A weird boiler & water softener query

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Hi all,

I'm looking to have a water softener fitted as we have live in a very hard water area (approx 450ppm) but my boiler Ideal Standard Logic 24+ is not recommended for use with artificially softened water. Given my existing pipework I am looking at putting in an option to drain the static softened water in the pipework (see attached) via the cylinder pressure relief pipe once I've diverted at the softener. When my system boiler was installed a few years back, the plumber brought in a new 22mm feed from the mains and plumbed the cylinder and one bathroom shower off this. However, I'm pretty certain I still have other taps and outlets that are still on the original 15mm feed off the mains, which also supplies my filler loop.

I have considered that I could potentially open a tap and drain off the softened water but intuitively, I think this would not pull out the residual water at the filling loop and I may have to turn the stopcock off to ensure all the softened water is drained off, which in turn will leave me with airlocks at the filling loop.

Therefore my proposal is to join the filling loop and the pressure relief pipe for the cylinder via a ball lever. In order to use the filling loop, I would divert to hard water at the softener, open the ball lever to drain off the residual softened water and once I'm satisifed that I'm now pulling hard water from the mains, to close the valve and use the filling loop as normal.

I would really appreciate some advice on whether this is a sensible approach or if I could approach this differently?

Thanks!
 

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Just bumping to see if I can get any help with this. Thanks!
 
One last desperate bump to get some help on this one.

Also just to add, I am getting quotes for the softener installation, I just want to validate my assumptions above on draining the softened water at the filling loop and then take that forward with the plumber.
 
Haven't checked but assume your boiler is a Combi. Then:
1. If you want softened hot water you will have to:
1a. Put softened water through the cold water inlet. OR
1b. Use the combi as a conventional boiler to heat an indirect hot water cylinder.
2. If you don't want softened hot water, there is little point in having a water softener.
3. If you want to make sure the heating system only has unsoftened water in it, connect the filling loop to a point between the incoming mains and the inlet to the softener.
 
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Haven't checked but assume your boiler is a Combi. Then:
1. If you want softened hot water you will have to:
1a. Put softened water through the cold water inlet. OR
1b. Use the combi as a conventional boiler to heat an indirect hot water cylinder.
2. If you don't want softened hot water, there is little point in having a water softener.
3. If you want to make sure the heating system only has unsoftened water in it, connect the filling loop to a point between the incoming mains and the inlet to the softener.

Thank you for the input. My setup is an system boiler with an unvented cylinder. I just want to solve the issue of using non-softened water for the boiler/GCH.
 

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