Having soft water flowing through your garden tap isn’t something we would recommend – but not necessarily for the reason that you might think.

There is a general school of thought that because salt is used to make water soft then the water must contain salt. And because of this, every time you water the garden, salt will get into the grass, the flowers and shrubs and even the vegetable patch.  

But this argument doesn’t actually hold water (pardon the pun). 

Firstly, there are thousands of people who live near the sea on the Sussex and Hampshire coastlines, whose properties are subject to sea spray and the generally salty sea air all year round. This has absolutely no detrimental effect on the condition or performance of their gardens. So gardens really have nothing to fear from salt.

Which brings on to the real reason why you don’t want soft water running through your garden tap. 

Salt isn’t added to water to make it soft. The salt is actually used to regenerate the water softener, to ensure it functions correctly. If you run lots of soft water through your garden tap, whether it be for the garden or to wash the car, it is actually only going to cause unnecessary wear on tear on your water softener and you will also use more salt than you need to.

So, you really don’t want soft water anywhere near your garden tap. 

When a water softener is installed, it should be configured to ensure that it bypasses the garden tap. If you own a water softener and it wasn’t set up in this way, then anytime you want to use the garden tap, it’s best to turn the water softener off, so that only hard water passes through the system. Just remember to turn the water softener back on once you have finished watering the garden or cleaning the car. 

If you are unsure as to whether your garden tap has been connected to your water softener, then please give us a call and we can arrange to fix any problems for you. 

Alternatively, why not check out our YouTube video on the subject:

For further information call Scott Jenkins Water Softeners on 01243 607494 or via email: scott@sjbs.info.