Why You Should Never Let Your Water Softener Run Out of Salt
Though it may look crystal-clear, your tap water does contain several minerals, including calcium and magnesium. When the concentration of these is high, it will have a huge impact on your plumbing and appliances, not to mention the laundry and dishwasher issues when water softening is not instigated.
A licensed and certified plumber will be able to help anyone that is having problems with hard water, and will often recommend using a water softener. Water softeners will reduce the number of hard minerals in the water without having to add chlorine or other harsh chemicals.
How a Water Softener Works
Most systems come with 2 main parts:
-
The resin tank contains small, plastic beads known as water softening resin.
-
The brine tank contains the rock salt and water used to clean the resin tank every couple of days.
Most water softeners come with these tanks, and they will be 2 separate units, however, some of the newer and more efficient models will come with both tanks in a single unit.
People frequently assume that salt is used to dissolve hard minerals, which is not actually true. The actual process is fascinating.
Water softeners use a process known as ion exchange:
-
Water will enter the resin tank, where it will flow over small, plastic beads that are negatively charged with sodium ion.
-
This allows the beads to grab magnesium and calcium mineral ions, which are attracted to the sodium. When a bead grabs a hard mineral, it releases the sodium ion.
-
The hard minerals are left behind in the resin tank while the softened water will travel to wherever it is needed.
In other words, a water softener will extract unwanted hard minerals out of the water by swooping them for sodium.
For information pertaining to the water softening services and products Purely Water Inc has to offer, please do not hesitate to dial this number (862) 666-1515 now, we are based in the Hamburg, NJ area.