How Does A Water Softener Work?
How Does A Water Softener Work?
According to the US Geological Survey, approximately 85 percent of American households have hard water, which includes both city and well water. Similar is the situation in India. But what exactly is hard water, and how does a magnetic water softener work, and how can you make it work best for you if your home has this problem?
What is hard water?
Hard water is defined as drinking water with high concentrations of dissolved minerals, specifically calcium and magnesium. These minerals are not toxic, and they do not make water unsafe to drink, nor do they smell or taste strange, but they can still be harmful.
The crystals of Hard water, Calcium & Magnesium, are responsible for damages in the form of scaling on pipes, bath fittings, loss of hair and skin issues.
How do I know if I have hard water?
Bring a water sample to a certified water-testing laboratory to determine if your home has hard water. You can get a full report, not just about minerals, many other substances, such as nitrates, chlorine, sodium, and dangerous bacteria, will be detected in the detailed analysis.
You can also perform your own rudimentary hard-water test: Fill a clean 16-ounce water bottle halfway with tap water and 10 drops of liquid dish soap. Tighten the cap and shake the bottle vigorously for 30 seconds.
If a thick head of lather forms on top of the water, it is likely that the water is not hard. If, on the other hand, the water becomes cloudy with little lather, it most likely that you have hard water in your home,
As can be seen, hard water is a common and potentially serious issue. Fortunately, there is a simple and relatively inexpensive solution: install a magnetic water softener
How does a Salt based conventional water softener work?
Picture of Conventional Salt-based Water Softener
Whole-house best hard water softeners for home are available in a range of sizes and styles to suit the size of your home and family. The softener is placed at the raw water input of the overhead tank.
Most of the salts used in these conventional Water Softeners for regeneration gets flushed out of the system and may be released into the soil or sewer. These processes can be damaging to the environment. Some jurisdictions prohibit such release and require users to dispose of the spent brine at an approved site or to use a commercial service company. It also releases sodium in Soft water.
For people on a low-sodium diet, the increase in sodium levels (for systems releasing sodium) in the water can be significant, especially when treating very hard water. Moreover regular maintenance of these softeners is very tedious and labor oriented and hence we have observed that most of these softeners installed on rooftops along with water tanks remain inactive due to inability to maintain on a regular basis. The worst part of these Salt based Softeners is that your whole house gets water without calcium & Magnesium, which is an important mineral for body internal consumption.
Salt-free Magnetic Water Softener
Magnetic Water Softeners are a relatively new invention. The idea is that by passing water through a magnetic field, the calcium and magnesium ions are altered in such a way that they lose their ability to cause scale. This has a number of benefits; it has the useful properties of soft water, that is, it won’t cause limescale in your pipes thus increasing heating efficiency and lengthening their lifespan. Calcium is an important dietary element, so the fact that conditioned water still retains its calcium content is an added benefit.
Magnetic Water Softener enabled with MCHW technology, works on this principle of magnetism. A focused magnetic field physically changes the water’s molecular structure, which reduces the size of the water molecule and aligns dissolved minerals like calcium and magnesium in a uniform direction. The magnetic field generated causes a reduced surface tension, thus, restricts hard water minerals from forming of hard crystals of scale. Which minimizes impact of excessive pH and hardness, this makes the water feel softer and behave like soft water.
As a result, scale is removed from your plumbing, appliances and fixtures saving your time cleaning, and money on fuel to heat your water. Hence as water passes through the magnetic field the limescale (salt) molecules lose their attraction to one another and are prevented from combining into larger structures (limescale), causing them to remain in suspension.
This eliminates hard water impact on skin, hair and restricts scaling on Home Appliances and sanitary fittings.
However, the best Magnetic hard water softeners for home were developed use rare earth Permanent magnets of Very High Gauss value. Neodymium magnets, also known as “NdFeB” are strong permanent magnets made from an alloy of neodymium, iron & boron. This does not require any electricity, zero maintenance cost and is a simple Fit & Forget solution. The WOW factor is that it is completely Organic and has no side effects.
Magnetic water softener prices vary greatly depending on the size and make of the softener, but a typical system should cost between Rupees 35000 and 70000.
The benefits of Magnetic Water Softeners are :
- Restricts Hair fall and skin problems
- Restricts Scaling on Home Appliances such as Geysers, Washing Machines and Dishwashers etc. As a result, the life of appliances improves by faster heating resulting in saving of electricity.
- Due to no scaling in water, the clothes washed in washing machines retain their original shine for longer periods and white clothes continue to remain as white as original for longer periods. Water gets more lather and less consumption of Detergent.
- Saves expensive bath fittings and pipes from scaling and improves life of these fittings.
- It does not require any electricity or any media for replacement etc. So, no maintenance cost.
- No monthly recurring cost of replacing the chemically coated media.
Magnetic Water Softener
These Salt-Free Magnetic Water Softeners are rapidly increasing in demand and have a great future. Its market size is growing at 11% CAGR. However, the conventional salt-based Water Softener market seems stagnant.
