Advantages of Getting a Water Softener for Your Home
Water softening is a process that removes magnesium, calcium and other metal cations that are within the hard water. As a result, soft water is created, which is friendlier to soap as well as facilitates longer life for a plumbing system. Water softening is typically obtained via ion exchange resins or lime softening, a process that removes the dissolved materials, which cannot be trapped within a filter bed. Water Softeners usually have resin beads and the resin is attached with sodium. When water is entering the water softener tank, the resin attracts the dissolved calcium and magnesium ions. The minerals are pulled from the water and attach to the resin while sodium is released to the water.
Hard Water and the Problems it Creates
Hard water is one that contains a lot of magnesium, calcium, and other minerals. It acquires such minerals as it dissolves from the surrounding rock and soil. There are problems that come as a result of hard water:
- First of all, it reduces he ability of soap to lather within a sink, shower, washing machine or dishwasher and reacts with the soap to create a sticky scum.
- Secondly, dissolved magnesium and calcium precipitate out of this kind of water as scale, a substance that accumulates within pipes, tea kettles, water heaters, coffee makers, industry machinery, etc. Such scale will reduce the flow within pipes while it poorly conducts heat. Pipes may become completely clogged eventually.
Ways of Combating Hard Water
There are various methods of combating hard water. You can filter it through adding some packaged chemical softener like washing soda or powdered borax, distillation or reverse osmosis, or using a water softener. Filtration within sink traps as well as refrigerator water dispensers enhance the taste of water, however, it is expensive hence not practically a solution for homes. Packaged chemical, on the other hand, soften small batches of water, for instance, washing machine loads. However, they produce water that is undrinkable, and might as well contain environmental harming phosphates. Another water-softening alternative is descaling. While water softeners remove the minerals within water (removes the problem), a descaler repairs the damage that the problem has caused (scale buildup). Salt-free water softeners’ ads are popular. These are descalers actually. Ads for magnetic water softeners happen to be common as well. However, all these are not proven yet. They may not in fact alter water’s chemical composition hence not a recommended solution for homes. This leaves us with water softeners. It as well explains why they are very common amongst most homes. They have relatively comparable prices as well as high effectiveness in getting rid of troublesome minerals from your water.
How Water Softeners Work?
The magnesium and calcium ions within the water switch places with the sodium ions released into the water. Within the process, only some very little amount of sodium will be added to the water. This ion exchange happens within a tank that contains small plastic beads, where the sodium ions take the place of the magnesium and calcium ions. Once the resin gets exhausted, the softener creates as well as exchanges the magnesium and calcium ions for sodium. It is during the end of this generation process that mostly happens at night that the excess sodium chloride gets rinsed out. Usually, you have 2 tanks if you have got a water softener. The first one holds resin beads while the second one should be in every 2 months refilled with salt (coarse or pellets), which can be bought at hardware or grocery stores.
Why You Should Buy a Water Softener for Your Home?
Water softeners have numerous benefits including:
- Longer lasting appliances- With water softeners, you can have the life of different appliance preserved through the reduction of scale buildup within water heaters, coffee machines, washing machines and more
- Energy savings- Your appliances’ performance will be enhanced since without hard water buildups and deposits they perform more efficiently lowering energy costs
- Reduced Housework- This is facilitated by the ability of water softeners to remove water minerals that are responsible for soap scum and lime scale build up on kitchen sinks, bathroom fixtures, and shower walls
- Cleaner Dishes– Glassware, dishes, and silverware that has been washed within soft water is sparkling and spot free
- Brighter Colors– Fabrics washed within soft water come out softer, stay brighter, and the white ones become whiter. This is facilitated by the absence of hard water minerals, which lead to dingy build up with time.
- · Softer skin and hair– Shampoo and soaps lather easily and hair feels silkier.
After knowing the benefits of using an Water Softening system at your home, you might want to grab one for yourself, but unfortunately there are lot of water softening systems out there in the market. If you don't know the ins and outs of a Water Softener, you may find it pretty hard and time consuming to find the right system for your home. We would suggest you to browse through the best Water Softener reviews before making a purchase. Thanks for reading my blog post, I hope you've found it useful. Don't forget to share, it helps me a lot :)
Also Read: How to Repair a Water Softening System