You may or may not already have a water softener in your home. Whether you already have one of these great systems or are thinking about investing in one, you may be curious about how exactly they work to soften water for your home.
You can keep reading to learn more about the components of a water softener and how they work together to remove harmful particles from your tap water. We are also highlighting the types of particles that a water softener can eliminate. You can give our team a call to schedule service and then an assessment for installation or home delivery water softener salt in Hinsdale.
Water Softener Design
When water enters the softener, it first passes through resin beads that help to attract minerals and remove them from the water before it make it into your home. Keep in mind that a water softener is different from a water purifier. A softener is only designed to remove minerals that make water hard.
Other contaminants will still be present in the tapwater coming from your water softener unless you also have a purifier. Many homeowners choose to have a water pitcher that filters out contaminants or they rely on refrigerator water filters to finish the job.
Reasons for Having a Water Softener
You may wondering what the point of a water softener is if it doesn’t eliminate all of the harmful contaminants. A water softener has a single goal, and that is to capture abrasive minerals in your water. These abrasive minerals can damage the inside of pipes, water appliances, faucets, and other fixtures.
Minerals in hard water speed up corrosion in water heaters and can shorten the lifespan of your plumbing and everything attached to it. Faucets and drains may not last as long or they may develop a thick limescale that you can’t get rid of. The visible limescale is the buildup of minerals found in your tapwater, even if you can’t see them when you pour a glass of water from the sink.
Maintenance Tips
The resin beads play a crucial role in cleaning your water. But the salt in a water softener is equally important. The salt is what cleans these resin beads so that they can be reused again and again. Without enough salt in a water softener, the resin beads will remain at maximum capacity for absorbing minerals and the water passing through won’t be softened as much.
Refilling the salt regularly is the best thing you can do for your water softener. We recommend that you check levels weekly or biweekly and refill it a little at a time instead of waiting for levels to be significantly lower. This way, if your softener experiences an uptick in the amount of water passing through, it’s ready to get the job done.
Then once per year you can turn the system off and clean out the brine tank where the salt is. This helps to prevent clumps or salt and sludge from developing. If you aren’t sure how to clean out the tank, we can walk you through it the first time so you know how to do it in the future.
Contact Althoff Home Services today to schedule an appointment with our professionals. Chicago’s Choice Since 1961. Hand It Off to Althoff!