Water Softeners - Top Tips to Eliminate Hard Water From Your Home in Minutes

Following on from the previous article on water softeners, below is a explanation on the types of water softeners that can be used to minimize the effects of hard water around the home...including the pros and cons of each and the potential health issues that arise.

water softener systems

Chemical Water Softeners

WATER SOFTENER

This is when specific chemicals are added to the water to control water hardness.

The types of chemical that can be used include washing soda and borax. These chemicals form an insoluble precipitate with calcium and magnesium minerals in the water. The mineral ions then cannot interfere with cleaning efficiency, but the precipitate makes the water cloudy and can build up on surfaces. The disadvantage of precipitating water softeners is that they can increase the alkalinity of the water and this may damage skin and other materials being cleaned.

The second type is non-precipitating water softeners use phosphates to collect calcium and magnesium ions. There is no precipitate that is formed and alkalinity is not increased. If used in enough quantity, non-precipitating water softeners will help dissolve soap scum for a period of time.

Mechanical Water Softeners

These are devices that can be permanently installed into the plumbing system to continuously remove calcium and magnesium.

They operate on the ion exchange process in which water passes through a media bed, usually with resin beads that are supersaturated with sodium. The ion exchange process takes place as hard water passes through the softening material. The hardness minerals are collected by the beads while at the same time the sodium on the resin beads is released into the water.

When the beads become saturated with calcium and magnesium, they must be re-newed. The recharging is done by passing a salt solution through the beads. The salt solution which contains sodium replaces the calcium and magnesium minerals in the water which are flushed away.

As explained above, hard water treated with an ion exchange water softener has sodium added. The ion exchange softening process adds sodium at the rate of about 8 mg/liter for each grain of hardness removed per gallon of water. For example, if the water has a hardness of 10 grains per gallon, it will contain about 80 mg/liter of sodium after being softened in an ion exchange water softener if all hardness minerals are removed.

The addition of sodium to the water in these cases is potentially an issue to people with raised blood pressure and some individuals may be advised by their doctor not to install water softeners which use this method. In this case it may be advisable to soften just the hot water, or maybe to bypass the water softener with a cold water pipe to provide unsoftened water that can be used for drinking and cooking.

Next in this series of articles we will discuss the pros and cons of water filters and then magnetic water conditioners with regard to controlling hard water and limescale in our homes. Finally, I will layout a complete overview of water treatment methods discussed so far and explain the approximate cost of each method from installation to electricity running costs.

Water Softeners - Top Tips to Eliminate Hard Water From Your Home in Minutes

WATER SOFTENER

Washing Machines - Enjoy Cleaning Clothes Within Minutes

Washing clothes have always been a great concern for people. This activity not only consumes more time but also our energy. Human beings try to facilitate every work with certain technically advanced gadget. In fact, there are high tech gadgets available for every purpose such as digital cameras for shooting and storing the cherishable moments, dishwashers for cleaning the messy kitchen utensils and mobile phones for the communication purposes. Likewise, to drive away the concern of cleaning the dirty clothes, we now have the washing machines. These gadgets are technically more advanced and are crafted to save the precious time of the people.

Washing machines are basically those appliances which are used to wash clothes very comfortably. This appliance has gained a lot of popularity and therefore nowadays, almost every household have it. These machines efficiently clean the laundry which usually includes bed sheets, table covers, outfits etc. To operate these gadgets is not at all a difficult task. Water and detergent are used by these gadgets to clean the messy clothes. As cleaning clothes can be referred to be a regular activity of any household, these widgets can be a good option to purchase. This activity usually requires more time and effort, if it is manually done. One would require brush and detergents to remove the stains and mud from the clothes; which can prove to be very tiresome. As such, this item has been crafted to surpass the tiresome work with great ease.

WATER SOFTENER COMPARISON

The mechanism of the washing machines are very simple. One just needs to soak the clothes and put them in the compartment of this gadget, then add detergent and fix the timer. Then the gadget will efficiently clean the dirty clothes very comfortably. Moreover, these devices are available in two advanced designs that is top loading and front loading. The clothes are required to be placed in the vertical tub in the top loading machines which usually stores water. The embedded agitators then propel water. One has to fix the timer, put the clothes in the basket which then starts rotating during the wash cycle.

The front loading machines are also very efficient. They also have uncomplicated structure where a perforated basket is mounted in a horizontal way to the water tub. A glass door is outfitted in front of this gadget to accommodate the clothes in the machine. The clothes are shuffled with the forth and back motion of the high tech cylinders. These are the mechanisms through which these sophisticated washing machines operate. As such the users can opt for those machines which would appropriately suit all their requirements. Various models are available which can be availed at cheap rates by the people from every class

Washing Machines - Enjoy Cleaning Clothes Within Minutes

WATER SOFTENER COMPARISON