Water Softeners

Do I need a water softener?

Do you have dry hair, stiff laundry and endless appliance repair bills? Are you living with decreased water pressure from scale-ridden pipes? Then you need a water softener. Hard water will not go away on its own. The cost incurred by hard water will only continue to escalate.

Without a water softener, appliances will fail sooner than they should. If water scales continue to accumulate in your pipes, your flow rate will continue to restrict and you risk losing water pressure throughout the house. Hard water wrecks water heaters. Your utility bills will continue to skyrocket. The perpetual cycle of repairs and replacements will continue without the safeguard of a water softener.

What is a water softener?

A water softener is a whole-house system which addresses the most prevalent and devastating water problems: hard water. A Water Softener is not a filter, but rather it removes hardness-causing calcium and magnesium minerals in your water through a process called ion exchange.

Scales from hard water build up in your pipes which clogs them and decreases water pressure. This can dramatically shorten the lifespan of your appliances like dishwashers, coffee makers and ice machines.

Hard water affects hot water even faster. Calcium and magnesium will solidify in higher temperatures. Once they cool, they will harden into solid deposits inside your hot water heater. Harden scales will attach themselves to the heating element and makes a popping noise when heating. As the temperature of the heater rises, the tank expands, and calcified rock deposits start cracking and stretching.

Other side effects of not having a water softener are, extra laundry detergent to prevent it from looking dingy. Clean dishes will look streaked and stained coming out of your dishwasher. Filmy scum builds up on your shower curtains. Soaps and shampoos will not lather. Hard water will leave your skin itchy and dry, and your hair lifeless and sticky after bathing. The effects of hard water are astronomical due to the amount of time, energy and money required to clean up the detrimental side effects.

How does a water softener work?

Ion exchange is the process which water softeners work through. This process eliminates calcium and magnesium from the water. As hard water enters the mineral tank, it flows through a bed of spherical resin beads.

These beads are plastic usually made from polystyrene and are charged with sodium ion. Resin beads have a negative charge or are anions. Calcium and magnesium minerals are positive charged or cations. Opposites attract, and the negative charged minerals is attracted to the positive charged resin bead.

As the hard water passes through the resin, the beads grab hold of the mineral ions and remove them. When the mineral ion is seized by the bead, the sodium ion is released. The resin strips all the hardness out of the water as it passes through the mineral tank, and softened water flows out into your home.

What are the components of a water softener?

A water softener has three components: a control valve, a mineral tank, and a brine tank. These parts work together to remove the minerals from hard water, monitor the flow of the water, and periodically clean the system through a regeneration process.

Mineral Tank - This is the chamber where the hard water is softened. Water lines feed hard water into the tank, then seeps through the bed of resin beads, and deposits the water hardening calcium and magnesium ions. Then the water exits the tank soft and flows through your pipes, and out into your appliances.

Control Valve - This valve, through a meter, measures and tracks the amount of water passing through the mineral tank and into your home. As the mineral tank does its job, overtime it depletes the capacity of the resin that effectively softens your water.

The control valve automatically initiates a regeneration cycle before the beads become overburdened with mineral content. This maximum capacity is pre-programmed into the control valve’s onboard computer and are demand-initiated which allows water softening units to be extremely efficient.

Brine Tank - This tank aids in the system’s regeneration. It sits adjacent to the mineral tank and is a shorter tank. The brine tank holds a highly concentrated solution of salt, or sometimes potassium, to restore the resin beads’ positive charge.

Salt is added to the brine tank in the form of either pellets or blocks. Salt dissolves in the water at the bottom of the tank and the control valve registers the softening capacity of the resin is diminishing, the heavy brine solution is drawn out of the tank and flushed through the resin. The water passing through the unit will no longer be softened if the brine tank runs out of salt.

Is soft water safe to drink?