Is hard water a major issue in your home? Hard water can occur when there’s an excess amount of minerals in your water. This is a common problem for many households in Missouri. At Lost Valley Pump Service, we offer water softener installation services that will keep minerals such as magnesium and calcium in check, to keep your water safe and fresh.
Hard water minerals can cause many problems. The average water softener system can have a major positive impact on the quality of your water, ensuring that you don’t experience the dangers or issues that come with hard water.
The team at Lost Valley Pump Service can determine whether or not your home can benefit from a soft water system.
If there’s hard water in your home, you’ll notice a wide range of problems. Hard water will not only cause scale buildup in fixtures and plumbing appliances, but it can also impact the flavor of water and can cause skin issues and other problems including:
And more.
These issues may not seem like major problems, but when they all happen at the same time, it can be frustrating for most homeowners. Additionally, scale buildup can cause significant issues with a gas water heater and other plumbing appliances. Scale buildup can speed up the corrosion process, which can lead to ongoing hot water heater repairs or replacement.
Having a water softener system installed can offer many immediate and long-term benefits.
If you’ve always washed your skin with hard water, then you’ll be surprised by how soft and clean your skin feels once you make the switch to a soft water system.
Even if you always use the best shampoos and conditioners on your hair, if you wash it in hard water, your hair may still be brittle, dry, and damaged. Just like on the skin, hard water can be very damaging to hair.
If your clothes are coming out of the washer still dirty or discolored, your detergent isn’t to blame. Hard water can seriously damage your clothes. It can make your laundry detergent less effective, so you may need to wash your clothes an additional time. With soft water, the cleaning power or your laundry detergent will no longer be compromised. You'll also notice an improvement in how effective your home cleaning products are.
Soft water doesn’t leave mineral buildup behind, so your skin, hair, and clothes will be fresh and clean.
Hard water contains minerals that can leave the water tasting bitter and metallic. With a water softener system, you’ll no longer have to spend money every week on bottled water, instead, you’ll enjoy great-tasting water straight from your kitchen sink.
Soft water is also gentle on your plumbing, so you won’t see the scale buildup that hard water leaves behind. This means fewer plumbing problems in the future.
Softened water can make all the difference. Effective water softeners are designed to remove minerals from water. A system will target harmful minerals, such as magnesium and calcium. Minerals are typically found in water in rural areas and in well-water.
Softened water systems come equipped with a small pipe that connects the storage tank with the tank that’s filled with resin beads. This type of water treatment system also comes with a discharge pipe that integrates the water tank with a drain line.
The resin in a water softener system consists of plastic spheres that are placed inside the water tank. These beads hold a negative charge that attracts positively charged ions. The beads are coated with a sodium ion, which holds a positive charge naturally. The ion exchange takes place when the positively charged magnesium and calcium ions in the water knock the sodium off the resin, attaching to the resin beads. The sodium ions are released into the water during this process.
When all of the resin has become saturated with hardness, the softener requires a way to get rid of the minerals it’s captured.
As a softened water system ages, the resin beads become less effective. When this happens, an integrated computer in the water softener system activates the regeneration cycle. The computer is designed to monitor the amount of water that’s flushed through the tank on a daily and monthly basis. After a water heater has reached maximum capacity, the regeneration process will begin again.
During this process, the salt in the brine tank is used to sanitize the resin beads to remove all of the excess minerals. After the minerals are removed from the water during regeneration it's flushed through the discharge pipe. Once the beads have been sanitized, the regeneration setting will deactivate. This process will repeat itself to soften the hard water supply.
The soft water system works around the clock to remove minerals from water and requires salt to be added to the tank on a regular basis. Because the system is constantly in operation, neutralizing minerals, if a water softener system breaks down, repairs will be needed to avoid the damage that’s caused by hard water.
Depending on the size of your system, water usage patterns, and salt levels, you may need to refill the system with salt on a monthly basis. There are also systems that utilize potassium chloride instead of salt to remove minerals.
Each year, a water softener system’s efficiency is reduced by 1% to 2%. If you purchased your system several years ago, it may be time to consider replacing your outdated system, especially if you start to experience itchy skin or dry skin, or you see spots on your dishes.
System replacement may not be the only option. In some cases, your system may just need the valves cleaned, new resin beads added, or more salt added to the brine tank.
Before a water softener system is replaced, call the team at Lost Valley Pump Company to schedule an inspection.
When there’s scale buildup on the surface of your tub or your laundry is difficult to clean, these are considered clear indicators that something is wrong with your water softener system.
A lack of lather in your wash can indicate your water softener isn’t working. When you have a supply of soft water, it’s easy to create bubbles when you’re taking a shower and you won’t need to use much shampoo or soap. If you have to use more shampoo or soap than normal, then you’re probably getting hard water, not soft.
If you’re washing machine requires repairs often, it can be a sign that there’s hard water in your home. Other indicators that you’re water softener system is no longer working are the lather amount during the cycle or your laundry’s appearance after washing it. To determine if there’s a lack of lather, stop the washing machine in the middle of a cycle. If you don’t see a regular amount of bubbles, then your water softener isn’t working the way it should.
If your pipes have developed crusty material, this is a major sign that your water softener system needs to be repaired or replaced.
The type of water softener system you choose can depend on many factors, such as your water quality, budget, water hardness levels, and more. Many modern top-of-the-line systems offer a wide range of benefits, including improved operating efficiency.