Hard Water & Scale Control Systems

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What is a water softener? A water softener removes minerals like calcium and magnesium that create hard water before it enters your water heater or home. When hardness minerals combine with heat, scale forms and clogs plumbing pipes, water heaters, and other appliances. When combined with soap, calcium and magnesium form scum that accumulates on plumbing and fixtures and makes your skin dry and itchy, your hair lifeless, and your laundry dull. What is hard water? Water collects minerals from the soil as it flows through the deposits of calcium, magnesium, and other metallic elements in the ground. Water is an excellent solvent and dissolves these minerals that create scale and other problems lead to additional expenses and maintenance. What are the disadvantages of hard water? Hard water is not a health hazard, but it makes cooking, cleaning, or bathing difficult. The excess minerals in hard water clog your pores and dry your skin out; the mineral fades your clothes; and scum prevents easy cleanup. If you’re experiencing any of these symptoms, then you likely have hard water and need a water softener. Scale accumulated on shower heads Dingy dishes Smoky glassware Dry, itchy skin Splitting hair White rings on pots after boiling Stiff, faded laundry How to Soften Water The best way to treat water hardness is to remove the minerals causing it, and an ion-exchange water softener is the easiest way to treat the problem. When a water softener removes calcium and magnesium, it remedies the symptoms of hard water. Scale inhibitors , like water heater filters or water conditioners, don’t remove minerals but hold them in a solution through a process called sequestration. The minerals in solution cannot break free and create scale. Scale inhibitors do not provide the benefits of softened water; they simply reduce scale buildup. How Water softeners Work A water softener has a tank full of resin beads seeking positively-charged ions. The beads capture calcium and magnesium, whic