need small water softener

[Howard Pollack]

Hi, I need a small water softener to treat the water going into a washing machine. It gets used 3-4 times about every other week. Can anyone recommend a small softener? Perhaps something sized for an RV might be about right. I know absolutely nothing about these devices. Thanks. -Howard

[Michael Schuch]

I believe old style water softeners use a concentrated brine solution (salt water) to strip a membrane of the ions it co0llects when softening the water. The brine has to be dumped down the drain and many localities will no longer allow these types of water softeners.

New much more compact softeners use ascorbic acid to contain the mineralized ions.

I recommend Googling "ascorbic acid water softener" or "citrus water softener". I remember Tommy on this old house talking about these new citrus water softeners on an episode years ago. I don't remember the specifics or the exact details of how salt and ascorbic acid softeners work. But I am pretty sure you want a ascorbic acid softener because it is much smaller and doesn't require a drain to dump the used brine.

[Howard Pollack]

Thank you, I will. -Howard

[Kev Williams]

Being an RV'er I've heard of these, found this, thought I'd share- I noted it IS a salt-unit, but requires only 2 boxes of table salt to regenerate (in 30 minutes), which is good for softening 1600 gallons of water...

https://www.campingworld.com/on-the-go-portable-double-standard-water-softener-conditioner-56461.html?utm_source=google&utm_medium=ppc&utm_campaign=%7bCampaign%7d&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIxYCP3-eC9gIVwT2tBh0VAgKYEAYYASABEgILnPD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

[Curt Harms]

We have a water boss which is pretty simple to install but would be overkill for a single appliance. This is the first I've heard of the Ascorbic acid water softener.