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What are the pros and cons of an electronic "softening" system?

Question: We're building a new house and trying to decide if electronic "softening" systems would be a good purchase for us. Illinois water is very hard on appliances plus we're tired of hoisting those bags of salt. Do you have pros or cons on this electronic system?

Answer: Softening is a chemical process—period. When hardness, in the form of calcium and magnesium ions, is dissolved in water, it has a positive charge (+2). As water is passed through a softener resin bed, those ions attached themselves to the resin, releasing 2 sodium ions (+1, each). Now, the soft water no longer has hardness ions to create hard deposits in your appliances and on surfaces in your home. The salt you hate to lug (and no one likes to do it) is used to make a strong brine solution to regenerate the resin. As the strong brine passes over the resin, it forces the calcium magnesium off of the resin and replaces them with sodium again, ready to soften more water.

There is NO SUCH THING as electronic, magnetic or other voodoo softening. You cannot, by virtue of an electrical current or magnetic field, change the fundamental properties of a calcium ion to prevent it from causing scale, except for the exact location where the field is located. Once that water is heated up, in your hot water heater for instance, or the water is disturbed at all (running through your pipes will do it), you no longer have any effect at all from the magnetic field and you're right back where you started.

I find it particularly interesting that the companies you are looking at do not explain their "technology" nor do they list any companies they work with. Their pictures are bogus and unverified and their assertions are ridiculous. They are counting on the fact that most people do not know enough about water chemistry to realize their assertions are fundamentally flawed.

For more information about the quality of your water, or for your FREE water test, call Aquality Solutions 1-866-4WATER1.

This article was originally published in Illinois Country Living a magazine circulated by the Eastern Illini Electric Cooperative.

 

Related articles:
Does soft water affect the operation of a humidifier?
Is your water hard? How water is classified and why it matters

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