Hard water leads to daily frustration such as dry skin, limp hair, and plugged fixtures but does not harm household plumbing equipment and appliances.
Too much calcium and magnesium, which in the form of ions exist in hard water, are removed with the assistance of a water softener by being replaced with useful, soft water. New water softening systems increase household water quality by making cleaning a breeze, prolonging appliance life, and making bath time a pleasure. The best home water softener to install for your home is based on your home's level of water hardness and usage but is worth the investment in the long term to a healthier, easier-to-maintain home.
Do you ever get out of the shower with itchy skin, straw hair, and regardless of how much squeeze pressure you apply to the bottle, won't that soap foam? Or did you break a glass out of the dishwasher and find those dreaded white spots lingering like unwanted houseguests? If this sounds like déjà vu, congratulations — you've got hard water. Fear not, though — you're not alone, and worst of all, there's an easy fix: a simple water softener.
Now, before you're imagining some sort of hi-tech, something-out-of-a-sci-fi-movie-thingamajig-looking thingamajig plodding along in your basement, let's get realistic. Your home hard water softener is truly its silent guardian, outsmarting those dastardly villains of all those tiny annoyances day by day — calcium and magnesium minerals. Those minerals soak into your water supply and continue to wreck havoc on your skin, appliances, and pipes without even people noticing it. The good news? The technology of a water softener system is great, and once you purchase it, you will be asking yourself why you did not own it earlier.
In short, a water softener takes out excess minerals from hard water and reconditions it as soft water. Hard water has too much calcium and magnesium. They're great for your bones but not so polite to the plumbing devices of your home, your home appliances, or grooming tools. A home water softener takes them out through an ion exchange process. Yep, sounds stodgy, right? In fact, but actually very simple.
Water softening process involves the utilization of negatively charged resin beads.
The positively charged mineral ions — magnesium and calcium — get trapped by the beads when water flows through the softener. The minerals adhere to the beads, and soft clean water flows through your house. The resin beads become loaded with minerals through time and are drained off by the system in a saltwater brine. And there you have it, the beads are now ready to go, ready to create more soft water.
With that small amount of education in your background, now you're questioning yourself — why in the world do you actually need one, then? Well, if you like clean dishes, shiny clothes, long-lasting appliances, and skin and hair that are soft and beautiful rather than parched and crunchy, a home water softener is the answer.
Hard water also clogs pipes and appliances with scale deposits, reducing their life and efficiency. That equates to more repairs, bigger energy bills, and a whole lot of unnecessary headaches. A hard water softener prevents all that from occurring by keeping your appliances new and running efficiently.
And more. A water softener upgrades your entire water experience. Soap suds faster, shampoo rinses clean, and your hair and skin stay softer and less dry. Clothes washed in soft water stay their color and texture longer, and your fixtures stay sparkling and are white stain-free.
When selecting a residential water softener, capacity and size are an issue.
You will also have to figure out your water hardness (try with cheap kit) and household water use in gallons per day. Multiple persons in the house or high-usage houses will need a unit with higher capacity. There are new systems now with the new technology of digital meters, self-regeneration automatic, and checking salt levels, which are easy to use.
Finally, hard water will not appear to be doing any harm, but in the long run, it quietly consumes your appliances, pipes, and even your daily convenience. Apart from saving your investments, a home water softener actually upgrades your lifestyle, providing you with soft water ideal for cleaning, bathing, and all the rest. Whatever you choose is only a nominal cost for incredible long-term gains.