Wednesday, October 5, 2011

Water Softener Benefits

Hard water contains more minerals than it should for home use. The most common minerals found in hard water are calcium and magnesium. Many homes and business suffer from hard water, which can cause clogs in water pipes and even prevent soap from dissolving in the water. In some cases, it causes lime scale deposits to be created in a water system.

water softener bypass valve

A softener can eliminate the negative effects of hard water on your pipe system. Using special technology, a water softener removes the calcium and magnesium from the water supply, which helps pipes stay clear. It also makes it easier to clean dishes effectively and take more enjoyable showers. Laundry machines even work more efficiently with soft water, because lime-scale build-up in the machine will be reduced.

WATER SOFTENER

When it is soft, it is certainly more enjoyable for bathing and washing, it can also have significant monetary benefits in your household or business. Hard water can cause pipes to become blocked by lime scale build-up. This costly mess can increase your domestic water heating by up to 20 percent. Using soft water ensures that your water heating system is working as efficiently as possible. Soft water also helps to extend the life span of your household appliances. Laundry machines will last longer, reducing the cost of replacement and repair. Air conditioning units and solar heating systems will also last longer if used with soft water rather than hard water.

Other benefits of soft h20 make your experience at home or at work more enjoyable. For example, soft water is generally considered to have a much better taste than hard water. It also reduces the amount of soap scum that builds up in sinks and bathtubs because the soap dissolves more easily in soft water. Hard h20 can cause dry, itchy skin after taking a shower, while soft water works better with soap to leave your hair and skin feeling softer.

Water softeners do require an initial investment to have the machine installed. After that, maintenance costs are little to none and salt only needs to be added occasionally. These machines typically pay for themselves several times over by keeping the pipes and appliances working efficiently in your home and reducing the need for repair and replacement of fixtures.

Water Softener Benefits

WATER SOFTENER

Installing an Arizona Water Softener vs Keeping Hard Water

Hard water minerals can cause damage throughout your home. Hard water hinders every cleaning task from laundering to bathing. Clothes washed in hard water may look dingy and feel scratchy. Dishes and glasses washed in hard water may contain spots as they dry. Hard water may cause a film on shower doors, shower walls, and bathtubs. Hair washed in hard water may feel sticky, unclean, and look dull. Not to mention that drinking the minerals in hard water can leave a nasty taste in your mouth.

water softener resin

Hard water can also be costing you more money. Hard water has been shown in studies to use more energy in gas and electric water heaters. The reason hard water requires more energy to heat water is due to the scale build up that the minerals in hard water leave in water heaters. This scale is a poor conductor of heat, as well as being damaging to other household appliances, causing annoyances such as clogging pipes, drains, and leaving scale in washers.

WATER SOFTENER

Hard water reduces the lifespan of appliances, including washing machines, dishwashers, and water heaters. Hard water can also be costing you more in cleaning supplies. Hard water makes soap lathering difficult, forcing you to use more detergent and soap in your cleaning tasks.

So what are the benefits of soft water? Besides reversing all the before mentioned ills, softened water will make cleaning your house easier. It will save you money because you will use less household cleaning products, as well as save on the water heating bill.

Installing an Arizona Water Softener vs Keeping Hard Water

WATER SOFTENER

Tuesday, October 4, 2011

Is a Whole House Water Filter System Also a Water Softener?

When considering the purchase of a whole house water filter and / or a water softener, you should keep a few things in mind.

water softener cleaner

1. One of the first things to look for is that a whole house water filter system utilizes a multi-stage filtration process that is certified by NSF. Typically, if your home is on city water, the whole home system goes before the water softener. This is because it's important to remove chlorine before it mixes with the resins inside of the softener.

WATER SOFTENER

2. If your home uses well water, then chlorine is not a problem you have to deal with. In this case, it is a good idea to have the whole house filtration system treat the home after the water softener. This order helps ensure that the last system to handle the water also sends healthy filtered water to your home's water outlets.

3. Now that you know how a home water treatment system would work with a softener, let's talk about whether you need to use a water softener. The primary purpose for filtration is to make the water as healthy as possible. Since the softening process adds sodium, you are definitely not distributing the purest water possible throughout your home. The water actually becomes so full of salt that it can be tasted. If your home currently does use a softener, it is very important that the water you drink is filtered at the point of use.

