Without Hard
Monday, July 19th, 2010
Water Softeners – Top Tips to Eliminate Hard Water From Your Home in Minutes
Following on from the previous article on water softeners, below is a explanation on the types of water softeners that can be used to minimize the effects of hard water around the home…including the pros and cons of each and the potential health issues that arise.
Chemical Water Softeners
This is when specific chemicals are added to the water to control water hardness.
The types of chemical that can be used include washing soda and borax. These chemicals form an insoluble precipitate with calcium and magnesium minerals in the water. The mineral ions then cannot interfere with cleaning efficiency, but the precipitate makes the water cloudy and can build up on surfaces. The disadvantage of precipitating water softeners is that they can increase the alkalinity of the water and this may damage skin and other materials being cleaned.
The second type is non-precipitating water softeners use phosphates to collect calcium and magnesium ions. There is no precipitate that is formed and alkalinity is not increased. If used in enough quantity, non-precipitating water softeners will help dissolve soap scum for a period of time.
Mechanical Water Softeners
These are devices that can be permanently installed into the plumbing system to continuously remove calcium and magnesium.
They operate on the ion exchange process in which water passes through a media bed, usually with resin beads that are supersaturated with sodium. The ion exchange process takes place as hard water passes through the softening material. The hardness minerals are collected by the beads while at the same time the sodium on the resin beads is released into the water.
When the beads become saturated with calcium and magnesium, they must be re-newed. The recharging is done by passing a salt solution through the beads. The salt solution which contains sodium replaces the calcium and magnesium minerals in the water which are flushed away.
As explained above, hard water treated with an ion exchange water softener has sodium added. The ion exchange softening process adds sodium at the rate of about 8 mg/liter for each grain of hardness removed per gallon of water. For example, if the water has a hardness of 10 grains per gallon, it will contain about 80 mg/liter of sodium after being softened in an ion exchange water softener if all hardness minerals are removed.
The addition of sodium to the water in these cases is potentially an issue to people with raised blood pressure and some individuals may be advised by their doctor not to install water softeners which use this method. In this case it may be advisable to soften just the hot water, or maybe to bypass the water softener with a cold water pipe to provide unsoftened water that can be used for drinking and cooking.
Next in this series of articles we will discuss the pros and cons of water filters and then magnetic water conditioners with regard to controlling hard water and limescale in our homes. Finally, I will layout a complete overview of water treatment methods discussed so far and explain the approximate cost of each method from installation to electricity running costs.
Warm Regards,
Patrick Henry
HardWaterStainsTips
Visit our popular website at http://www.hardwaterstainstips.com
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About the Author
Patrick Henry BEng (Hons), is a recognised industry expert in removing hard water stains. With an honours degree in Chemical Engineering, he teaches people how to remove stubborn hard water stains and limescale using a step by step guide. He is author of the ebook “Hard Water Stain Removal Secrets Revealed”. Complete information on his popular ebook is available from his web site. And while your there, don’t forget to subscribe to his FREE report.
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