[Greenbuilding] [BULK] Re: Tankless HW and hard water

[Lawrence Lile]

>
> It's not obvious to me why this would be so. Anyone care to share 
> thoughts? Lime formation won't tend to happen below, I think, about 
> 160F. But surely in a tankless there are hot spots that exceed that?
> Maybe that's the answer right there? Or perhaps it doesn't form well 
> in a stainless steel environment...
>
>Hmm.  160F?  My cat's water dish built up lime.  

That's one hot cat. ;-) Yeah, I've seen lime build up at lower
temperatures, and a tank water heater lasts about ten years around here
before the tank gets so full of lime that it stops working, that is at
120F.  Any dish of water that evaporates leaves a ring of the stuff.
Dr. Vasile may not be in such a hard water area.  Our water is so hard,
we use it to cut rocks (No kidding: http://web.umr.edu/%7Ewaterjet/) 

The new county water system I am moving to has 252 mg/L or 15 gr/gal
hardness, mostly CaCO3.  That's pretty hard.  I am going to put a water
softener on the hot water side only.  I don't know much about softeners,
but I know they use salt and make some waste brine.  I wonder if this is
bad for the sewer lagoon? How much energy do these things use?  Are they
another environmental nightmare, and is there an alternative?  


--Lawrence Lile