Basics of a Water Softener
A water softener is generally a filtering appliance that removes calcium and magnesium from water. A lot of people do not realize that water everywhere is not similar, particularly when it comes to its chemical makeup. Some kinds of water have increased proportions of calcium and magnesium minerals soaked up from the soil, which makes it hard. When the water is deficient in minerals like these or has them in insufficient amounts, it is considered soft water. Water from lakes and streams is generally soft.
Nevertheless, subterranean water in areas with increased amounts of gypsum, limestone, and chalk is hard. Hence, to make the hard water soft, a water softener is employed to eliminate the minerals that render it hard. Water softening is therefore the technique of eliminating magnesium and calcium, among many other metal ions in water.
Categories of Water Softeners
Water softening, as mentioned earlier, utilizes filtration equipment, technique, or fixture to eliminate magnesium and calcium from hard water, which makes it soft. There are three categories of water softeners.
- Ion-exchange
This is the traditional kind of water softener and should I get whole house water filter?. It is recognized for its household usage. It restores the ions of metal with ions of sodium. The latter does not contain the damaging impacts that emanate from wielding water replenished with magnesium or calcium ions.
The equipment works with a huge tank that is replenished with salt shells and then reaches the hard water. The salt reacts and restores the magnesium or calcium ions with sodium ions in the water and makes it soft and safe.
- Salt-free
This is equipment that includes different drawbacks as it utilizes an automated filter to eliminate calcium. It is inefficient with water that has magnesium because it cannot eliminate the metal particles. It, hence, does not function adequately with hard water. It is commonly used to eliminate calcium.
- Reverse osmosis
The equipment enables water to drift through a membrane that eliminates around 98% of contaminants. It utilizes a substantial quantity of water and it is pretty costly.
