What is Hard Water?
Hard water is water that contains a high level of minerals, primarily calcium and magnesium. While these minerals are not inherently dangerous to your health, they do wreak havoc on appliances and pipes in your home that cause undo expenses.
Here in Florida, most homes have hard water is a big issue and many times, the impact is overlooked. You may see hard water create residue or spots on dishes and glassware, cause soap scum buildup in your shower, or lead to yellowed, dingy laundry. What people don’t understand is the damage hard water can cause on their pipes and appliances. Hard water can be very costly.
What is soft water?
To understand soft water, we need to know what makes water hard. Hard water is water that has a high mineral content. It’s a natural result of minerals like calcium and magnesium accumulating during the water cycle, and it can happen with well water and even city water. The more calcium and magnesium dissolved in the water, the harder the water becomes. This is why certain cities and counties within the same state can have varying degrees of water hardness.
A water softener system treats your water at the point it enters the home. Having soft water means removing these hardness impurities before the water travels through your pipes and into your water-using appliances, and before you draw water from the taps of your bathrooms and kitchen. Soft water is less than 1 gpg, whereas hard water is anything above 7 gpg. Over 85% of households live in hard water areas.
While the immediate impact of soft water is most noticeable in terms of improved water quality, you will also notice that soft water cuts down on a number of costs. With soft water, you can use less soap for dishwashing and laundry. When you’re flushing fewer chemicals down the drain, you also reduce your environmental impact. As hard water leads to heat loss, you will enjoy lower electric or gas bills when heating soft water. Hard water impacts and reduces the lifespan of household water-using appliances. With soft water minimizing scale buildup, everything from your water heater to your coffee maker will work more efficiently for a longer time.
From time to time we give the option to order a model in advance.
This means that you have the opportunity to reserve a pair for yourself before it goes up on the website or arrives in the store – the models come in a very small and limited quantity.
The relevant delivery time appears inside the product.
We will make sure to update regularly throughout the period until the product arrives at you.
We recommend not to hesitate too much – when there is an opportunity for such an order, you don’t want to lose it!
Most municipalities treat water by using chlorine to kill bacteria. Some might even soften the water, but only to meet minimum requirements. That doesn’t mean it is ideal for your family.
One of the biggest misconceptions about water softeners is that the salt is what softens your water. What actually softens the water are the thousands of resin beads inside your softener that filter out hard water minerals.
- Softeners use a negatively charged ion exchange resin to collect the impurities from your water. The resin becomes charged when it mixes with a sodium or potassium solution. The salt in the water softener isn’t what softens the water; it is what enables the resin to collect and remove the hardness from your water.
- The softener softens your water, and also removes the chlorine taste and odor, which is often a result of water treated by cities and municipalities.
- Regeneration is the term for when the resin is being cleaned and recharged in the sodium solution.
The right product for your home is determined by testing your water, considering how many people are living in your home, understanding your normal water usage, taking into account the number of bathrooms you have, understanding the water-using appliances in your home, etc. Galene’s members are water treatment professionals trained to understand your family’s needs and determine the right product for your home.
No. Soft water is soft water. You cannot adjust the level of impurities being removed from the water.
How much will a water solution cost?
As residences throughout the U.S. receive their water from different sources, water quality tends to vary from home to home. During your free water test, a Galene representative will discuss the best water treatment solution for your home based on what they find in your water.
