom, I'm sorry but in my metro area pumps, water softeners, septic tank problems are all separate trades. While we may pipe to, and install them, another trade picks up service and repair from there. Perhaps if you asked another plumbing expert you can get a instant answer. Again, my apologies, it's not very often I have to make them. Tom
