Compare Water Softeners
Purchasing the right water softener for your household circumstances can be confusing, because of the many different makes and types on the market, and of course every company claims that theirs is the best!
So, we at Better Water Solutions decided that it was time for an explanation and a comparison, and in doing so try to be impartial.
There are a few things that will help to determine what softener is best for you, whilst remembering that the cheapest may not always be the best choice, and on the other hand the dearest may be costing unnecessary money.
So to start with it will be necessary to determine how many people live in the property, and thereby using the water, the actual size of the house is not a real consideration, because two people (for instance) living in a 2 bedroom bungalow will use the same amount of water as if they lived in a 5 bedroom house.
Next it is important to know the degree of hardness in your water, 250mg of Calcium Carbonate is considered hard water, but can easily go up to 400mg in different parts of the country, so it is important to match the water softener to the conditions in your area.
We also need to know what flow rate is needed in your house? This is a very important question because if you end up with the wrong water softener, you may need to buy a new one later on.
Knowing the type of hot water system that you have in your house is also very important. Do you have a traditional plumbing system, where you have a boiler, hot water storage (cylinder, normally in an airing cupboard) with an Immersion Heater fitted, and a cold water tank in the roof space?
Or do you have a Combination boiler (combi) that heats the water directly as the tap is being run? with this type of system there will be no hot or cold storage tanks,Combi boilers are normally fitted for households with a low water usage.
You may have an Un-vented system (Megaflow) with a large hot tank, (normally white) again situated in an airing cupboard, this type of system does not require cold water tank in the roof, but instead is supplied with water directly from the cold water supply pipe from the street, and requires a much higher flow rate than the two previous systems described, and does require a boiler,so unless you buy a water softener that can deliver 50 lites of water a minute in real life terms ( not just on a test bench) you may be in for a disappointing time ahead.
“There is an estimated 1.36 billion cubic kilometres of water or ice covering the World”
Single tank (traditional) twin tank, split tank, block salt, non electric, timer, and meter operated, these are some of the confusing terms used to describe water softeners.
Some are cheaper than others and some are more economical to run and some last longer than others, some are easy to service and some are hard, and with prices running from £450.00 to £1100.00 it's important to know why, obviously, it starts with the build quality (and what part of the world it comes from,) is it made cheap just to make a quick sale, are the components reliable, will it last, if it lasts can service and spare parts become a problem, is its life expectancy 20 years plus?
We have no more and no less water on our Planet than there was at the beginning of time, it is the ultimate recyclable product, but only about 1% of it is available for our use, the rest of it is in the Oceans and locked up (currently) in the south and North Poles
Why is water hard?
When rain falls it is naturally soft, having been evaporated from the earth's surface, rivers, lakes and the sea as well as plants and trees, it leaves behind contaminants and eventually forms water droplets and again falls to earth as rain again completing the water cycle, but as it percolates through the limestone and chalk layers in some parts of the country (approximately 60% is hard) it dissolves and collects these minerals as dissolved solids of calcium and magnesium.
As water slowly passes through the strata it collects more and more scale until it finally reaches our underground storage caverns, or aquifers, it is from these deep aquifers that the majority of our hard water is drawn from by our water supply companies and is delivered to our household supplies as hard water.
How does a water softener work?
A water softener is specifically designed to remove the damaging Calcium and Magnesium salts from your incoming water supply that deposit themselves as hard water scale in your plumbing and heating systems, washing machines, showers, hot tanks etc. Calcium and Magnesium causes scaling and rusting, when water is heated this process is accelerated and can in some cases block water heaters and heat exchangers in as little as 2 years
The basis of all water softeners is a medium called ion exchange resin it changes calcium and magnesium salts that cause hardness to sodium salts and is then termed soft. Hard water is passed through a sealed column filled with millions of tiny beads of the ion exchange resin, as it passes through the resin, hard water minerals are attracted to the beads and are locked to them.
When a water softeners has collected all of the hardness it can it has to be cleaned, this is done automatically by a salt brine solution and is known as “regeneration.” A small amount of the salt brine rinses off the accumulated hardness and it is washed harmlessly to drain, the sodium from the salt remains on the resin to be “exchanged” for the hardness minerals and is again ready to soften the water again.
All water softeners work in the same way as described above, and all water softeners (should) give perfectly softened water, the main difference in water softeners is quality of manufacture and quality of materials, some require electricity or batteries to operate a timer, and some rely solely on water pressure. A traditional single tank softener is built for longevity and normally tailored to suit individual households.
