Hard Water
Hard water is a common problem in many households across the United States. If you've ever had to clean soap scum off of shower walls, had water scale clog up your pipes, or your freezer has produced milky, cloudy ice cubes, you have experienced some of the common problems associated with hard water.
But what is hard water? Put simply, hard water is water that has a high mineral content. The minerals in the water prevent soap from sudsing properly, leave a white film or residue behind, and can result in damage to water heaters.
A water softener is often all that is needed to fix hard water problems.
How Water Softeners Work
Salt is one of the main components of a water softener and must be resupplied in order for the system to continue working correctly. So just how does a water softener work? In the simplest terms, hard water passes through a filter that contains negatively charged resin (plastic) beads. The resin beads attract and filter out calcium and magnesium minerals from the water – the two main culprits of hard water.
The newly soft water then passes through the filter and into the home. Water softener salt is required for cleaning the water softener system, also known as regeneration. During regeneration, positively charged salt ions force the magnesium and calcium off of the resin beads. The salty regeneration water is then flushed out of the softener and down the drain.
