WATER SOFTENING
Hard water is water that has high mineral content (in contrast with "soft water"). Hard water is formed when water percolates through deposits of limestone, chalk or gypsum, which are largely made up of calcium and magnesium carbonates, bicarbonates and sulfates.
Hard water can pose critical problems in industrial settings, where water hardness is monitored to avoid costly breakdowns in boilers, cooling towers, and other equipment that handles water. In domestic settings, hard water is often indicated by a lack of foam formation when soap is agitated in water, and by the formation of limescale in kettles and water heaters.
Softened water has numerous benefits for industrial and domestic applications and which include the following:
1- Energy Consumption: Increase in scale thickness reduce heating efficiency and increase energy consumption according to numerous studies
2-Reduces maintenance cost and extends the life expectancy of equipment:One of the most common effects of hard water is it adverse effect on apparatus and equipment that it comes contact with. It corrodes metal pipes, and causes accumulation in pipes that can cause them to burst, leading to ruined infrastructure as well.
3- Detergent & Cleaning Agent Consumption: Studies show that soap and detergent use more than doubled in hard water. The additional detergent use has the following effects
A) Enviromental effect:The excessive amounts of chemicals used in our cleaning products mostly goes down the drain leading to chemical degradation of our streams and rivers.
b) Financial effect:Softened water will allow you to save on washing powder, detergents and cleaning products
4- Fabric life: Studies have found that softening the water supply increased the life of frequently washed household items such as sheets, pillow slips and bath towels by 20-40%.
3. Skin & Haircare: Because soft water contains fewer minerals, your skin picks up and holds moisture easier. While bathing or showering in hard water can have an adverse effect on your skin. The minerals in hard water remove the skin’s natural oils, which can dry out your skin and, for some, result in itchy, irritated skin. Soft water can help balance your hair’s pH level, while hard water can cause your hair to feel dry, brittle, and frizzy. It can also dull your hair color.
HOW DO WATER SOFTENERS WORK
Ion-exchange water softeners work by taking the minerals that cause hardness out of the water. The softener contains millions of tiny resin beads which remove calcium and magnesium as the water passes through. The resin attracts and traps these minerals so that only softened water enters your plumbing system. Periodically, a timer automatically flushes the resin clean with brine to regenerate it.
An ion-exchange water softener is the only process specifically designed to completely remove all hardness from the mains water supply. Water softened in this way will also gradually remove existing scale from pipe work, bathroom fittings and heating elements.
WHY TABLET SALT?
ADVANTAGES OF USING TABLET SALT COMPARED TO SALT GRANULES
Tablet Salt are more economical than salt granules as you don’t have to fill the salt bin as frequently as you do with salt granules. The time between filling and refilling the salt bin when using tablet salt is usually twice the time between filling the salt bin with granular salt. This is mainly due to the reduced wastage of salt particles when using tablet salt. Granular salt is not recommended to be used in machines as it does not dissolve effectively and can block up pipework. Tablet salt is commonly used because it is easily dissolved, it will not build up salt sediment in the brine tank, and it has a high purity, making it the best type of salt for water softeners.
More over the granular salt currently used in the market contains many impurities which usually leads to maintenance problems with the head of the softener and reduces the lifetime of the resin used in the softener. These factors add to the cost of using granular salt.