Home Water Conditioners Make Good Water Better

Home water conditioners provide homeowners with a touch of everyday luxury that can be experienced and enjoyed throughout the whole house. If you are unfamiliar with the term “hard water,” it generally occurs in areas where the natural water supply is exposed to rock and soil that contains high concentrations of calcium or magnesium. Hard water is so named because, as it travels through the ground to your home, it can dissolve and absorb these “hardness” minerals.

Although the presence of calcium or magnesium is probably imperceptible when you taste, smell, or look at the water, it can make cleaning chores a nightmare and wreak havoc on your water-using appliances. That’s because these hardness minerals react with the properties of cleaning agents like soaps and detergents to form a “hard”-to-clean residue that coats every surface the water comes into contact with. Home water conditioners provide a convenient solution to this problem.

To soften hard water, most home water conditioners utilize a principal called ion exchange, in which the hardness mineral ions (electrically charged atoms) are exchanged for innocuous sodium ions. The result is a significant reduction in the concentration of hardness minerals in the water. The process works like this:

• As the water enters a home, it is fed into the softener, where it passes over a resin bed made of tiny synthetic beads that hold sodium ions. When the beads encounter calcium or magnesium ions, they release the sodium ions and retain the hardness ions.

• Home water conditioners must be periodically “backwashed” to recharge the resin beads with sodium ions. Recharging requires the use of sodium chloride, which is loaded into a water-filled tank and dissolves to form brine, which is then used to recharge the system.

• Automatic water softeners recharge based on anticipated need. Using a sensor to monitor the amount of water processed, the system regenerates as necessary. Timer-operated models are also available.

To learn more, or to schedule an appointment for a complimentary in-home water hardness and drinking water test, contact a local authorized RainSoft dealer. Your dealer will review the test results with you and help you select an appropriate system from RainSoft’s line of premium home water conditioners. Start enjoying better, softer water today with RainSoft.