non-salt alternatives for hard water?

[happypamama]

We have really hard water; it's killed multiple appliances and is about to kill our water heater. Before we replace the water heater, we want to do something about the water. I'm not terribly wild about the idea of a salt-based system; aside from the expense of salt, I've read some not-so-great things about the amount of sodium that it puts into our drinking water. It might be possible to run two separate lines so that the kitchen sink is on its own line for drinking water (the dishwasher is completely separate from the sink anyway, thanks to retrofitting an 1830s house), with everything else that uses water on a separate line that runs through the softener, but I'm not sure.

 

Anyone have any other suggestions for treating hard water? The usual additives, like lemon juice and vinegar for dishwasher, etc., really aren't effective; if we want it softened, it needs to be done where it comes into the house, before it hits the water heater and everything.

[dbmamaz]

i vaguely remember hearing about something magnet-based, but that was a long time ago, far away.

[cjzimmer1]

I know you are looking for alternatives to salt but wanted to let you know that it's very common to only run some of the water through the softener. All cold water in our kitchen is left untreated (so the faucet and the water dispenser in the fridge) and the line to faucet outside is also untreated. Everything else is treated. So we really aren't injesting the softened water (I also use cold water for cooking). As far as the expense of salt, if you get a properly sized softener (and if you want to further increase efficiency there is ones that monitor your water usage as well as higher models yet that monitor the water hardness so that the softener doesn't run anymore than absolutely necessary) , I don't think the expense is that bad. I think we only use about $100 of salt a year (and with a family of 8 we go through a lot of water).

[Mom0012]

We can use either potassium or salt in our water softener. I think the potassium is more expensive, though.