The demand for water softeners has hit the ground running in the recent times. Water softeners are actually some of the most sought items in the home improvement sector today. If you are looking for water softeners, you may find it necessary to understand the following facts about water softeners.
Water Softeners
Soften hard water by a number of water softening mechanisms
Water softeners can work by filtering the impurities contained in hard water, replacing hard water ions with cold water ions or altering the atomic and the ionic structure of hard water. Those that filter hard water impurities work by the reverse osmosis principle whereby hard water is pushed through a semi-permeable membrane which only allows soft water to pass through. These water softeners are, however, not effective as they mainly filter hard water rather than softening it.
There are also water softeners which alter the atomic structure of hard water temporarily by creating a strong magnetic field. Salt-free water softeners work on a more or less similar technique, where a Nano-technology is used to dismantle the ionic structure of hard water. On the other hand, salt-based water softeners work by replacing the metallic ions of hard water with sodium ions in a series of complex ion exchange reactions. They are thus the most effective water softeners. The Fleck 5600 SXT, Fleck 7000 SXT, and Watts RV PRO-1000 are good examples of salt-based water softeners. On the other side of the coin is Eddy Electric Water Descaler and Nuvo H2O, which are magnetic and salt-free water softeners respectively.
They have different water softening capacities
Water softeners come in various sizes and water softening capacities. For instance, as noted above, the Fleck 5600 SXT, Fleck 7000 SXT, and Watts RV PRO-1000 are good examples of salt-based water softeners. However, the Fleck 5600 SXT has a grain capacity of 48000, the Fleck 7000 SXT has a grain capacity of 64000 and the Watts RV PRO-1000 have a grain capacity of 10000. Grain capacity is a measure of the water softening capacity of a water softener. Consequently, the Fleck 7000 SXT has the highest water softening capacity, and that is why it is the most suitable water softener for large households of 10 or more people. The Fleck 5600 SXT comes in second, serving a household of 3-6 people with sufficient soft-water.
They are suitable for different levels of water hardness
There are water softeners which can soften hard water of any level of hardness. The Fleck 7000 SXT and the Fleck 5600 SXT are good examples of such water softeners. There are others that soften hard water of low to medium water hardness. The Eddy Electric Water Descaler and the Nuvo H2O Manor Complete Salt-Free Water Softening System exemplify water softeners that work for low to medium water hardness levels.
They can filter, descale or soften hard water
Water softeners perform various activities on hard water. There are those that only filter hard water. Others soften it but do not filter it. There are still others that descale hard water, such as the Eddy Electric Water Descaler. Some perform both filtering and softening functions on hard water such as the Nuvo H2O Manor Complete Salt-Free Water Softening System. It is therefore important to determine whether you need hard water descaled, filtered, or softened before you decide which water softener to buy.
We have stated some very good points. If you need a water softener that can perform all these functions, just search widely and you will get it.