Hard Water And An Example Of A Water Softener System To Solve It
Is the term "hard water" familiar to you? This is usually a problem in rural areas or homes in industrial areas
. Basically the level of calcium, magnesium and iron in your water is too high, which is what is referred to as hard water. The problem in hard water is as it passes through your plumbing in your house or industrial installation it will get damaged over time.
To deal with hard water there are many methods available that will try to soften the water. One of these is to use a Water softener machine that will use a special salt to remove the excess magnesium and calcium. There are three types of salts. These are rock salt, solar salt and evaporated salt.
Rock salt is by far the cheapest method available but you'll often have too clean your water softening installation because it is by far the dirtiest alternative. Solar salt is a bit in between. While evaporated salt is the best and cleanest method but also the most expensive one. Nowhere does salt works to clean your water is that in your tank you will have a negatively charged Water softener resin that is bonded with sodium ions. When the hard water passes through the resin the sodium ions will basically replace the calcium and magnesium.
Usually your water softener machine will recommend a particular type of salt. You must keep this in heavy consideration when picking the best type of salt for you. Furthermore, keep in mind that if you use rock salt you'll probably have to clean up at least three times a year to make sure your water softening system is performing adequately. You will also often have to recharge the beads, a process called "regenerating" in your user manual. You basically put salt in the machine to replenish it with sodium ions to eventually re-start the process of these ions replacing the "hard water" metals.
It is important to point out that hard water or even soft water does not in any way make it undrinkable, it will only affect your plumbing. However, if you are on a strict low sodium diet you might want to talk to your doctor and/or water softener manufacturer to find a better solution. For example, using expensive potassium salt is one such possibility. If you have especially hard water you might have to add a lot of sodium which could make it a hazard to your health over time. You might also consider having a separate cold water line that will only be used as drinking water.