4. The essential purpose of a softener is to remove high levels of "hard" minerals such as calcium. However, many whole house filters are capable of reducing iron, calcium and other hardening agents down to give microns, yet still retain healthy minerals. That means that your home water filter system won't be as effective at removing hard water but will still perform similarly to a standard softener. The big difference being that no sodium is added, which is a lot healthier for you and your family.

5. In addition to removing minerals, some softeners can also reduce other contaminants like heavy metals and sulfates. However, they don't even come close to the ultra-filtration capability of a high-quality whole house filtration system. Whole house filters like the Aquasana EQ-300 can filter out synthetic chemicals like dangerous herbicides, prescription drugs, chlorine and many more contaminants, while also softening the water. So keep in mind that a home filtration system gives many more benefits than a water softener, such as healthy drinking water, filtered showers and baths, longer-lasting appliances and less chloroform gas in the air.

Is a Whole House Water Filter System Also a Water Softener?

WATER SOFTENER

How Effective Are Reverse Osmosis Water Units?

Many people think that reverse osmosis systems offer the cleanest water you can get. While these systems do produce water that is significantly safer than tap water, there are more effective systems available that not only offer purer water, but cheaper water as well.

Reverse osmosis systems work by passing water through a porous membrane designed to keep out any particles that are larger than a water molecule. This is effective at removing lead and certain other contaminants, but also filters out natural minerals such as magnesium that are needed by the human body to maintain health.

WATER SOFTENER COMPARISON

This filtering system is insufficient, however, so the reverse osmosis system then has to send the water through a carbon filter in an attempt to remove the chemicals left behind, such as pesticides. By the time this process has produced one gallon of viable water, it has wasted two gallons. This is extremely inefficient and leaves you with a cost of twenty or more cents per gallon.

Multi stage water filter systems do something that reverse osmosis water units do not. They efficiently offer safe, healthy water complete with necessary minerals for around only ten cents a gallon. The monetary savings are enough to make people sit up and take notice, but it is the water quality that should truly have your attention. Multi stage water units offer the cleanest and purest water available by using a patented dual filtering process.

When you take into account that the majority of your body is comprised of water and that every process your body undergoes, from circulation to energy production requires both water and healthy mineral levels, the reason these systems were created becomes evident. Reverse osmosis systems simply can not match up to a multi stage filtering system.

When it comes to healthy drinking water for you and your family, why settle for clean looking water when you can get water that is truly free of pesticides and all of the other many chemicals and carcinogens that are in our tap water that most filters simply cannot remove?

If you are considering getting a reverse osmosis water system, I urge you to take a look at multi stage systems. They are significantly cheaper per gallon, produce far less waste, and have easy to replace filters that are rather inexpensive. In addition, the benefits to you health are something that no amount of money can buy.

By drinking mineralized water, you are giving your body what it has been encoded to expect from water, and administering it in a form that is easy to metabolize. Reverse osmosis water units were once the best units available, but with multi stage filters now on the market and available at affordable prices, it is time you considered making a change.

How Effective Are Reverse Osmosis Water Units?

WATER SOFTENER COMPARISON

Cleaning Tips For Residential Water Softeners

If your water softener system is not working efficiently or seems to be malfunctioning, then it could mean that the machine needs cleaning. It doesn't necessarily mean it is broken nor needs repairs. Residential water softeners have a number of components that get dirty over time.

water softener bypass valve

Why Softening Systems Malfunction

WATER SOFTENER

There are also other causes for these machines to malfunction or work less efficiently. Some of these reasons could be caused by inputting the wrong settings on the control panel. Maybe you indicated the wrong hardness level. It is also possible that the softening machine needs more sodium to soften the water.

If dirt and lack of cleaning is what's causing your machine to work less efficiently, then the problem probably lies in the brine line or in the injection system. You will have to open up your softener and check these parts to see if they indeed need cleaning.

You will need some basic cleaning tools to get rid of dirt clogging up your brine line or injector. Some things you will need to get residential water softeners cleaned are: canned pressurized air, turkey baster, wrench, warm water, a large paper clip, and soap.

Cleaning the Injector

Turn your softening system off and remove the electrical plug from the socket. Switch to bypass mode by turning on the bypass valve. This is done so that water stops flowing through the softener while you clean it. Gently remove the softener's injector cap at the back of the machine, near the top part.

Remove the injector filter behind the cap. Take the filter to the sink and wash it with warm water and soap. Afterwards, clean the injector nozzle. Use the canned air to get dust and dirt out of the nozzle. You can use the end of your paperclip to get more dirt out while you spray the nozzle with pressurized air.

