What are water softener systems?

A water softener system removes or reduces magnesium and calcium ions from your water supply. 

Magnesium and calcium are the typical minerals that make water “hard.” If you have hard water, you’ll find it harder to lather soap, you’ll see more limescale production on anything that water comes into contact with (shortening the lifespan of your appliances), and you’ll probably experience lower water pressure. We’ll touch on all of the symptoms of hard water in a second.

In order to deal with these issues, you’ll probably invest in a water softener system. These systems either completely remove the magnesium and calcium with sodium through a process called ion exchange, reduce the limescale-causing effects through salt-free softening (also known as conditioning), or they supposedly change the chemical structure of the ions through electromagnetism.

In this article, we’ll take a closer look at all of those processes to evaluate which water softener system is best for you.

What’s the difference between hard water and soft water?

As we mentioned above, hard water is water with a higher concentration of dissolved minerals like magnesium and calcium. Here are some common signs that you have hard water:

• You find it difficult -- “hard” -- to lather soap.

• You see white spots on your dishes or silverware, indicating a build-up of calcium bicarbonate.

• Your water tastes or smells odd.

• Your appliances don’t last as long as they should.

• The pipes in your home keep getting clogged.

• You or your family experience(s) skin irritation -- more severely than what might be considered normal.

• Your clothing isn’t getting clean in the wash.

As you can see, hard water can cause a whole host of issues in your home.

On the other hand, soft water doesn’t have the same levels of magnesium and calcium, or their lime-scale causing effects have been reduced.

What are the benefits of Soft Water?

So, what’s so great about soft water?

Well, for one, if you buy the right water softener system, you won’t be experiencing any of the problems listed above. In fact, you’ll experience the opposite:

• You’ll easily lather soap.

• Your dishes and silverware will be spotless.

• Your water will no longer taste or smell any differently than it should.

• The appliances in your home will no longer have a shortened lifespan (they might even last longer than usual).

• You won’t experience problems with your pipes (at least due to limescale build-up).

• Your skin will no longer be victim to dreaded soap scum build-up, resulting in less irritation.

• And your clothing will leave the wash smelling fresh and clean, because your detergent properly lathered this time.

Even more importantly, for certain types of water softener systems, there are added benefits of keeping the same levels of magnesium and calcium present in hard water while reducing the negative side-effects caused by a reduction in lathering.

Let’s look at the different types of water softener systems to find out which one is best for your home.

What Are The Different Types of Water Softeners?

In general, there are only a few different types of water softener systems: salt-based ion exchange, salt-free template assisted crystallization, electromagnetic water softening, and dual tank systems (which run all the time using one or both of the aforementioned processes).

Salt-Based Ion Exchange

First, salt-based ion exchange systems are one of the most popular water softening systems out there.

Through the process of ion exchange, hard water comes into contact with zeolites, negatively charged particles that attract the positively charged magnesium and calcium. Zeolites are easily hydrated and dehydrated, making them perfect for ion exchange. Once the magnesium and calcium bind to the zeolites, a strong salt solution (also positively charged) is flushed through the zeolites, essentially washing off the magnesium and calcium. The magnesium and calcium is then discharged from the system through a different discharge pipe.

If you’ve been reading closely, that means that the sodium is then pumped into your tap. The result is about 300mg of extra sodium per day, or an added medium French Fry, just by drinking the water in your home. Since the average American is already getting more than enough sodium through his or her regular diet, it’s probably a good idea to avoid consuming more sodium than absolutely necessary.

You can do this in a couple ways. One, you could purchase a potassium solution instead of a salt solution. However, this could get pricey very, very quickly. Potassium is, naturally, much more expensive than salt. Alternatively, you could look into purchasing a salt-free template assisted crystallization water softener, which changes the crystalline structure of the magnesium and calcium in order to reduce its negative effects.

Salt-Free Template Assisted Crystallization

Template assisted crystallization also uses a media bed, just like salt-based ion exchange, but the difference is that they don’t remove the ions of magnesium and calcium, just change their form, making it much less likely that they’ll adhere to surfaces.

In order to form limescale, a scale crystal (like those present in dissolved magnesium and calcium) needs a nucleation point. According to the Encyclopedia Britannica, nucleation is “the initial process that occurs in the formation of a crystal from a solution, a liquid, or a vapour, in which a small number of ions, atoms, or molecules become arranged in a pattern characteristic of a crystalline solid, forming a site upon which additional particles are deposited as the crystal grows.”

Put in simpler language that’s more relevant for our purposes, this means that nucleation occurs when the scale crystals in your water find a surface (like your water heater or the walls of your pipes) to go from the water to the surface.

Template assisted crystallization makes it harder for that process to take place. You see, water heaters and pipe walls are fantastic nucleation points, but the nucleation points present on the media bed in salt-free softening are even better, primarily because they come into contact with those polymeric beads first.

Image credit: https://watersoftenerfacts.ca/how-softeners-work/nucleation-assisted-crystallization/

This way, magnesium and calcium become much more stable. All of the negative side effects of hard water are avoided without adding any sodium into your water supply. Even better, you don’t need a discharge pipe.

In conclusion, you waste less water, spend less money (because you don’t have to constantly refill the system with salt every month), and the water that you drink is healthier for you.

If you’re interested in purchasing a salt-free template assisted crystallization softener, visit the FilterSmart store.

Electromagnetic

Electromagnetic, or just magnetic, water softeners reportedly work in a similar way. 

The difference is that template assisted crystallization has been proven to work through independent third-party studies conducted by Arizona State University. Alternatively, the evidence that electromagnetic water softening is effective is, well, dubious.

When K&J Magnetics tried to evaluate the reduction in limescale production and didn’t see any difference in overall limescale. However, they did find that some of the calcium in the magnetically treated water was “less sticky,” but, since they used a fairly strong magnetic field of 3,000 gauss to treat the water, while the original paper evaluating the effectiveness of magnetic water treatment used a significantly weaker field.

That isn’t to say that electromagnetic water heaters are totally ineffective. There appears to be some evidence that they work, but there’s certainly not as much evidence as either salt-based ion exchange water softeners or salt-free template-assisted crystallization water softeners.

Ultimately, it’s up to you to decide and evaluate which softener works best for your home. Our advice, though, is to stay away from magnetic water treatment until there’s more evidence of their efficacy.

Dual Tank Systems

Dual tank water softeners, true to their name, have two tanks to ensure constant water softening. This is important if there are a lot of people in your house, with everyone using the water at the same time.

Salt-free systems don’t need to be regenerated. It uses no salt, no extra water for regeneration, and the media bed is so easy to replace that most consumers can do it themselves.

A dual tank template assisted crystallization system likely consists of both a filter and a softener, like our FS1500 or FS1500 Pro, which is specially designed to eliminate chloramines from your water supply.

Where are water softeners get installed at?

Installation of a salt-based ion exchange system is naturally much more complicated than a salt-free system. That means it’s going to cost you quite a bit more.

As we’ve mentioned before, there’s no discharge valve or electricity required for a salt-free system. Your local plumber can install it with very few issues, or you could even try to do it yourself.

According to Angie’s List, “Angie's List members who had a water softener installed in 2013 reported paying an average of about $1,690.”

If you want to cut down on those installation costs, look into buying a salt-free system and DYI installation.

If you have any questions, feel free to contact one of our representatives at 866-455-9989.