Some facts about water softener system

When it comes to adding some more life to your water-using appliances as well as saving money on detergent and soap in the process, it would be the best to buy a water softener. Soft water helps to make your skin and hair look and feel great too! A water softener is used to soften water by eliminating minerals such as magnesium and calcium, and replacing them with softer minerals like potassium and sodium.

How to choose a water softener

The key thing you would need while buying a water softener is a test kit. It helps to check the hardness of water and also its iron content.

Common hard water problems

As heated, hard water minerals dissolved in water and can re-crystallise forming scales. And the scales can,

• Make water-using appliances inefficient; hard water can cause them work harder
• Reduce water flow
• Clog plumbing
• Cake formation on the surface of water heaters causing them to stop working

Moreover, magnesium and calcium react with detergents and soaps, reducing their lathering and thus cleaning capacity. Though there is no solid evidence that drinking hard water can pose adverse health effects, the manganese and iron content can give the water bad odour and bad taste.

How to decide on the size

Choosing the right water softeners in west Sussex is one of the key steps to ensure proper purification and softening of water. To determine the size, you should understand how it works. A softening system trades hard minerals in the water for the softer ones. The most common trade is that as calcium enters the softener, it is traded for a soft mineral - sodium. Inside the water softener, there is a bunch of chemical magnets knows as ‘ion exchange resin’. These magnets actually do the trading. The more the chemical magnets, the higher the capacity of the softener is. Capacity may be defined as the amount of gallons the system can purify before regenerating it.

The capacity is measured in ‘grain removal’ or ‘grain’. One grain/gallon equals to 17.1 parts/million. For a household of 4 members, the calculation will be as follows,

No of members = 4

Gallons per person = 80

Gallons used a day = 4 x 80 = 320

Grains of hardness = 10

Total grains used a day = 3200

How a water softener works

Water softeners work to remove hard water scales formed inside pipes as well as appliances by lessening the hard magnesium and calcium that result in corrosion and clogs. Soft water can remove soap scum left behind while cleaning something with hard water.

Things to know before buying

Before you buy a water softener system, make sure you research well about its make and model. You should also know if the company offers a money-back guarantee in case you are not satisfied with the result. Before making a decision, make sure you know the water hardness in your locality so you can communicate with the salesperson accordingly.
Also know why you should buy a water softener here.