How Do Salt Free Water Softener Work

These systems use template assisted crystallization tac to attract hardness causing particles.

How do salt free water softener work.

There are salt free water conditioners that use template assisted crystallization tac instead of ion exchange to address water hardness. During the ion exchange process a polymer resin bed attracts hard water minerals and replaces them with sodium ions. Some nice things about salt free systems are that they don t waste water the way water softeners do they cost less to operate and don t require much maintenance. The salt or potassium chloride based system will measure 0 to 1 hardness.

Conditioned water also doesn t have the slippery feel you get from a water softener which can be an advantage or disadvantage depending on your preference. But the facts don t bear that out. How does a salt free water softener work. In the salt based process above true water softening hardness minerals are actually removed from the water.

If it doesn t do that it s not a water softener. These crystals are unable to attach to surfaces thereby. Tac uses small spherical beads to convert dissolved calcium and magnesium minerals into micro crystals. In the salt free process minerals are retained in the water but their form is changed so they will not adhere to surfaces.

The ion exchange process used by water softeners doesn t work without the sodium ions displacing the calcium and magnesium ions that create water hardness. It is this removal of magnesium and calcium that defines water softening. Salt free water softeners are actually not softeners they are water conditioners. Salt free water softeners are water conditioners in actual.

A salt free water softener does not exist. While salt free water softeners are indeed salt free they do not soften water. The simple and easy answer is no because in actuality what many companies call salt free water conditioners simply do not soften the water. By definition a water softener is any device that reduces the hardness to below one 1 grain per gallon gpg.

Water softening involves an ion exchange process which removes both magnesium mg2 and calcium ca2 from water. They do not soften the water but break the hard minerals in a way that they can pass easily from plumbing through faucets into the drain. Do salt free water softeners work. A more accurate description of units commonly marketed as salt free water softeners would be a salt free water conditioner or scale inhibitor.