How does a water softener work?

October 8, 2024

Understanding The Process Behind Water Softening

Hard water is relatively common across the UK with most of the heavily populated regions of England having hard water, around 60% of the population. This is particularly a problem in London where a large amount of regions have hard water. This is why water softener systems have become more and more popular in regions such as Kent and London. However, is it worth it for your property? What is so bad about hard water? How do water softeners even work? This article hopes to answer these questions and more.


What is hard water? What are the pros and cons of it?


Hard water is essentially just water with a high mineral concentration. These minerals are commonly magnesium and calcium picked up from limestone which is why there is a higher impact in London. These minerals are then agitated when the water is heated which creates what is known as scum or limescale which is a white powdery substance which coats your pipes and appliances. Whether hard water is good or bad is actually fairly debatable but the overall impact to your home and bills is something that is hard to ignore.


Benefits of Hard Water

  • Includes a lot of natural minerals that are beneficial to the body. Calcium is key for bone strength and magnesium is an easy mineral to overlook in a normal modern diet.
  • Moderately hard water is believed to be better tasting but this is quite subjective.


Cons of Hard Water 

  • Hard water causes scale buildup in both your household appliances and your internal plumbing systems. This means more maintenance is commonly required and performance is compromised.
  • If the water is particularly hard, the taste can often be a bit murky and the smell can be unpleasant.
  • Hard water can lead to dry skin and brittle, dry hair if consumed in high quantities.


What is a Water Softener?


A water softener system attaches directly to the mains water supply and works by passing the water through the system, stripping the hard water particles from the water, before releasing the softened water back into the ongoing water supply. These vary in size and quality depending on your requirements and purposes. 


Water softeners work through a process called ion exchange which eliminates calcium and magnesium from the water and replaces them with sodium ions which are then later refreshed through a brine solution, which helps create a self-replenishing cycle. To learn more of the actual science behind this, you can read more here : https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-do-water-softeners-wo/. 


This process can also help reduce nitrates from the water but this differs between devices and is not the main purpose of the machine. If you want to remove nitrates from the water, you are better off installing a water filter which has its own benefits.



What are the benefits of water softening?

 

The most obvious benefit of using a water softener is that you produce soft water. This is usually better tasting and removes the dry skin and hair side effects of hard water. The removal of hard water also means that limescale buildup has ceased and you should see the already existing limescale start to break down over time. 


This means that your taps and other cleaning devices will provide better results, keeping your costs down by reducing the amount of times you’ll need to clean things like laundry. This will also lengthen the lifespan of your products and reduce the amount of maintenance and callouts you’ll require as well as any specialist cleaning products designed to break down limescale as often seen with washing machines.


Soft water is also generally seen as being better for the environment. Not only are you reducing the amount of washes and water you use on a daily basis, you are reducing the amount of cleaning products you have to use, reducing their potential impact on the water supply and the environment.


Water softeners are a really useful and beneficial option to provide your home or business with better tap water and reduce your overall outgoings. While they do require a decent amount of upkeep, they will provide you with an overall benefit and provide you with better quality water that you will notice. They are not perfect and the initial investment may be a bit steep for some people but for the long term benefits, you can’t go wrong with a professionally installed water softener. 

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