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Water Softeners

What is a water softener used for?

Why soften your water?

The impact of limescale on your bills

How do you choose your water softener?

The different types of water softener valves

TUTORIAL: Connecting your water softener to the water supply

VIDEO: Installing your water softener

Adjusting your water softener

Recommendations before installing a water softener

Water softener diagram and components

Maintaining your water softener

Why shouldn't you drink softened water?

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  3. What Is the Difference Between a Water Softener and Other Filtration Systems?

What Is the Difference Between a Water Softener and Other Filtration Systems?

Water softeners are distinctive in that they filter out only one component found in water: limescale. Other filtration systems, by contrast, focus on the size of the molecules to be filtered out.

 

Membrane filtration 

Ultrafiltration and reverse osmosis operate on the same principle. Water is passed through a membrane ; particles that cannot pass through the membrane are removed. The water coming out of the system is pure water.

 

Salt-based water softeners

Water softeners do not filter out limescale using a fine mesh. They use the principle of ion exchange to remove limescale. Hard water passes through a tank containing resin. As it passes through the resin, the ions responsible for limescale formation (magnesium and calcium) attach to the resin beads. In exchange, the sodium ions that were attached to the resin pass into the water. This is known as ion-exchange resin.

 

Once the resin is saturated with magnesium and calcium ions, the water softener enters its regeneration phase. Brine, a mixture of water and salt, is stored in a tank in the water softener (hence the name salt-based water softener). This brine then passes through the tank containing the resin, this time to exchange the magnesium and calcium ions for the sodium ions present in the water. When the process is complete, the water is discharged into the sewer.

 

Electromagnetic system

Electromagnetic systems do not soften water because they do not change its composition. They create an electromagnetic field that will change the structure of calcium and magnesium ions so that they cannot join together and form limescale. These systems are effective at protecting your pipes, but nothing else.

 

SCALEX

Finally, the SCALEX system is a hardness reducer rather than a water softener. Its resin will stop the growth of limescale crystals because it will break them down into smaller parts. Finally, it will prevent the crystals from sticking together. That is why this system is called a hardness reducer rather than a water softener.

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