Water Softener Basics
A water softener is an appliance specifically made for ridding calcium and magnesium from water. All water is not the same, and it’s dubbed as “hard” when it has high amounts of magnesium and calcium. Conversely, “soft” water does not have these minerals, or they are barely detectable. Lakes and streams naturally have soft water. Underground water is usually hard in regions with high amounts of chalk, gypsum, and limestone. Water softeners remove these mineral components absorbed from the earth, making your water soft. Some water softeners work through either an ion exchange or salt-free devices. An ion exchange is the most common type of water softener, using sodium to replace calcium and magnesium metal ions. A large tank is filled with salt pellets, and as the water fills the tank, the sodium ions react with the calcium and magnesium, making it soft. Salt-free devices use a mechanical filter to eliminate calcium but do not work with magnesium. These devices let water p