If you have lived long enough with the problems caused by hard water, you’ll want to look into water softeners, for your home or business.

Water is called “hard” if it has dissolved within it a great deal of magnesium or calcium. The problems that hard water causes include a scale forming on the inside of your pipes and water heater. This is caused by the magnesium and calcium, and it can reduce the flow of water from your pipes. If left untreated, your pipes may become clogged completely.

Hard water also reacts to soap by forming a sticky residue, which makes it harder for you to lather up when you take a shower. Hard water makes it more difficult to take a relaxing bath, too.

The way to “cure” hard water is by using reverse osmosis or distillation in order that the magnesium and calcium are removed, or to install a water softener. Filtration can be expensive for an entire house, and water softeners are usually a much more cost-effective solution.

Water softeners work on a relatively simple principle. The magnesium and calcium ions in your water are replaced by sodium ions. Sodium won’t precipitate in your pipes, or make it harder to shower and rinse, so it effectively eliminates both of the problems you’ve had with hard water. To accomplish the ion replacement, your water runs through plastic beads or zeolite, which are covered by sodium ions. The water passes by the sodium ions, and the sodium takes the place of the magnesium and calcium ions.

You need to regenerate the beads or zeolite periodically, when the sodium ions have been dissipated. Sodium chloride is salt, so water softeners mix a brine solution and work to flush it through the beads or zeolite. This process is accomplished once you fill your softener with salt. The brine displaces the magnesium and calcium build-up, and replaces it once more with sodium. The leftover brine and the magnesium and calcium are flushed out of your house.

Many people enjoy soft water for drinking, but it offers you other advantages, as well. There are various models of water softeners that you can buy, to provide your family with soft water. There are timer and on demand models, for example.

An ion-exchange water softener phase removes the hardness in your water with potassium or sodium.  When your water passes by the zeolite beads, the offending ions are absorbed from within your drinking and bathing water. The potassium or sodium ions are released, then, into your water. This changes hardness to softness.

The support cycle of your water softener is the method whereby your water passes into the tank to the portion where the zeolite resin beads are located. The harness aspects are collected using the ion exchange, and then the softened water passes through slots and then a valve, releasing clean and soft water to your family, for drinking and showering.

Water softeners also have a backwash cycle, where the water flows through a riser tube, and a collector mixes the zeolite, to rid your water of contaminants and turbidity. The water is also filtered to the drain, during this cycle.

The brine draw cycle is the stage within water softeners where the salt and brine are gathered into a valve, and then sent into the tank’s prime. This cycle is repeated until the hard water has been collected, and then it is processed into its softener tank.

The next procedure uses a steady water flow passing through the zeolite. In this phase, the hard factors and brine are filtered out and then the water heads into the collector, and then up the riser via a valve. Then the water enters the softener tank top, and flows through the zeolite with good speed. This gets rid of the brine, and hardness of your water at the same time.

Using water softeners helps reduce the amount of magnesium, calcium and other ions found in hard water. The conventional type of water softener use an ion-exchange resin where the hardness ions will be exchanged with sodium ions.

Some people are adversely affected by excess sodium in their drinking water. For these people, the American Heart Association recommends that no more than ten percent of their sodium intake should be from their water. This can be accomplished by leaving one tap in your home disconnected from water softeners. In addition, you can use a reverse osmosis system for your drinking water. You can use potassium chloride instead of sodium, which can help to lower your blood pressure.