What is Hard Water and How Does a Water Softener Eliminate It?

There is a lot of hype surrounding the issue of hard water. A lot of water softener companies seem to purposely make the problem as complicated as possible. Maybe this is so they can charge a lot of money for a complicated solution. Read on to find out the facts about hard water.

In areas like the Rocky mountain states and Florida, hard water problems are a fact of life. People who live in these areas have to contend with many different issues related to hard water. Some of these are relatively minor, like mineral spots and residue on glassware and dishes, or decreased effectiveness of soaps and detergents. Other problems can be pretty significant, such as clogging of plumbing pipes or water heater failures due to scale build up.

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So what exactly is hard water and what causes it?

Well, the simple answer is it is plain old H2O with an excessive amount of dissolved hardness minerals. These hardness minerals, calcium and magnesium, are picked up when rain soaks into the ground and passes through limestone. Limestone is a fairly soft type of rock and is dissolved pretty easily. Acid rain caused by carbon dioxide in the air dissolves the limestone even faster and makes the problem worse.

Areas, like Florida, that are thought to have once been under the ocean have a lot of underground limestone. These areas are called "karstic". Karstic locations usually have hardness issues with their groundwater. If you live somewhere like Florida, you probably already know that.

So what do you do about the problem?

There are really two main ways to deal with the problem of water hardness. You can remove the minerals or add something to modify their effect. Detergent companies do this when they add phosphates to cleaning products. The phosphates help overcome the negative effects of the dissolved minerals. One problem with this is the phosphates create other problems when they are discharged into the environment.

The other solution is to remove the minerals form the water, making it "soft". The most common way to do this is with a water softener, using the "ion exchange" method. The ion exchange method works like this. The hard water goes through a tank filled with beads made from a special resin. These beads have a negative electrical charge. The calcium and magnesium molecules, called "ions", have a positive charge. The positive mineral ions are basically stick to the resin beads, so the water leaving the tank is now "soft".

This process continues until all of the beads are "full" of mineral ions. Then the tank is back flushed with a salt solution to clean the beads. This is called "regeneration". After regeneration is complete, the softener is ready to keep doing its job. This cycle repeats itself as needed. From time to time extra salt must be added to replace what has been used in regeneration.

There are certainly other details in the process. In fact, the issue can be made as complicated as you want, but there is really no need. The bottom line is if you live in an area affected by hard water you need to deal with it and a water softener is the most common solution. Now that you have read this you don't have to be intimidated by the hype and hard sell tactics a lot of companies use.

What is Hard Water and How Does a Water Softener Eliminate It?

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