Electric (Timer) operated water softeners.
This type of traditional water softeners use either batteries or 12v mains power to run a simple time operated softener, and is programmed to initiate the regeneration (cleansing) cycle of your water softener after a predetermined time, for example a 4 person household in an area with 300ppm of hardness, will set their water softener for every third day, for two people that would probably mean every 4/5 days.
These softeners were the main types used until recent years, and are great softeners for those people who have a fairly constant and predictable water usage, however if you increase the amount of people in the household, you will exceed its capacity and you will run out of soft water, so you must reset the softener to suit the new circumstances, or if it's just for a few days there is a manual over ride button to give an immediate extra regeneration. On the other hand if you don't use all of the available softened water between your pre set times, you will be wasting salt and water, because your softener will regenerate regardless, the same applies if you use no water at all when you are away.
Electric (meter) operated water softeners
During the past few years Meter operated water softeners have grown in popularity and are now the water softener of choice for most people, although they are (initially) more expensive to buy (about a £100.00) they really come into their own when it comes to salt economy and the savings that they make on water used.
Unlike a timer operated softener there is no clock to set, instead there is a turbine at the entry point of the softener that actually measures the water being used, and automatically adjusts the water softener to the conditions at any particular time so that there is no unnecessary regeneration, and means no wasted water and no wasted salt, and because the turbine only turns when water is being used, it will not work whilst you are away, on the other hand if you have guests staying for a few days, it will sense the extra demand on water used and automatically adjust itself so that you don't run out of softened water. With the combination of the turbine and microprocessor control, this type of water softener is very accurate in its operation.
Will a magnetic or electrical scale reducer do instead?
Although this type of equipment is sometimes marketed as a water softening devise and are sold very cheaply, they merely keep the hard water scale "in suspension" in the water, so the water will still be hard, to soften water the calcium and magnesium minerals that cause hardness must be removed, there is no other way.
These minerals are removed by ion exchange, and are the only way that will remove all hardness completely from your mains water supply, and as an added bonus any existing scale will be dissolved leaving the system clear of deposits.
Gadgets that claim to soften water by electrical current or magnets just do not work, the treated water remains hard but may not form into the same crystal structure as before, however it is still hard and will have little or no affect on soaps, shampoos, and detergents and will revert to its former state when the water is stored, they may have some beneficial results when directly connected to a cold tap for filling a kettle, as it may leave a less harsh form of scale that can more easily be cleaned out.
If you are at all concerned about the increased level of sodium in your drinking water, one of these devises may be of benefit to prevent your kettle scaling up and may be a handy addition to having a water softener fitted where a concerned householder want a separate hard water supply for drinking water purposes, leaving the rest of the house totally protected from the damaging effects of hard water.
Water with a hardness of 300 ppm contains approximately 75mg of sodium per pint, so if you drink the recommended amount of water a day as tea, coffee or just plain water that amounts to just 9% of the average daily intake of sodium (3500mg) from all sources.
To put it in perceptive,
1 pint of water = 75mg of sodium.
1 slice of bread = 375mg of sodium.
1 glass of milk = 175mg of sodium.
1 rasher of bacon = 1500 mg of sodium.
Almost all manufactured and natural foods and drinks contain higher levels of sodium.
Block salt or non electric water softeners
This type of water softener has been about for twenty years or so, and have two distinct advantages (and some disadvantages) over a traditional softener.
In the unlikely event that your house doesn't have an electrical supply, this type of softener comes into its own.
Whilst their "foot print" size is about the same as a traditional softener, they tend to be shorter.
With this type of softener there is a restriction on where you can buy the salt, and "shopping about" for more competitive prices is difficult, and they tend to cost about twice as much to run.
You will need to put more salt in your softener at more regular intervals, about 2/3 weeks as opposed to a traditional softener, every 6/8 weeks.
Because they are very low capacity, they need to regenerate much more often, sometimes 3-4 times daily instead of 2-3 times weekly.
Because they rely heavily on water pressure to operate they can be susceptible to variations in the water supply, and may not regenerate when they should.
To sum up all good quality water softeners will produce the same softened water, but it is advisable to make sure that you buy from a reputable company with a proven track record and be prepared to pay a reasonable price for the right product. A softener should be built of good quality components, look for Fleck and Autotrol control systems (found on many brands) the most reliable that are currently available, if you want to be sure ask, but if you choose another system, "buyer beware" and look for missing brands on this website.
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