Our plumbing project is finished as far as we can take it right now. There are a couple of very minor leaks which may resolve themselves over time. We’re going to keep an eye on things and see how it goes, and the buckets will live here for a while.
From left to right we have a shutoff valve, a sediment filter, the water softener tank, and then the conditioned water flows into the house.
This system solved a number of problems. The shutoff valve and original house filter were both in the crawl space which is accessed by the door to the right of the filters. It was extremely difficult to change that original filter. We removed the original filter and left the filter housing in the crawl space as a means to drain the pipes.
This new water conditioner is like a catalytic converter in that it changes the polarity of the calcium carbonate which is in suspension in the water, and makes it so that it won’t stick to anything like pipes or plumbing fixtures, or hair or clothes. The calcium carbonate is still present in the water, but it is not in suspension and just slides on through. Very cool concept.
Unlike normal water softeners, this one requires no electricity, and it doesn't add salt to water we are drinking or using, nor does it contaminate ground water with saline.
There is a LOT of work pictured here. We need to build the door to the crawl space, seal the grout, remove the stovepipe and patch the sheetrock, complete the electrical issues like moving light fixtures and fixing the wiring in boxes, install closet doors to the laundry closet, and then do all the painting.
It’s better than it was though, we have a floor that is possible to clean down there now.