If you
could protect your entire plumbing system,
plus your clothes, shower doors, dishes,
water heater, dishwasher, washing machine,
toilets, sinks, etc., would you?
Have you ever seen the white powdery buildup
on the end of your faucets? That’s
hardness.
Do your glass shower doors get a white film,
unless you clean them constantly? That’s
hardness.
A water softener, professionally installed
by AB&R Plumbing, can eliminate these
problems and many others.
Installing a softener is not simply a matter
of connecting the pipes and hoping they
don’t leak! The softener must be properly
sized, installed in the right place, have a
place to drain and a place to plug it in.
AB&R Plumbing has more than 20 years
experience installing, servicing and
repairing water softeners in homes and
offices.
Call AB&R today and we will schedule an
appointment for one of our trained
professionals to visit your home or office.
We will determine your exact needs, decide
with you where the softener should be
located, determine all the variables
associated with the installations and give
you an exact price in writing.
That’s it!
Then you sit back and enjoy the many
benefits of having softened water in your
home.
Still not entirely sure? Still have some
questions about softeners? We have tried to
answer the questions we could think of
below.
Some Questions and Answers About Water
Softeners
Q: Why
do I need a softener?
A: The purpose of a water softener is to
remove certain dissolved minerals in the
water that are called “hardness”. The reason
we remove these minerals is to protect the
plumbing system, fixtures, and other things
in the home that come in contact with water.
Removing hardness can make your water
heater, dishwasher and washing machine last
longer, it can prevent your clothes from
fading and wearing out as fast, it can even
help prevent your glasses from getting
“cloudy” looking after a few months in the
dishwasher.
The two main ingredients in hardness are
calcium and magnesium; literally, dissolved
rock. This dissolved rock comes out of
solution whenever it is exposed to air or
heat, so the water heater, dishwasher and
washing machines are the three main areas
where hardness can do its damage. Other
places where you will notice the effects of
hardness are the white build-up on the end
of your faucets, the “cloudy” look of your
shower doors after awhile, it may even cause
the finish on your fixtures to degrade over
time.
Q: Can I
just install a softener on my water heater?
A: The majority of the water that is used in
your home is cold, so it does not come
through your water heater. Installing a
softener on the water heater only will
protect the water heater and the dishwasher,
but it will only partly protect everything
else in the house. Since, when you take a
shower, you would normally have less than
half your water coming from the hot side of
the valve, you are protecting your shower
less than 50%. In most other places where we
use water, we routinely use even less hot
water, so we are protecting much less than
50% (and a toilet uses only cold).
Installing a softener only on the water
heater is better than not installing one at
all, but if you can do it, you will be
better served by installing a softener to
soften all the water in your house
Q: What
about soft water to my hose bibs? Is this
harmful in any way?
A: For years, the standard in the water
treatment industry was to use sodium salt (NaCl
or Sodium Chloride) to regenerate softeners.
Sodium salt was cheap, easy to get and
worked very well. The problem is that if you
use this water to water plants or grass, it
can damage the grass – or even kill it!
When potassium salt (KCl or Potassium
Chloride) was introduced, the problem of
watering your grass was eliminated. As far
as the softener is concerned, NaCl and KCl
are almost identical and potassium salt will
not cause the water to kill your grass.
Potassium salt is more expensive, but since
we are only using between 2 and 6 bags a
month (usually), it does not present a grave
financial hardship.
Q: What
about “Exchange Softeners”? Aren’t these a
lot cheaper?
A: Yes and no. This is a long explanation,
so please bear with me.
One of the ways to describe what a softener
does is “ion exchange”. Inside the softener,
ions of calcium and magnesium are swapped or
“exchanged” for ions of sodium or potassium.
The calcium and magnesium are taken out of
the water and the sodium or potassium is put
in.
The problem is, eventually there is no more
sodium or potassium to exchange. At this
time, we say the softener resin is
“exhausted”, and has to be “regenerated”.
If you have an “exchange softener”, the
company you rent it from will come out to
your house periodically, remove the softener
you have and put another in it’s place. The
resin in the old softener is exhausted and
in the new softener it is regenerated and
ready to work. They then take the old
softener back to their plant where the resin
is regenerated.
Now, here are some of the drawbacks.
First of all, the softener has to be plumbed
in such a way as to be on the outside of
your house (not very attractive) or you have
to be home when they come to exchange it
(inconvenient).
Second, they have you on a schedule so that
they exchange the softener before it becomes
exhausted. But what if you have guests and
use more water? What if you do spring
cleaning?
Third – and probably most important – you
don’t really know what you’re getting!
Softener resin degrades over time due to
many factors; chlorine damage, friction, and
age are just a few. When you buy a new
softener, you get new resin – all of it is
new. When you get an exchange softener, you
end up with a mixture of new and old resin,
some of it good, some of it not so good, and
you have no way of telling.
If you have a softener installed in your
home, unless you have significant plumbing
issues that would prevent it, I recommend
that you have a regenerative softener (one
that regenerates in your home) installed.
That way you get what you bought, not what
someone else rented for ten years.
Q: Won’t
the salt harm my water heater?
A: No.
The salt in a water softener, unless there
is something wrong with the softener, never
enters the potable water system. The salt
solution (brine) is stored in the brine tank
(the second, shorter tank that is installed
with your softener). During the regeneration
cycle, this water is pulled through the
softener and goes down the drain. When the
brine is being put into the softener, it is
bypassed (as part of the regeneration, it
happens automatically) and no water is going
into your water piping from the softener.
There is no way for the salt to get into
your water heater.
After the brine has been put into the
softener, it is thoroughly rinsed down the
drain. It never enters your plumbing.
