The Benefits of Water Softeners

Once you start using a water softener it will be hard to go back. It is easy to see it as luxury spending at first, however its long-term benefits far outdo any short term expenditure. You will notice an improvement in your quality of life and it's life-changing benefits.

What is 'hard' water and 'soft' water?

When water is referred to as being 'hard' it simply means that it contains more minerals than ordinary water. The minerals that are particularly applicable here are calcium and magnesium. The water becomes harder when more calcium and magnesium dissolves. Whenever there is a significant amount of calcium and magnesium, it is called hard water. Water softening is used to remove the ions that cause the water to be hard, which usually involve calcium and magnesium ions.

Green Benefits

Water softeners have a number of enhancing abilities. They are useful in helping to cut down on carbon emissions by removing the build up of scale that forms insides pipes and heating systems. The government carried out some tests that confirmed that the improvement rate was 5.6%.

A further benefit to the environment is that using a water softener enables the home user to use less soaps and cleaning products. Water softeners help increase the life-span of various appliances around the house. They also help reduce the number of visits by service engineers to maintain and repair the appliances from the damages of limescale.

Some commentators have questioned the real benefits of water softeners. They call them time-wasters because they use water to regenerate. However it is argued that this is not the case today. The water softener regenerates the effectiveness of the resin used to soften the water by washing it  with brine, usually once a day.

Since it came into place around a 100 years ago, the industry has worked on improving its ability to operate on less water usage. Most of the contemporary water softeners meet the Building Research Establishment's (BRE) Code for Sustainable Homes specification for acceptable performance, which is for regeneration to use no more than 4% of the total amount of softened water the softener produces.

Improvement in lifestyle

Using water softeners will drastically improve your lifestyle at home. You will not have problems with your shower blocking any more, and your sinks will stay clean. The reduction of scale will keep your boiler running efficiently. Your hours spent in cleaning will be vastly reduced as your shower cubicle will stay clean for weeks and need limited polishing up.

Savings in the home

Installing a water softener can enable you to save vast amounts of money on various cleaning products, such as scale removers, shower cleaners, and floor cleaners etc. The most substantial, but perhaps less obvious savings you will make will be on your hot water heating system by removing its scale.

Finally, you should bear in mind that water softeners will not just benefit you economically and environmentally. Once you have experienced the true luxury of washing and showering in scum free water, you won't be able to go back.

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This page has been written with contributions from heating engineers from Hertfordshire and Gas Safe engineers from Milton Keynes. Several of the company's plumbing and heating engineers from London have worked on similar issues as well as some of our plumbers from Barnet and our Golders Green experienced plumbers.

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