Most types of home water softeners use a cation exchange to soften the water. This process effectively eliminates the minerals that lead to hard water damage throughout your home. Find out more about this process and why your water softener regularly needs refills of salt.
What Is Hard Water and Why Is It a Problem in Homes?
Minerals naturally seep into water underground. Some of the most common of these that contribute to hard water include magnesium and calcium. The more minerals dissolved in water, the harder it is.
These minerals cause the problems that homeowners face when dealing with hard water.
They make soap resistant to creating suds, which means they need more soap and detergent for cleaning. The minerals can also stay behind when the water dries on shower heads or cooking pots, leaving the white limescale behind.
Those scale deposits can also occur unseen inside the plumbing system, especially in water heaters. Though you cannot see this type of buildup, it can create the most problems by requiring pipe repairs and frequent plumbing appliance replacements or services.
Why a Home Water Softener Solves Hard Water Problems
A home water softener solves the issues of hard water by treating all the home’s water upon entry. As the water passes through the system, it undergoes cation exchange to soften it. The softer water does not leave scale buildup. It also does not require extra soap for cleaning.
How Does a Cation Exchange Work?
The secret of home water softeners is in the cation exchange. In the system, sodium chloride (salt) moves into the treatment water to coat the resin with sodium ions. As the hard water enters the softener, the calcium and magnesium ions switch places in the resin with the sodium. The resulting water leaves the system with sodium instead of calcium and magnesium. It no longer contains the minerals that make the water hard, solving the problems caused by hard water.
Get Your Whole Home Water Softener or Other Water Treatment Solutions from Us at Oceanus
To stop the minerals in your hard water from causing problems in your plumbing, you need a whole home water softener. Contact our water treatment experts at Oceanus to learn about the types of home water softeners and alternatives that we provide. We’ll help you to get the best water from every tap in your home with our water treatment solutions for softening, filtering, and purifying water.
Sources
https://besthomewatertreatmentsystems.com/
https://besthomewatertreatmentsystems.com/contact-us/
https://extensionpublications.unl.edu/assets/html/g1491/build/g1491.htm
https://www.ndsu.edu/agriculture/extension/publications/water-softening-ion-exchange
https://besthomewatertreatmentsystems.com/product/water-softener/
