Fernox F1 is suiable for use with Softened Water, says the HHIC

News has hit the grapevine than the inhibitor F1, made by Fernox, a market leader in water treatment chemicals, can be used with softened water.
In general, we shouldn't trust rumours, but the public release of the information has come strieght from the horses mouth -

we received a PDF press release, originally from fernox explaining the details a little bit. The technical bulletin states:

"In January 2013, the water treatment group of HHIC approved the following statement concerning the use of water softeners: 




Where a water softener is present in the dwelling ensure that a heating system primary circuit is filled with mains water via the general bypass valve as required within BS14173. Note: A water 

softener must comply with BS14173 (this states that there must be ‘a general bypass valve which 

enables the softening unit to be isolated from the mains, while maintaining water supply to the 

end user’. For installation requirements, refer to WRAS Information and guidance Note No 9-07-

01 “Information for the installation of ion exchange water softeners for systems supplying water 

for domestic purposes”. 

Refer to boiler manufacturer’s instructions for any additional advice on softened water."

Consequently any future central heating installation where a water softener is present should not be filled with softened water.

The DWTA support this advice, however there will still be some existing installations where the primary circuit has already been filled with softened water. For these installations, the following advice is still relevant.

When a central heating system is filled with base exchanged softened water, Fernox Protector F1 will adequately protect the heating system as long as it is correctly dosed and maintained t

throughout the life of the system. The correct dose rate of Fernox Protector F1 can be verified 

using either a Protector Test Kit or a Fernox System Health Check, both available from plumbing 

merchants.

This recommendation is identical to that given for natural waters and indicates that Fernox Protector F1 inhibits in all water conditions."

Softened Water has been proven to NOT cause corrosion in aluminium heat exchangers

Report released in Woking, December 2012.

Since the 1980s, there has been disagreement within the professional water heating sector about the use of softened water in central heating systems with aluminium heat exchangers. The water softener manufacturers say that you can use softened water, while some of the chemical inhibitor manufacturers say you cannot.

To settle the argument, in March 2012 Harvey Water Softeners got together with other members of the UKWTA (United Kingdom Water Treatment Association) and commissioned BSI (British Standards Institute) to carry out a test and prove, once and for all, who was correct.

The results were announced by Harvey Bowden, the Chairman of Harvey Water Softeners, at the HHIC Annual Conference during the parliamentary reception at the House of Commons on Wednesday 28th November 2012.

The report states that, “Over the lifetime of a modern central heating system, filling with base-exchange softened hard mains water would appear to present no significantly greater risk of corrosion of system metals than filling with hard mains water”.

So one question remains : why there was confusion in the first place... was there another source of corrosion not accused? - further updates coming soon.

Harvey is a trusted brand of water softeners and has spent many years perfecting the brand - a trusted seller of Harvey equipment is Spectrum Softeners.

Water Softener Reviews - Comparing the Best

Hello Shoppers! Like many of us, you're probably a little bit unsure which water softener to go for, so we thought we'd add some customer reviews - good and bad -  for the top 10 best softeners on the market today, for you to have a look at, before you buy. 

UK's Top 10 Water Softeners  

We've spoken to plenty of domestic clients about their experiences with the units they buy from us, and how they found the DYI installation. All our customers were asked, in this instance, to give an 'out of 5 rating' and tell us one good thing and one critique about each softener - This is what they've said:

