{"id":781,"date":"2017-10-30T11:00:01","date_gmt":"2017-10-30T15:00:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.neyerplumbing.com\/blog\/?p=781"},"modified":"2017-10-26T10:08:18","modified_gmt":"2017-10-26T14:08:18","slug":"water-softener-work-how","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.neyerplumbing.com\/blog\/water-treatment-systems\/water-softener-work-how\/","title":{"rendered":"Water Quality FAQ: How Does a Water Softener Work?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"tapwater-down-metal-sink\"We\u2019ve previously discussed the trouble with hard water in a home\u2019s plumbing before on our blog. There\u2019s a good reason for this: hard water is a problem found across the country, in particular in large cities and their suburbs. In some homes, the hardness level of the water is minor and doesn\u2019t cause noticeable issues. But your home may be one of those where hard water is creating a number of detectable signs<\/a>\u2014and when you see those, it\u2019s definitely time to schedule water testing so you can find out the type of water softener necessary to counteract the hard water.<\/p>\n

What does it mean to \u201csoften\u201d water?<\/h2>\n

We need to do a short recap on what \u201chard water\u201d is and why it needs to be \u201csoftened.\u201d Hard water is water with a high mineral count of minerals like magnesium and calcium. Both of these minerals are found in a lot of the food you eat. You\u2019ve probably seen products advertised with \u201cessential vitamins and minerals\u201d which include magnesium, and calcium is important for bone health and is found in dairy products. So hard water isn\u2019t harmful to you or your family to drink.<\/p>\n

The problem is the minerals cause trouble from the plumbing in a house: calcite builds up in pipes creating high water pressure and leaks, damage to appliances, particularly the water heater, and ugly-looking buildup in fixtures. Hard water also makes it difficult to create soap lather and leaves a filmy residue on glass and other surfaces.<\/p>\n

Counteracting hardness in water, \u201csoftening\u201d it, requires making a swap of the magnesium, calcium, and other hard water ions with sodium ions, a harmless mineral substitute. This ion exchange is done via a water softener<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The water softener at work<\/h2>\n

A water softener is attached the water main as it enters the home so it can be applied to all the water in the household plumbing system. The water that enters the water softener passes through a chamber filled with resin beads. These beads are soaked in a brine solution that causes sodium ions to adhere to them. As the hard water minerals pass over the beads, an exchange occurs where the hard water ions are attracted to the beads and swap places with the sodium ions. The sodium ions are released into the water supply. This effectively \u201csoftens\u201d the water.<\/p>\n

Of course, this process can\u2019t keep up forever. Eventually, all the sodium ions will be gone and the resin bead will be covered with magnesium, calcium, etc. minerals. The water softener must periodically go through a recharging cycle where the hard water minerals are flushed from the system and water in a brine tank washes over the beads to restore the sodium ions. The brine tank must be periodically refilled to keep the water softener operating.<\/p>\n

As with all whole-house water filtration and purification systems, a water softener needs to have professionals select the right model and then attach it to the plumbing system. To learn more about the installation of a water softener in Hamilton, OH<\/a>, call our water treatment specialists today.<\/p>\n

Ken Neyer Plumbing, Inc. has served Greater Cincinnati and the surrounding Tri State area<\/a><\/strong> since 1972.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Counteracting hardness in water, \u201csoftening\u201d it, requires swapping the magnesium, calcium, and other hard water ions with sodium ions. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[110],"tags":[140,89],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.neyerplumbing.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/781"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.neyerplumbing.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.neyerplumbing.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.neyerplumbing.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.neyerplumbing.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=781"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.neyerplumbing.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/781\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":786,"href":"https:\/\/www.neyerplumbing.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/781\/revisions\/786"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.neyerplumbing.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=781"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.neyerplumbing.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=781"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.neyerplumbing.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=781"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}