Need a water softener? Water is very important in our lives for many reasons. While water is in the ground, it picks up minerals found in the earth. Of these minerals, calcium and magnesium are of particular importance because they affect the water’s ability to function in your home. These minerals make water hard. Hard water can leave water spots on your dishes, soap scum in the shower/tub and water spots on your car and it doesn’t get much better with your laundry. Effects of hard water are that soaps and detergents lose some of their effectiveness and you have to use more for them to be effective.
The solution to getting rid of these mineral problems can be a water softener. The typical water softener is plumbed into your homes water supply system. All water softeners use the same operating principle: they trade minerals for something else, in most cases sodium. This process is called ion exchange. The heart of a water softener is a mineral tank. It’s filled with small polystyrene beads known as resin. These beads carry a negative charge. Calcium and magnesium carry a positive charge. This means the minerals will cling to the beads as the hard water passes through the mineral tank.
Water softeners have a separate brine tank that uses common salt to create a brine solution in the tank. In normal operation, hard water moves into the mineral tank and the calcium and magnesium move to the beads(resin), replacing sodium ions. The sodium ions go into the water. The unit then enters a 3-phase regenerating cycle. For more information on water softeners, give us a call at 785-341-4193 as we are a 3M water softener dealer. De Hart Plumbing Heating and Cooling serving Manhattan Kansas, Junction City Kansas, Topeka Kansas and some surrounding areas.
