Water softeners

Written by Henry Johnson

Water softeners work hard Hard water can mean hard luck when it comes to household activities such as laundry, dishwashing and even bathing and personal grooming. Groundwater has the unfortunate and annoying habit of picking up dissoluble bits and pieces of whatever it happens to come in contact with. Sometimes this can result in contamination, making the water unfit for drinking, but in most cases it simply means the water has absorbed minerals commonly found in the ground. Calcium and magnesium are two of the most common of these minerals, and are what makes water hard. Hard water is water that contains high concentrations of minerals. Hard water can have a variety of negative effects on household chores. It can cause detergent and soaps to lose their zing. Soap doesn't dissolve as well in hard water, thus requiring more soap to be used for cleaning. Because the soap doesn't dissolve, it combines with minerals to form a soap curd, which can cling to skin and may actually hinder cleaning. The same holds true in laundry. Because the soap doesn't dissolve, it can get into your clothes and towels, keeping dirt trapped in your clothing and giving the fabric a dull, lifeless look. Also undissolved soap can leave spots on everything you wash. If that wasn't bad enough, hard water can cause damage the pipes and faucets of your house, causing calcium and magnesium buildup in your pipes and water heaters, reducing their water flow and efficiency. Fortunately, water softeners can easily eliminate this problem by replacing the calcium and magnesium ions with sodium ions. The ordinary, everyday water softener is a mechanical appliance plumbed into the water supply system of your residence. All water softeners operate under the same basic principle: they switch out calcium and magnesium ions for sodium or other ions. The mechanics of a water softener are simple. In order to effect the ion replacement, water is run through a collection of very small plastic beads or through a special chemical formula called zeolite. These are thickly covered by sodium ions. As the water runs past the sodium ions, they switch places with the magnesium and calcium ions. Eventually, after extensive use, the beads or zeolite contain nothing but calcium and magnesium and no sodium, and at this point they are no longer able to soften the water. When this occurs, it's time to regenerate the beads or zeolite. To regenerate the beads or zeolite, they are soaked in a stream of sodium ions. Salt is sodium chloride, so most water softeners mix up a strong brine solution and flushes it through the zeolite with beads. The salty solution flushes out the calcium and magnesium that have built up in the zeolite or beads and replaces it with sodium. The remaining brine and the calcium and magnesium are flushed out through a drainage pipe. A good water softener can last for decades, needing only periodic refills of salt for the regeneration process. Softened water is safe to drink, and has not been stripped of essential minerals. Water softener prices vary, but most models run between $1,000 and $1,600, including installation. A potential drawback of water softeners is that they can cause a large degree of water salination. Some communities have banned the use of water softeners, fearing the impact on the rivers and streams water treated by the devices. Water softeners can add quite a bit to your quality of life, but before buying one check out their legaility in your area, determine the amount of water you need softened, and make sure to purchase a unit that's within your price range.

 

< Prev		Next >