What Does A Water Softener Service Include

There are few mechanical systems as mystifying as a h2o softener. Afterward all, isn't all water soft? Fair indicate. But water softeners were created to combat a surprisingly common trouble: hard water.

According to the U.Southward. Geological Survey, about 85 percent of American households have hard water, including homes with metropolis h2o and well water. But what exactly is difficult water and, if your abode has this issue, how does a water softener work and how can you make information technology work all-time for you?

What Is Hard Water?

hard water deposit and rust on shower tap

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Simply put, difficult water is household h2o that contains high concentrations of dissolved minerals, specifically calcium and magnesium. Now, these minerals aren't toxic and they don't make water unhealthy to drink, or odor or taste funny, but they can be harmful just the aforementioned.

The effects of elevated mineral levels range from annoying to highly destructive. Hard h2o also causes cloudy h2o spots on sinks, dishes, silverware, bathtubs, and shower enclosures. White, crusty deposits form on teakettles and coffee pots. Hard h2o likewise dramatically reduces the lathering and rinse-ability of laundry detergent, torso soap, and shampoo. As a outcome, laundered white dress appear gray, and colored dress expect slow and faded. Bathing and showering in difficult water makes your skin feel dry out and itchy. And because shampoo doesn't soap upwards very well in hard water, shampooing leaves your pilus feeling and looking limp and dry.

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Now, the effects of hard water are annoying and irritating. They can also be subversive when y'all consider the harmful effect hard water has on plumbing systems, fixtures, and appliances: Every bit h2o runs through the supply pipes and so out faucets—think showerhead, icemaker, washing car, water heater, boiler, and dishwasher—information technology'south leaving behind hard, crusty mineral deposits.

At showtime, these small deposits are harmless, but over fourth dimension they build upward and can eventually clog pipes, seize valves, and plug aerators and showerheads. And in some extreme cases, hard-h2o deposits tin dramatically restrict the water flow in a home, putting undue pressure on the whole plumbing system.

How Do I Know If I Accept Hard Water?

The all-time style to make up one's mind if your home has difficult water is to bring a water sample to a certified water-testing laboratory. For most $100 or and then you'll receive a total report, and not just about minerals. The detailed analysis volition also list the presence of many other substances, including nitrates, chlorine, sodium, and dangerous bacteria.

A more affordable—though much less comprehensive—selection is to buy an in-habitation water exam kit ($15 to $35). Or, you can comport your own rudimentary hard-water test: Take a make clean sixteen-ounce water bottle, add half loving cup of tap water and 10 drops of liquid dish soap. Tighten the cap and vigorously milkshake the canteen for thirty seconds. If a thick caput of lather forms on tiptop of the water, then your water is probably not hard. If, all the same, the h2o turns cloudy with very lilliputian lather, and so the h2o likely contains elevated mineral levels. At that bespeak, nosotros'd suggest springing for the full analysis from a local water-testing lab.

And so, as yous can see, difficult water is a common and potentially serious problem. Fortunately, at that place's an effective and relatively affordable solution: install a water softener.

How a Water Softener Works

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Whole-business firm water softeners come in a variety of sizes and styles to adjust the size of your abode and family. The softener is installed in the basement, garage, utility closet or wherever water enters the house.

A typical water softener consists of a tall, narrow water-softener tank, and a short, wide brine tank. The softener tank is connected to the home's water-supply line. A small-diameter fill tube connects the brine tank to the softener tank. And a belch hose runs from the softener tank to a nearby drainpipe or drywell.

The softener tank is filled with specially formulated resin beads, which are permanently sealed inside the tank. The brine tank has a removable lid so you can fill it with salt pellets or potassium chloride pellets.

Here's a quick caption of how a water softener system works:

Water enters the top of the water-softener tank and percolates down through the resin beads. The resin has a negative accuse, which attracts the positively charged minerals in the water (a process known as ion substitution). The mineral deposits cling to the resin and the now-softened water exits the softener tank and flows throughout the house.

salt pellets are poured from a yellow bucket into a blue water softener

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Sooner or later on, however, the beads achieve maximum chapters and tin can't attract any more mineral ions. At that point, the softener tank must be regenerated, or, flushed clean. That's where the brine tank comes in. An on-board computer calculates the corporeality of water that has flowed through the softener. When information technology reaches the preprogrammed setting, regeneration automatically begins. For a 3-bedroom house and family of 4, regeneration usually occurs every 12,000 gallons.

During regeneration, salty water from the brine tank flows up the fill up tube and into the softener tank. A rinse cycle commences and the salty h2o washes the mineral deposits off the resin beads. The regenerated water—and all those destructive mineral deposits—are flushed out the discharge hose. The organisation and then automatically reverts back to softening the incoming water.

Bright and Soft Water Softener Salt Pellets

Bright and Soft H2o Softener Salt Pellets

The regeneration procedure slowly dissolves the salt or potassium chloride pellets in the brine tank. And then, at some point, you'll have to add more than pellets to the tank. (Again, the resin beads are permanently sealed in the softener tank and never need replacing.) How often y'all'll need to add pellets depends on how much water you utilise.

When nosotros had both our children living at home, our family of iv required me to add ane 50-pound bag of salt pellets each month. Now with our kids off on their own, and only my wife and I at home, we're adding one pocketbook of salt to the brine tank every seven to eight weeks.

A Few Final Considerations

Water softeners must be installed past a professional, licensed plumber or well-water contractor. If y'all can't find one in your area, check with the local dwelling house-comeback center. Most have water-softener installation services, which include a complimentary in-home consultation.

Water softener costs vary widely depending on the size and make of the softener, but await to pay between $two,000 and $two,500 for a typical system, including installation.

Before considering a water softener for your dwelling house, exist enlightened that softened water contains trace amounts of salt. An 8-ounce glass of softened water has about the same corporeality of salt as a single slice of staff of life. Now, that's non very much salt, but for those on a very strict sodium-free diet it might still be too much.

If yous'd like to eliminate salt altogether from your drinking water, simply fill the alkali tank with potassium chloride pellets, not salt pellets. The only drawback is that potassium chloride is relatively expensive, costing $25 to $35 per 50-pound bag. Common salt costs only $half-dozen to $8 per bag.

Another selection for salt-gratuitous drinking h2o is to use salt pellets in the brine tank, but and then install a reverse-osmosis water filter at the kitchen sink. The filter will remove common salt from the water, which you can employ for drinking and cooking.

The contempo and widespread popularity of water softeners has created a new problem in certain parts of the state: The salty water that's discharged from the water softener during the regeneration procedure is raising sodium levels in municipal water treatment plants, reservoirs, and ground-water tables, potentially harming crops. New legislation in some regions restricts or prohibits the use of h2o softeners, so exist sure to check with the local building department before proceeding.

Modern water softeners are very reliable and virtually maintenance-gratuitous. Other than occasionally adding pellets to the brine tank, at that place'south not much for the homeowner to do. However, it's recommended that the organization exist tuned up and inspected once a year by the contractor who installed information technology. An almanac systems checkup usually runs about $125 or then.

Joseph Truini Joe is a former carpenter and cabinetmaker who writes extensively almost remodeling, woodworking, and tool techniques.