How Do Salt Free Water Softener Work

A salt free water softener doesn t exist.

How do salt free water softener work.

Just test cold water hardness after a salt free system is installed compared to a newly installed salt based system. Salt free water softeners are water conditioners in actual. Do salt free water softeners work. Water softening involves an ion exchange process which removes both magnesium mg2 and calcium ca2 from water.

The simple and easy answer is no because in actuality what many companies call salt free water conditioners simply do not soften the water. Do salt free water softeners work. A more accurate description of units commonly marketed as salt free water softeners would be a salt free water conditioner or scale inhibitor. A salt free water softener does not exist.

Some nice things about salt free systems are that they don t waste water the way water softeners do they cost less to operate and don t require much maintenance. The ion exchange process used by water softeners doesn t work without the sodium ions displacing the calcium and magnesium ions that create water hardness. How does a salt free water softener work. In the salt based process above true water softening hardness minerals are actually removed from the water.

The salt or potassium chloride based system will measure 0 to 1 hardness. During the ion exchange process a polymer resin bed attracts hard water minerals and replaces them with sodium ions. They do not soften the water but break the hard minerals in a way that they can pass easily from plumbing through faucets into the drain. Tac uses small spherical beads to convert dissolved calcium and magnesium minerals into micro crystals.

If it doesn t do that it s not a water softener. These systems use template assisted crystallization tac to attract hardness causing particles. But the facts don t bear that out. It is this removal of magnesium and calcium that defines water softening.

There are salt free water conditioners that use template assisted crystallization tac instead of ion exchange to address water hardness. Salt free water softeners are actually not softeners they are water conditioners. Conditioned water also doesn t have the slippery feel you get from a water softener which can be an advantage or disadvantage depending on your preference. By definition a water softener is any device that reduces the hardness to below one 1 grain per gallon gpg.