Water from a Kinetico water softener can be used in a humidifier providing that the water does not contain a high level of impurities. A Kinetico water softener does not purify your water and you should test your Kinetico water before using it in a humidifier.
A Kinetico water softener will remove calcium, magnesium, and even dissolved (ferrous) iron from your water, but other impurities like sodium could cause problems with a humidifier so you should be aware of what is in your Kinetico softened water before using it in a humidifier.
Here’s What We Are Going To Cover:
- Is Water From A Kinetico Water Softener Safe To Use In A Humidifier?
- Do I Need To Purify Water From A Kinetico Water Softener To Use It In A Humidifier?
- Can Water From A Kinetico Water Softener Harm My Humidifier?
- What Should I Do To My Kinetico Softened Water To Make It Usable In My Humidifier? (With Video)
Is Water From A Kinetico Water Softener Safe To Use In A Humidifier?
A Kinetico water softener removes calcium and magnesium which can cause scaling inside of a humidifier, but it will not necessarily make the water safer to use in a humidifier.
Water that has gone through a Kinetico water softener may still contain high levels of TDS (Total Dissolved Solids) like sodium which could end up in the air when used in a humidifier.
Bacteria or other potentially harmful impurities in the water will not be removed by a Kinetico water softener and should be purified by using a home water distiller or a reverse osmosis drinking water filtering system.
Do I Need To Purify Water From A Kinetico Water Softener To Use It In A Humidifier?
It all depends on the water that is going into the Kinetico water softener and if the water softener is functioning properly.
A Kinetico water softener is for removing Calcium, Magnesium and in some cases dissolved iron from your water. Impurities that could affect how your humidifier operates will still be in your water if they were present in the water before it went through the water softener.
Although a Kinetico water softener does not normally add a significant amount of sodium to your water when a Kinetico water softener does not have ample water pressure to rinse away the sodium used to regenerate its resin, the water from a Kinetico water softener may contain high levels of sodium which could create deposits of salt on surrounding surfaces and inside of the humidifier.
Testing the TDS (Total Dissolved Solids) in the water from your Kinetico water softener will let you know if your water is pure enough to use in a humidifier or if it should be filtered further by distillation or reverse osmosis.
Water from a Kinetico water softener with a low TDS reading of less than 50 should be just fine to use in a humidifier with minimal spotting on surrounding surfaces.
However, if the water from your Kinetico water softener has a TDS reading of above 50, I highly recommend using a home distiller to completely remove any impurities in the water before using it in a humidifier or using water from your reverse osmosis water filtering system.
Can Water From A Kinetico Water Softener Harm My Humidifier?
A Kinetico water softener can sometimes leave a high level of sodium behind after regeneration if the water pressure going to the water softener is low.
Recommended Reading: Why Is The Water From My Kinetico Water Softener Salty?
Low water pressure going to a Kinetico water softener can cause it to draw brine from its brine slowly and not rinse away all of the brine during the regeneration process.
If this salty water is used in a humidifier, deposits of salt can collect inside of the humidifier as well as on surfaces surrounding the humidifier which could damage the humidifier and the surfaces that the salt comes in contact with.
What Should I Do To My Kinetico Softened Water To Make It Usable In My Humidifier?
The best way to purify water from a Kinetico water softener to make it usable in a humidifier is to use a home water distiller to remove all of the impurities from the water that could cause problems if the water is used in a humidifier.
Check Out This Quick Video On Using A Home Water Distiller!
If you use a reverse osmosis drinking water system for your drinking water, the reverse osmosis water may be perfectly fine to use in your humidifier providing the TDS (Total Dissolved Solids) in the water is low enough.
You can test the TDS of your water with a TDS meter to determine if the TDS is under 50 which should work fine in a typical humidifier.
To Sum Up:
You certainly can use water from a Kinetico water softener in a humidifier providing that the water does not contain impurities that could damage the humidifier or cause spots, to begin with.
Although a Kinetico water softener does remove hard minerals from your water, it may not produce water that is pure enough to use in a humidifier and the water from a Kinetico water softener may need further purification by using a water distiller or a reverse osmosis drinking water system.
I bought a house with well water and an acid neutralizer which wasn’t hooked up. My neighbors say I don’t need it. But after a year I checked the PH and it was around 5.5 so I setup my neutralizer and now have a PH of 7.5. My problem is that I now have extremely hard water (240). Can a saltless water softener or a scale inhibitor do me any good. I think I need to go with a salt system but was wondering because I have very little room. We now see white debris floating in the water and sticking to pots when we boil the water. I’m sure it’s not helping my new water heater either. My wife won’t “can” her tomatoes or anything else this year once she saw the residue on the jars when they were boiled.
Hello Mr. McKay and thank you for the question.
A saltless water conditioner should help with stopping the hardness from building up inside of your water heater but it does not actually remove the hardness from your water. I recommend that you use an “All in one” water softener to save space and it should be installed after the acid neutralizer since the calcite that is usually used to neutralize the acid adds additional hardness to the water.
I hope this was helpful
Paul
Hi Paul, we have a Kinetico softener system for the main water supply in our house including car washing hose outlet,and a filtration kitchen system from Kinetico for drinking water. However, the water from the main softener is still leaving water marks on dishes, the car etc. Tds readings are 300plus for cold water and 500 plus from water heater!! Kinetico keeps saying as long as the PH is in alkaline range which is what they focus on, TDS is a non issue?? We are confused and annoyed as the system cost a pretty penny for us to be getting spots still. What do you think is the issue? The water from the kitchen system is excellent though with high PH and TDS of 19-23.
Hello Bob and thank you for the question.
If you’re just getting light spotting it could be sodium (salt) and not hardness.I have found that a TDS As low as 250 to 300 can contain enough salt to leave spots that look like hard water spots.
If the spotting comes off easily was just some water, it is very likely sodium and not hardness. If it takes some elbow grease for the spot to go away, then it’s probably hardness which means the water contains hardness.Now that does not necessarily mean that the system is not working correctly, there could be some hardness mixing in to the water after it has gone through the water softener. This is very uncommon but is possible. You would have to check the plumbing to make sure no other lines are connecting to the main pipe going to the house.
Also you mentioned that the TDS from hot water it’s considerably higher than from cold. If you’ve only had the water softener for a short while there could be hardness built up in the pipes from your hot water heater system which is gradually being removed from the pipes by the softened water but could leave spots.
One last thought would be that your system is not a proper sodium dosage when it regenerates. If the salt dosage is set too low, not enough water softening resin will be regenerated to provide you soft water in between generations. I would contact you local and ask for a senior technician or service manager and discuss the problem with them and hopefully get one of their most experienced people out to look at it.
I hope this was helpful.
Paul