You may not know this, but water is categorized into 2; they are either soft or hard. Weird right? Well, naturally, water is loaded with minerals, namely calcium and magnesium, and the hardness of water is basically the number of minerals present in it. You can’t drink hard water, so what a softener does is lowers the levels of minerals.
What is A Water softener? What does it do?
A water softener system is your house’s filtration system that removes calcium and magnesium through the ion exchange process. Hard water ends up scale accumulating in the pipes, clogging them that ultimately resulting in decreasing water pressure.
Why Do We Need a Water Softener?
What scale does is it shortens the life and quality of appliances such as dishwashers, coffee machines, etc. Hard water is a spell of destruction for hot water appliances since the higher temperature will increasingly solidify calcium and magnesium in it.
One of the pros of a water softener system is that the laundry does not require extra detergent to look appropriate. There are no streaks or stains from the dishwasher.
Moreover, soap, as well as shampoo, will not lather. It is very hard to shower with hard water as it leaves your skin itchy and dry.
Working of Softener Machine
These water softeners are also called ion exchange units. They effectively get rid of the calcium, magnesium, or other minerals that make drinking water hard.
Inside this appliance, resin beads entrap the calcium and magnesium to exchange them with sodium or potassium. Once the beads overload in calcium and magnesium, concentrated salt or potassium solution removes the ions from the beads. After passing through, the resulting chloride solution is a waste. That stream goes down the drain.
Water Softener – Pros and Cons
Advantages /pros
- Scale prevention gets rid of minerals such as calcium from water, so that inside of pipes, fixtures, or hot water heaters work properly.
- Enhances the lifespan of appliances.
- Leaves no mineral spots on glassware.
- There are no soap films or detergent curds in sinks and washing machines.
Cons
- It may corrode the pipeline. The main issue is the settlement of corroded metal coming from the pipes in your water. Ultimately a rise is seen in lead and copper levels in drinking water.
- Health issues from added sodium.
- Maintenance is costly because regular testing of the softener is required to ensure the softener is working properly.
- Salt’s negative impacts on the environment.
- The water that regenerates the softener beads is a waste.
Final Words
To know whether or not you need a water softener, have a look at the pipes of your house. If they are scaly, you know what a softener does to water and its pipes; get one installed today! Talk to professionals from Show Plumbing for more information.