Hard water is one of the most subtle yet dangerous elements that we regularly use in our lives. It can damage your health as well as the durability of everything that it touches. Why is it so? Hard water contains an excess of two elements, calcium, and magnesium which makes it absolutely unhealthy for human use. So, what is a water softener and how does it help?
A water softener will help you in eliminating the presence of these harmful chemicals from your water supply. Most of the people living in the United States are using hard water daily without knowing its disadvantages. We will look into its working and purpose in detail today. But firstly let’s understand why hard water is bad?
What is Hard Water?
Hard water is your average water that smells and looks perfectly fine. The problem with hard water is that it contains an excess amount of calcium and magnesium. The most basic way to find out if you’ve been using hard water is detecting if your water leaves a soapy residue behind.
Hard water will not only leave a soapy residue on your floor to scrub but it might also damage your hair and your nails. Hard water is most commonly present in industrial areas where water absorbs these two elements from soil and surrounding.
For daily use, hard water can lead to numerous issues. The excessive minerals in it will accumulate in the water pipes and clog them. This might decrease the water pressure in your house. If you have a water heater then there is news for you, the increased temperature of the water accelerates the accumulation of these water hardening minerals. Thus, you will end up having clogged pipes, stained floor, and dishes, and you will have to increase the amount of detergent while doing laundry.
What is a Water Softener?
A Water Softener is your savior if you have been compelled to be a victim of using hard water every day. A water softener is a small gadget that will help you in a long way. This machine cleans up the ions of calcium and magnesium from your water supply and provides fresh soft water to your taps. Thus, it eliminates the long list of hard water consequences that you just went through.
How does Water Softener Works?
If you are not a science person then gear up, this involves some science. Basically, the working of Water Softener is pretty simple. The hard water first enters the mineral tank of the water softener. This component contains a layer of resin beads. The resin beads are charged up with negative ions which we also call anions. The water hardening minerals, calcium, and magnesium are charged with positive ions which makes them cat-ions.
So, here the science starts working, the negatively charged layer of resin beads soaks up all the positively charged water hardening minerals. By doing so, the rest of the water left is supplied to your house water supply. This ion exchange process helps you in getting healthy soft water to use.
Components of a Basic Water Softener:
A Water Softener contains three simple components that are:
- A Mineral Tank
- A Control Valve
- A Brine Tank
These three basic components work together to give you safe and healthy water to drink. To understand them better, let’s look into their independent tasks.
- A Mineral Tank:
A mineral tank does the most important part of the whole process. It contains negatively charged resin beads which by working upon the ion exchange technique absorb the water hardening ions from hard water. By the end of its work, the water is softened and ready to be used by you. The resin beads are very durable and will work up to 20 years. Hence, water softeners are a durable investment.
- A Control Valve:
A control valve is an important part of a water softener since it takes care of the durability of your water softener, which takes care of the resin bead efficiency in a water softener so that it can do efficient work. A control valve calculates the amount of water going into the mineral tank and going out in your home. It also plays a great role in activating the regeneration cycle once the resin beads efficiency slows down.
- A Brine Tank:
This component is the part of a water softener where you play an important role. A brine tank is a small tank that plays a mandatory role in the regeneration cycle. It flushes the brine solution through the resin beads once their efficiency starts decreasing. The salt in the brine tank needs to be added with time manually.
Location of Your Water Softener:
The location of your water softener is important. You need to install it somewhere you can get the maximum output of the water softener from. It can be right beside your main water supply so that every pipeline of your house can get the water directly from the water softener.
If you live in a cold northern area and your house has a water heater, then it is best to install a water softener near it. You can get soft water of your personal favorite warmth by doing so.
The Life Span of a Water Softener:
Water softeners are a durable water filtration system. Just like any other appliance, its durability depends on its maintenance. The approximate life of a water softener is almost 15-20 years. It can surely increase with the amount of care and maintenance that you provide it.
Another factor that might affect the efficiency of your water softener is the number of impurities that your water supply contains. It might diminish the efficiency of the water softener if hard water is concentrated.
Summing Things Up…
Life with the supply of hard water is not easy. Daily routine work gets much more difficult and takes more time when you have a hard water supply. Water Softener eases the process for you and makes sure that you get to live a safer life. Thus, it is a wise decision to invest in a water softener.
