Domestic Hot Water - What is a Water Softener
What is a water softener?
In the UK there are two types of water supplied to houses, soft and hard. As you know, all our water comes from rain. Although where it falls determines whether it stays natural (soft) or becomes contaminated by impurities (hard).
Geographic location is all important. Soft or pure water drops onto hard rock and drains into the ground or rivers. Hard water filters through soft rocks (like chalk and limestone), dissolves and collects minerals such as calcium and magnesium. The more minerals picked up, the greater the hardness of the water.
So what does hard water mean to our everyday lives?
First, the good news. Hard water is NOT hazardous to your health. People drink it, use it to cook, wash themselves and their clothes and heat their houses. BUT in reality, hard water is a real nuisance, for everyone in the family, the home they share and the money in their pockets. And that is real bad news.
Why?
Hard water contains dissolved minerals that settle elsewhere when water is heated or evaporated, leaving telltale visible and hidden trademark signs all around the house. Householders and their families, notice the effects of hard water on themselves and the clothes they wear. Hair and skin never really feel clean. Not surprising as those calcium and chalk deposits from the water are transferred to their bodies and hair. Likewise, clothes will never be totally fresh or dirt-free.
The effect on homes
The most obvious indications of hard water deposits can be viewed by lifting the lid off a simple domestic kettle.
Lime scale inside a kettle is mirrored elsewhere in the home in any appliance where water is either heated or evaporated. On baths, sinks, toilet bowls and taps. And less obviously but an equally negative impart, pipes, boilers and water heaters.
The effect on energy and household bills
Hard facts and figures speak volumes for the problems associated with hard water.
A 1.6mm build-up of scale (the hard deposits of minerals left behind by hard water) causes a 12% loss in heating efficiency in pipes. Scale will also form around the heating coil and fill the hot water cylinder. In both cases extra energy will have to compensate for the lack of performance. You will be paying for this increased inefficiency with larger energy bills. Scale will prematurely damage hot water pipes, immersion heaters, showers, washing machines and water heaters. That means higher repair and replacement costs.
British Water estimates that the average four person family in a hard water area spends £200 more on washing powders, detergents, soaps, shampoos and conditioners than a similar family with a water softener fitted. Essentially because hard water lessens the amount of lather these products produce. Let's try and put this into perspective. It is estimated that the annual amount of hard water sesd by an average family of four contains a whopping 70kgof scale.
10 reasons why you should fit a water softener.
- Water softeners extend the life of domestic appliances in hard water areas and reduce maintenance and replacement costs
- Water softeners filter out minerals so they no longer stain baths, shower enclosures, sinks and kettles or clog up pipe work and household appliances
- Water softeners help produce more lather when you wash yourself or your clothes, saving up to 50% on detergents, washing powders and shampoos
- Water softeners improve efficiency, reducing heating bills by at least 10%
- Water softeners have been found to lessen the impact of eczema and other dry skin complaints
- Water softeners save you time as cleaning is easier with soft water
- Water softeners make your skin and hair feel better by removing impurities from the water you use to bathe, wash and shave
- Water softeners are kind to your clothes, ensuring they stay brighter and cleaner
- Water softeners can pay for themselves within 2-4 years
- Water softeners are a necessity not a luxury-ask anyone who has one!
How do we soften hard water?
Water softeners work in reverse to nature. Instead of soft rainwater collecting impurities as it filters through rock, we reverse the process by washing the water through a resin bed to take out the calcium and magnesium (hardness salts) deposits. Let's take a closer look at the chemical procedure so you can understand the process.
Softening water - or removing contaminants - revolves around an ion exchange. The problematic calcium and magnesium ions are replaced by trouble-free sodium ions.
Hard water enters a water softener and passes through a bed of tiny resin beads which are charged with sodium ions. The hardness salts are exchanged with the sodium, in a process called ion exchange. Once the beads are covered with calcium and magnesium, a brine solution is used to wash them away and reintroduce sodium ions. This is called recharge.
How do water softeners work?
Now we know the chemistry. Let's examine the mechanics of a water softener where contaminated hard water is passed through a cylinder containing resin consisting of millions of tiny ion-exchange beads.
As explained in the previous section, these beads attract and remove the hardness from the water by dislodging the calcium and magnesium. The result is pure, fresh, clean soft water pumped into your home.
The resin bed now contains the impurities left behind by the hard water. But not for long. The recharge process has a small amount of brine (common salt or sodium chloride dissolved in water) rinsed through the resin bed. The sodium replaces the calcium and magnesium with the used contaminated brine flushed away into a drain.
It is a very simple but highly effective process.
There is a Water Softener to suit your home.
We install a full range of water softeners including those from:-