1. Crown Softener Review - £753.94 Buy Now
• Rating 5/5
• Claire, Cheshire: "I chose this softener for a few reasons, because the salt is great value and because you don't need to plug it in - the only downside I can find is that it didn't seem to have clear controls - until I worked out that it was automatic softener!!"  
• (click here to read full Crown review from us!)
2. Crown Ultra  Softener Review - £1,095.00 Buy Now
• Rating 4/5
• Jake, Liverpool: "The good part is how much this softener produced water-wise [flow-rate]. I have a big family; 4 children, and needed a lot more than the standard softeners offer. The bad part is that it's a fair bit more [£££] compared to the others I'd looked at, but it's worth it in my case!"
3. Coral Softener Review - £348.67 Buy Now
• Rating 4/5
• Lara, Sussex: "I found it value for money, and great for my skin and hair since I'm quite sensitive to the hard water ion my area. I would definitely recommend having a plumber install it - I found quite difficult and had a plumber come and connect it in the end"
4. Swan Softener Review - £414.30 Buy Now
• Rating 5/5
• Kate, London: "Great for my home since it's a decent price and had a range of larger sizes - I got a 30 litre timer one for great money and it works fine. I like that it takes tablet salt too, it's less fussy. I did have to wait a couple of weeks for it though, since it's a 'made to order' one [softener]"
5. Home Water Softener Review - £466.44 Buy Now
• Rating 4/5
• Andrew, Devon : "It's one of the slightly more expensive ones, but it came with an installation kit included so I was happy about that - I found it easy to fit too, with a little bit of elbow grease and a youtube video - job done! Just got to make sure you shut the water off before you start chopping into anything! Nothing bad really, but they are a bit expensive"
6. Delta Softener Review - £550.20 Buy Now
• Rating 3/5
• Indigo, Birmingham: "I liked it because it has an install kit included and it's non-electric, but I found that, when I received it and went to put it in, I had to drill a hole to connect the overflow - this is apparently a feature of the unit, since the brine tank and valve[s] swivels to three different positions, so you can get it into compact spaces (another reason for buying) and you wouldn't want three different holes in the softener, but I found it quite annoying! So beware to all of those who purchase this one, you'll need a small drill!! "
7. Domestic Fleck Softener Review - £458.64 Buy Now
• Rating 5/5
• Rachel, Leicester: "I got this because we have a big duplex 'Fleck' softener at work - they're not really glamorous or anything but they're really reliable since the make is an industrial one, primarily; works well for me!"
8. Mistral Softener Review - £363.88 Buy Now
• Rating 4/5
• Gary, Hertfordshire: "I hate parting with my money, so I was looking for the very best deal I could - this seemed like the best thing I could find, so I went for it, Installed it myself, and it's been fine. Took me a while to get a hand of the 'regeneration' business, but I got round that pretty quickly"
9. Pallas Duo Mini Softener Review - £1,009.58 Buy Now
• Rating 5/5
• Anna, Bradford: "Oooh I love my softener! It's such a better looking model than the ones you usually see too, so I'm not embarrassed when people see it in my kitchen - I love the display, and the slider compartment. In general, I was looking for s duplex one, and this one really caught my eye. I didn't install it myself, since it looked quite complicated"
10. Pallas Duo Maxi Softener Review - £1,165.23 Buy Now
• Rating 5/5
• Oscar, Hampshire: "Brilliant for my house - we have a big home with en suites, so needed a good one. The top is great and easy to use. Very expensive though"

What is a 'Duplex' water softener?

It's not always the most straight forward of things, buying a softener. The most frequent question is, "what is a duplex?"

The best way to describe this is to explain a simplex softener first - the 'simplex' describes a single vessel within the softener.

The picture to the right, shows a model with two vessels (the two dark blue canisters) ; this is known as a duplex model.

The simplex softeners were the first ones on the market; These need time to 'regenerate' the resin. Or, in lamens terms, to soak up all the sodium goodness into the small resin beads, before the softening process starts again. This limits the use of your softener, but only on occasion. There are many ways to get around that, one is to use a 'timer' softener (which we will link to another post shortly) and the other is to invest in a 'duplex'.

A duplex softener only uses one canister/vessel at a time, so one of them has a full chance to 'regenerate' before needing to be used - it's a feature that ensures soft water is being made 24/7, and is the choice most people make when deciding to buy a softener.

This is what happens when a softener regenerates...