Water treatment in Mallorca
Official hardness for each network, the regulations and which unit each water needs.
Water softeners · Mallorca
Water softener in Mallorca:
limescale out of the whole house.
Mallorca's limescale eats away at the water heater, the heat-pump cylinder, taps and the washing machine. A water softener where the water enters the house stops it before it does damage. We size it to your water's measured hardness, set it so it stays above what the regulations require and fit it the way the Spanish building code CTE DB HS 4 says. We fit every brand, BWT included; the one we recommend is Kinetico.
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- No more limescale
- Water heater and heat pump protected
- CTE HS 4 · EN 14743
- EN · ES · DE
Kinetico Premier Plus · Image: Kinetico
Why here
What limescale does to a house in Mallorca
According to the bulletins water companies report to SINAC (see the Mallorca water table), 17 of the 22 networks we list are above 30 °fH, and in our measurements well water is around 60 °fH. That limescale sticks wherever water is heated: in the water heater, the coil of the heat-pump cylinder, the washing machine and dishwasher elements. And cold, it turns shower screens white and clogs aerators and shower heads.
An ion-exchange softener does one specific thing: it swaps the calcium and magnesium in the water for sodium, inside a resin tank that is regenerated with brine. The water that comes out no longer scales.
The saving
Where you notice it on the bill
A layer of scale on a heat exchanger is insulation placed exactly where heat has to pass into the water. Two figures with a source to size it:
- Battelle, in a test for the Water Quality Research Foundation (an industry foundation): on water of about 44 °fH, a gas storage water heater went from 80 % to 72 % efficiency in two years; on softened water it stayed at 80 %.
- Daikin, in the manual of its EKHHP hot-water heat pump: above 3 mmol/L of hardness (30 °fH), it asks for the water to be softened or its hardness stabilised.
If you have or plan a heat pump for hot water, a softener is how the cylinder keeps performing as it did on day one.
Properly set
Neither hard water nor water at zero
A softener is never set to zero. RD 3/2023 requires softened or desalinated water to keep at least 55 mg/L of hardness (5.5 °fH). That is why the outlet blend is adjusted, and we leave it measured.
There is a second reason: sodium. By the chemistry of ion exchange, for every 10 °fH of hardness it removes, the water gains about 46 mg/L of sodium. Bringing 45 °fH water down to 10 adds about 160 mg/L, and the RD 3/2023 parametric value for sodium is 200 mg/L. So with very hard water, the sensible thing is to keep one kitchen tap unsoftened for drinking or add reverse osmosis.
The regulations
How a water softener should be installed
It goes after the main stopcock, so the CTE DB HS 4 building code applies, as article 46 of RD 3/2023 states:
- A non-return valve before the unit, so nothing flows back into the mains.
- A bypass, so the house keeps its water if the softener stops or is being serviced.
- A way to check the treatment is working and a meter for the water it uses to regenerate.
- A drain for regeneration and room to load salt and carry out maintenance.
The unit itself has its product standard: EN 14743 covers softeners for use inside buildings. We fit every brand (BWT included), and the one we recommend is Kinetico, for what the manufacturer itself states on its website: it works without electricity, on water pressure; its twin-tank units keep supplying soft water while one tank regenerates, even in a power cut; and it regenerates according to the water you use, not every so many days on a timer.
Upkeep
Salt, resin and disinfection
The interval we give you is the stricter of the regulations and your unit's manual. What the manuals ask, for example Kinetico's softener manual: never let the salt run out, use proper softener salt rather than rock salt, and if the incoming water has a bacteriological problem, put the unit on bypass and have it sanitised before using it again.
If you spend part of the year away from Mallorca, we include it in JSL Villa Care: we come by, top up the salt, check the outlet hardness and note it down for you.
How we work
Your water softener in four steps
1
Photos and details
Photos of the water inlet, of where the unit would go, and how many people live in the house.
2
We test
Your water's hardness, the pressure and the drain. That decides the size.
