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Whether it’s wrestling a 25 pound bag of salt into your basement for your water softener or trying to get that bottle of CLR to clean as well as it does on TV; most people have had their own battle with hard water.
Hard water is very common in the United States. According to the US Geological Survey more than 85% of the Country is affected by hard water in their home. So what makes our water “hard”? It’s all about where it comes from. Our water flows through soil and rocks where it picks up different minerals from the ground. Specifically, hard water contains calcium and magnesium minerals. As the water travels to your home, the calcium and magnesium particles dissolve and travel into your pipes and through your faucets as well. These two minerals are what makes the water hard and create lime-scale build up.
Other than the sheer annoyance of cleaning the lime-scale and hard water spots away, there are other harmful disadvantages to having hard water. The calcium and magnesium deposits can build up and layer in your pipes causing flow reduction. Another place that can be detrimental to hard water buildup is in your water heater. As the heat is applied to the water heater and boiler, the calcium and magnesium minerals adhere and “cake” on to the inside walls and heating pipes. This causes the water heater and boiler to lose heating efficiency, eventually reducing it’s length of life.
One important thing to keep in mind when shopping for your softener is the size of the softener you need. If you’re unsure of the size you will need, it’s better to oversize than to get stuck with an undersized softener. If the softener is too small, you will most likely use more salt and waste more water as it will have to regenerate more frequently. In addition to buying more salt and paying for more unused water, it is harmful to septic systems and drain fields. You can minimize the wasted water and salt by getting the proper size softener for your household.
Before shopping for a water softener to avoid the negative effects of hard water, it is important to know how much water your family uses. This information can usually be obtained by taking a look at your most current water or utility bill. It is also important to know what is in your water and your level of hardness. Water testing companies can test your water for different minerals and water hardness. There are also testing kits available that you can purchase to measure the hardness yourself. Water hardness is measured in parts per gallon (ppg) or parts per million (ppm).
Even though some softeners can remove lead, iron and other contaminants, having the proper PH and knowing if your well water requires special treatment is important to successfully achieve soft water.
Ready to break free from the “hard water” life? Arm yourself with your water test results and your water bill and take a look at all water softening options you have to choose from on the next page.
It’s time to forgo the scent of CLR-scrubbed bathrooms and your all-to-frequent bouts of “cleaner’s elbow”, not to mention the harming effects it can have on your boiler and water heater. Although water softener shopping presents it’s own set of challenges, the benefits of soft water is more than enough. Now’s the time to protect your family from costly plumbing repairs and harmful effects of hard water.
There are all sorts of different shapes and sizes of water softeners that can fulfill different roles with different capabilities. In other words in the land of softeners the choices are plenty. Starting with the basics, there are two main categories of water softeners.
CHEMICAL SOFTENERS are probably what most people think of when they think “water softener”. Chemical softeners use salt or potassium to filter the calcium and magnesium particles out of your water. In the first tank of the water softener, the water passes through resin beads that are saturated with sodium (salt). The reason the resin beads remove the hard water (made up of calcium and magnesium minerals) is due to the fact that hard water minerals have positive charges, which means they cling to the beads which are negative-charged ions as they pass through the initial mineral tank. As the positive calcium and magnesium ions attach to the negative resin beads, the sodium on the resin bead is released into the water, making the water “soft.”
This process continues every time your fixtures call for water. Eventually the resin beads become saturated with calcium and magnesium particles and no sodium ions remain. Once this happens the softener must be recharged by flushing the ion exchange resin with large amounts of your brine solution. This is where those bags of salt come into play. The salt stored in the brine tank where it is combined with water is used for replenishing the sodium on the resin beads. The regeneration process is different depending on what model of softener you get. Some have timer regeneration, which means the flushing process is programmed to run at a certain time every few days. The other option is meter regeneration, which is more efficient. This type of softener flushes the resin beads based on the volume of water you use.
Another thing to consider when buying a chemical softener is what plumbing fixtures you would like to have softened water in. For example, it is harmful to your lawn and plants to be watered with softened water, which contains sodium. It is also very expensive to use softened water in such large quantities just for your lawn. This may pose a problem for people who want to wash their cars with softened water to avoid hard water spots. Another area most people avoid softening is their drinking water and water used for cooking. However, if you have a reverse osmosis (RO) filter at your sink, it is recommended that you use a softener at your kitchen sink.
Some people become concerned with the fact that they are now adding sodium to their diets with a softener. Depending on how hard your water is, most softeners produce 170 milligrams of salt per liter. For someone with a diet of 2300 daily milligrams of sodium, you would have to consume 13.5 liters of water to exceed that. This is why some people choose to soften their water with potassium. However this also has it’s own health concerns.
Call us today and we can have a custom system built just for your house and your water usage.