Return the injector filter to its original place and secure it to its normal position over the nozzle. Screw back the cap to its place on the machine and gently return the injector cap on the filter. Tighten the cap till it is secure.

Cleaning the Brine Line

To get the brine line cleaned follow the first steps of cleaning the injector by switching off your machine and pulling the plug out of the electrical socket. Switch the machine to bypass mode as well. Unscrew the brine lines from the injector casing with a wrench.

Once the brine line is removed, inspect the inside of the line for residue that could be clogging your line. Clean the inside of the brine line by squirting water in it with a turkey baster. Once cleaned, return it to its original position. Switch the softener back on and test it.

Observe how the machine performs over the next few days and watch out for signs of hard water. If you still notice that your softening system is still not working right, then you should consult with a plumber or a company that specializes in residential water softeners.

Cleaning Tips For Residential Water Softeners

WATER SOFTENER

Monday, October 3, 2011

Protect Your Appliances With The Best Water Softeners

Fed up with hard water stains on your sink and bathroom? How about endless maintenance bills on your dishwashers and washing machines due to clogged pipes and harsh chemicals in the water? Hard water may not seem to be that much of a problem when you hear about them, but wait till you experience all the havoc it can and then you will realize how much of a pain it is.

water softener shower head

Everybody who uses tap water at home is not safe from the effects of hard water since pretty much the community water supply is, by nature, hard water. The only way for us to dodge the bullet and stay away from its damaging effects is by installing the best water softener on the market today. If you are counting the number of bad effects of hard water to our homes and health, then that's exactly the same number of solutions a good system can give.

WATER SOFTENER

Although the best water softener is not that cheap, investing on these kinds of things will prove to be beneficial in the long run as there will be fewer bills to pay whether if it's for cleaning, maintenance and repair, or keeping everyone in the family healthy. For those who are dealing with a tight budget, there are quite a few alternatives to water softeners like filters that are attached directly on the faucet instead of an entire system. Some of the advantages of these systems are reducing if not completely eliminating the hard water spots, soap scum, and crystal deposits on the tubes and pipes of the house. Soft water is also known to have good effects on fabric softening and color care, and will also leave your body silky soft without the slimy feeling after taking a bath or shower.

The demand for an apartment water softener is increasing as more and more people are opting to live in apartments due to high prices on real estate. Apartments, especially old ones, are known for their dreaded hard water supply hence any person that is particular to health issues and cleanliness will get a lot of mileage out of having an apartment water softener.

There are a lot of companies claiming they have the best water softener on the market today; among these is the aquaguard water softener which has good reviews all over the net. There are a lot more brands, so if you are planning to get one, make sure to do your research and pick one that best suits your needs and your budget.

Protect Your Appliances With The Best Water Softeners

WATER SOFTENER

The Popularity of Calgon Water Softener

The name Calgon is in reality an abbreviation for the expression 'calcium gone' and it represents a brand which is manufactured by different companies in form of derivative products. Originally the product Calgon belongs to a company named Calgon Inc. which was based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and held the credit of being the first to introduce the Calgon water softener in 1933. Eventually the company broke up into a number of subsidiaries and the water softener which contains amorphous sodium polyphosphate was repackaged as a dish washer detergent meant to be sold in various parts of the world.

water softener resin

Calgon is available in the market in form of powder, tablets and gel and hence can be bought in any of the three forms in accordance with one's individual requirements. While Calgon powder is especially formulated to effectively counter the lime scaling effect of hard water especially in washing machines, the Calgon tablets and the Calgon gel perform the same task although their method of usage is slightly different.

WATER SOFTENER

Calgon ball tablets are different from the other water softening tablets in the sense that they feature anti limescale actives in high concentration which take only a few seconds to dissolve in the water and provide a measured dose. Likewise, a single cap of Calgon gel is a fast dissolving liquid which not only effectively neutralizes the lime scale but also flushes it away during the wash cycle.

Due to its popularity as a water softener, it has enjoyed being the center line of many commercials and a particularly memorable advertisement featuring the Calgon water softener which ran uninterrupted for many years featured a Caucasian woman and a Chinese gentleman. Similarly, the commercials of Calgon softener all over Europe have been translated into almost every regional European language and its mention in the famous soap operas further stresses its popularity.

The Popularity of Calgon Water Softener

WATER SOFTENER