It is always good to get a home water softener installed in your main source of water supply
. In case hard water is supplied inside your house then it becomes very essential to get a water softener installed.
From any of the water retailer stores, you can get a kit that would help you in measuring the hardness of your water. Some common things caused by hard water are: spots on glasses, clogged plumbing pipes and dry skin.
Most of the water softeners work on the principle of exchanging the ions of one molecule with the ions of any other molecule and the final resulting molecule does not cause any water hardness. Magnetic water softeners are also available and these softeners are based on positive /negative attraction principle.
The salts like sodium will have a chemical reaction in hard water to replace calcium and magnesium in water and make it soft. You could also try to use potassium in lieu of sodium.
Meter-based water softeners have automatic system to renew the salt supply in it when necessary. When this machine is installed, it should know the hardness of the water and the number of users who will be using it. It is one of the cost-effective machines that use salt effectively.
Timer-based water softeners, replaces the salt after a fixed interval of time during day time or night. The replacement is done once in a week with a fix amount of salt. Regardless of water use, it uses more salts. So it is not considered to be a cost-effective way.
Manual home water softeners have to be carried out manually and obviously, no meter or timer is involved in executing the renewal of salts supply. Compared to the other systems mentioned, this would require lots of effort and time as it does not follow any automation technology.
Dealing with hard water problems could affect your mood for a lifetime. Using salt-based home water softeners could be a good decision but it could also be bad for your health if you have some heart complications and other related ailments. You may replace sodium with potassium but the drawback is, it is costly and not that eco-friendly.