A water softener is a whole-house filtration system that removes hardness-causing calcium and magnesium minerals from your water through a process called ion exchange. A water softener addresses one of the most prevalent and devastating water problems: hard water. Hard water wreaks havoc on the modern home. Scale builds up in your pipes, clogging them and decreasing water pressure. Scale dramatically shortens the lifespan of appliances like dishwashers, coffee makers and ice machines. Hard water destroys hot water appliances. The higher the temperature of the water, the more calcium and magnesium will solidify and harden into solid deposits inside your hot water heater. If you live in hard water territory, it can sound like your water heater is popping popcorn. This is because scale has attached itself to the heating element. As the temperature of the heater rises and the tank expands, the calcified rock deposits crusted on the heating elements start cracking and stretching. Hard water-induced scale is the culprit of that popcorn popping sound.

Without a water softener, laundry demands extra detergent to prevent it from looking dingy. Dishes will come out of your dishwasher streaked and stained. Filmy scum builds up on your shower curtains and your soap and shampoo will not lather. Bathing in hard water leaves your skin itchy and dry and your hair lifeless and sticky. The sheer amount of time, energy, and money required to clean up the detrimental side effects of hard water is dizzying. A whole house water softener is the solution to the scourge of water hardness.

How does a water softener work?

A water softener removes calcium and magnesium from water through a process called ion exchange. When the hard water enters into the mineral tank, it flows through a bed of spherical resin beads. These plastic beads, usually made from polystyrene, are charged with a sodium ion. The resin beads are anions, meaning they have a negative charge. The calcium and magnesium minerals have a positive charge, making them cations. Since opposite charges attract, the negative charge of the minerals is attracted to the positive charge of the resin beads. As the hard water passes through the resin, the beads grab ahold of the mineral ions and remove them from the water. When the bead seizes the mineral ion, the sodium ion is released. The column of resin strips all the hardness out of the water as it passes through the mineral tank, and softened water flows out into your home.

What is hard water?

Hard water is water with an abundance of mineral content, specifically calcium and magnesium. This mineral-rich water causes devastating effects on household appliances. Water hardness minerals resist dissolution and seek to return to a hardened form. When hard water is heated, calcium ions form calcium carbonate, a precipitate formation also known as scale. Scale accumulates in pipes, clogging them and reducing water pressure. Scale also forms inside water heater appliances, shortening their lifespan and increasing energy bills. The minerals in hard water resist lathering with soap and leave behind unsightly white soap scum all over your bathroom and kitchen. In a home plagued by hard water, showerheads lose flow, laundry is dull and dingy, and dishes emerge from the dishwasher streaked and cloudy.

The hard cost of hard water

The cost of living with hard water damage is staggering. If you live in hard water country, an estimated 20 cents out of every dollar you spend at the grocery store will go toward cleaning supplies to combat the damages of hard water. This includes laundry detergent, shampoos, conditioners, dish soap, bleach, and dishwasher detergent, to name a few. This doesn’t take into account the enormous costs of repairing appliances like water heaters and replacing corroded and scale-covered piping in your home. Hard water is drain not only of money but of time and energy poured into the excessive cleaning and maintenance of your home.

Hard water and laundry

Clothes washed in hard water are stiff and scratchy. Hard water fades clothing, turning brightly-colored clothing dingy and drab. Denim becomes brittle and uncomfortable, and towels lose their plush softness. Hard water furthermore destroys the laundry machine itself, as the washer’s water heating element will quickly become destroyed by scale. Laundry washed in hard water also demands more detergent to remove stains, demanding more than double the standard detergent to achieve a normal wash. The Battelle Institute’s study on hard water found soft water was better at removing stains on white clothing at low temperatures with less detergent than hard water at a higher temperature and twice the detergent.

Hard water and hot water appliances

Scale formed by hard water is a detriment to hot water appliances. When an electric water heater accumulates scale, the appliance has to heat the scale caked on the heating element before it can heat up the water. A gas-fired heater encounters the same problem, heating up the accumulated scale at the bottom before it can heat any water. This leads to exorbitant energy bills. It also rapidly shortens hot water’s appliances lifespans. Hard water causes tankless water heaters to completely fail after only a year and a half. Gas-heaters lose as much as 25% of their efficiency on hard water. Electric water heaters gain half a pound of scale a year for every 5 grains of hardness in the water.

Hard water and hair & skin

Soap struggles to lather properly when faced with hard water. The minerals in hard water render the cleaning properties of soap ineffective, requiring you to use more of it to bathe. After emerging from the shower, the soap will stick to your skin in a filmy residue. The minerals in hard water create a film on your hair, preventing it from properly moisturizing. This leaves hair tangly, dry, and lifeless. Your showerhead will also fall victim to hard water scale. This lowers pressure and can cause a new showerhead to lose 75% of its flow rate in just a year and a half.

Hard water and soap scum

The white soap scum streaking your shower walls and bathtubs is another nasty byproduct of hard water. When hard water comes into contact with soap, it forms a precipitate sticky soap curd. This soap scum is a result of the calcium and magnesium bonding with the sodium in the soap and forming an insoluble substance called calcium or magnesium stearate. If left alone, soap scum will continue to proliferate and harden and can grow mold and mildew. Soap scum can leave watermarks and is difficult to clean. It can be scrubbed away with Borox or white vinegar, but until the hard water problem is addressed, soap scum will continue to tarnish your bathroom surfaces.