How Do Salt Free Water Softener Work

Tac uses small spherical beads to convert dissolved calcium and magnesium minerals into micro crystals.

How do salt free water softener work.

A salt free water softener doesn t exist. Water softening involves an ion exchange process which removes both magnesium mg2 and calcium ca2 from water. 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. Do salt free water softeners work.

In the salt free process minerals are retained in the water but their form is changed so they will not adhere to surfaces. Just test cold water hardness after a salt free system is installed compared to a newly installed salt based system. These systems use template assisted crystallization tac to attract hardness causing particles. The salt or potassium chloride based system will measure 0 to 1 hardness.

Salt free water softeners are water conditioners in actual. While salt free water softeners are indeed salt free they do not soften 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. 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. A salt free water softener does not exist. 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.

These crystals are unable to attach to surfaces thereby. The simple and easy answer is no because in actuality what many companies call salt free water conditioners simply do not soften the water. Salt free water softeners are actually not softeners they are water conditioners. 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.

But the facts don t bear that out. A more accurate description of units commonly marketed as salt free water softeners would be a salt free water conditioner or scale inhibitor. How does a salt free water softener work. By definition a water softener is any device that reduces the hardness to below one 1 grain per gallon gpg.