How Does Salt Free Water Softener Work

This crystallization can help the water feel softer and will prevent scale buildup in your plumbing.

How does salt free water softener work. A more accurate description of units commonly marketed as salt free water softeners would be a salt free water conditioner or scale inhibitor. The exchange takes place within the resin tank of the water softener. It works by removing calcium and magnesium ions and replacing them with sodium ions which have none of the damaging effects of calcium and magnesium. Because the hard water minerals are not actually captured by salt free water softener systems there is no need for salt or a regeneration cycle to purge the minerals down the drain.

Hard water comes from excess minerals in your water such as magnesium or calcium. It crystallizes magnesium and calcium minerals living in hard water. Rather they transform the magnesium and calcium chemically so that they do not cling to surfaces and precipitate into scale. This is known as the water softener backwash cycle.

If it doesn t do that it s not a water softener. Later on one can find them in the pipes and water heaters. 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. Yes these devices can greatly improve the quality of your drinking water.

Water conditioning systems work by altering the chemical structure of water minerals through the descaling process which prevents solids from depositing in pipes and water using fixtures. Here are the typical water softener regeneration steps. A salt free water conditioner is a term used at the place of a water filtration system. Salt free water softeners are sometimes designed to look like regular water softeners.

The simple and easy answer is no because in actuality what many companies call salt free water conditioners simply do not soften the water. By using water conditioners so called salt free water softener stays in the solution. This is by far the most common type of water softener in home application. This is the familiar device that includes a large tank of salt pellets.

When water flows through the tank it comes in contact with small resin beads that are covered with salt ions. A true sodium based water softener removes these minerals while a salt free water softener crystallizes them. The brine solution flows through the resin tank rinsing the beads and exchanging new sodium for the hard water minerals that have collected. Salt free water softeners on the other hand do not remove hard water minerals from the water.

But it will not create the soft water you re expecting. A salt free water softener does not exist. Salt free systems can help reduce the buildup of limescale the chalky substance you see in dried hard water spots as well as other chemicals. We have tested the following systems as to whether they are water softeners or not and here is what we found.

A strong salt water brine solution is created with the salt added to the softener. However they can only reduce odor sediment and perhaps some chemicals like chlorine.