3
Installed to code
Non-return valve, bypass, meter and blend setting, measured at the outlet.
4
Follow-up
Salt, sanitising and servicing at the interval your unit's manufacturer requires.
By area
Water softeners, town by town
The official hardness of each network, with its SINAC bulletin, and the case of each area: Alcúdia (48 °fH) · Can Picafort and Santa Margalida (58 °fH) · Porto Cristo (57 °fH) · Cala Millor and Son Servera (54 °fH) · Llucmajor (42 °fH) · Santanyí (127 °fH) · Cala d'Or (49 °fH) · Palma (35-38 °fH) · Marratxí (48 °fH) · Inca (49 °fH)
Common questions
FAQ about water softeners in Mallorca
Is a water softener worth it in Mallorca?
If your water is hard, yes, and in Mallorca most networks are: according to SINAC bulletins, Inca is around 49 °fH, Palma 35-38 and Porto Cristo 57, and well water, in our measurements, around 60. You notice it in the water heater, the heat-pump cylinder, the taps and the washing machine. If your network is soft, like Andratx, we'll tell you and won't sell you anything.
What hardness is softened water set to?
Not zero. RD 3/2023 requires softened water to keep at least 55 mg/L CaCO₃, which is 5.5 °fH. In a Mallorca home we usually set the blend so the water comes out a little above that: soft enough not to scale, without overdoing the sodium. We measure it at the outlet on the day we hand it over.
Can you drink softened water?
For drinking, better not if your water is very hard. A softener swaps calcium for sodium: about 46 mg/L of sodium for every 10 °fH it removes, and the RD 3/2023 parametric value is 200 mg/L. The Drinking Water Inspectorate, the regulator for England and Wales, advises keeping an unsoftened kitchen tap and not using softened water to make up baby feeds. If you are on a low-salt diet, ask your doctor. In Mallorca the usual answer is a separate tap or reverse osmosis for drinking.
What salt does it use and how often is it topped up?
Proper softener salt, tablets or clean granules; not rock salt, which carries dirt and fouls the resin, as Kinetico's manual warns, for example. How often depends on your water's hardness and how much you use: with the 60 °fH of a Mallorca well you go through far more than on mains water. The rule is never to let the tank run empty.
Does a softener protect the heat pump and water heater?
Yes, and that is where the saving is. Daikin asks in the manual of its EKHHP hot-water heat pump for water under 3 mmol/L of hardness (30 °fH) and treatment above that; according to SINAC, Inca, Palma and Marratxí are above it. And in a Battelle test for the industry, a gas water heater dropped from 80 % to 72 % efficiency in two years on water of about 44 °fH, and lost nothing on softened water.
What do the regulations require for the installation?
It sits after the main stopcock, so the CTE DB HS 4 building code applies: a non-return valve before the unit, a bypass so the house is never left without water, a way to check it works and a meter for the water it uses to regenerate. The unit has its own product standard, EN 14743, and what the law requires of it is in article 46 of RD 3/2023, which for a unit fitted after the main stopcock refers back to that same CTE DB HS 4. That is how we leave it in any home in Mallorca.
Does a softener work on well water?
For the limescale, yes; to make it drinkable, no. A softener does not remove bacteria, nitrates or the salt of a brackish well, and manufacturers design them for water that is already microbiologically safe. With the 60 °fH we measure in Mallorca wells, the lab analysis comes first, and then we decide which unit goes where.
You may also like
More on your home's water
The softener is one piece; here is the rest.
Reverse osmosis
Drinking water without limescale or salt at the kitchen tap.
Well and cistern water
What to test and what no unit does.
Plumbing
Hot and cold water, pressure sets, well pumps, repairs and pipe renewal throughout the house.
Heat pumps
Heating, cooling and hot water from one heat pump: limescale is what hurts its cylinder most.
Shall we get the limescale out of your house?
Send us photos of the water inlet and we'll tell you which unit suits it. Itemised quote.