5
Reduce or eliminate the use of fabric softeners.
Fabrics washed in hard water retain soap curd or residue making them
“crackle” when removed from the dryer or stiff if air-dried. Fabric
softeners are necessary with hard water to keep your clothing soft, but
with soft water, you can reduce your use of fabric softeners or eliminate
them altogether.
Take special precautions with automatic dishwashers.
Soft water, when combined with caustic phosphates in some
dishwasher detergents and very high temperatures in the dry cycle, can
etch dishes and glassware. To prevent this possibility:
•use the “no heat” dry cycle on your
dishwasher;
•use the minimum amount of a good
quality, low phosphate dishwasher
detergent needed to clean your dishes.
This may be as little as 20 percent of
the amount recommended by the
appliance manufacturer or on the
dishwasher soap box;
•wash good china and crystal by hand.
Special care for plants and fish.
Depending on your water hardness level, amount of rainfall and how
often you water, you could use soft water for
outside watering, but why waste your soft
water? Water your lawn, shrubs and outside
plants from an outside hard water faucet, or
put your Ergo 7 water softener in by-pass
before watering. See “By-pass” on page 8 for
instructions on by-passing your system. Many
houseplants can be watered with soft water,
although some can be highly sensitive to the
elevated level of sodium ions in soft water.
You may prefer to water houseplants with
hard water or water from a reverse osmosis system.
Fish accustomed to hard water may have trouble with an abrupt change
to soft water. Make the change gradually over a period of seven to 14
days by blending hard and soft water until the tank contains 100
percent soft water. Once you begin using soft water, you should notice
that your fish tank stays cleaner longer.
