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.
How do salt free water softener work.
Just test cold water hardness after a salt free system is installed compared to a newly installed salt based system.
In the salt free process minerals are retained in the water but their form is changed so they will not adhere to surfaces.
A more accurate description of units commonly marketed as salt free water softeners would be a salt free water conditioner or scale inhibitor.
These crystals are unable to attach to surfaces thereby.
Salt free water softeners are actually not softeners they are water conditioners.
A salt free water softener does not exist.
It is this removal of magnesium and calcium that defines water softening.
The salt or potassium chloride based system will measure 0 to 1 hardness.
Do salt free water softeners work.
But the facts don t bear that out.
The simple and easy answer is no because in actuality what many companies call salt free water conditioners simply do not soften the water.
In the salt based process above true water softening hardness minerals are actually removed from the water.
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.
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.
Do salt free water softeners work.
During the ion exchange process a polymer resin bed attracts hard water minerals and replaces them with sodium ions.
Tac uses small spherical beads to convert dissolved calcium and magnesium minerals into micro crystals.
A salt free water softener doesn t exist.
While salt free water softeners are indeed salt free they do not soften 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.
Water softening involves an ion exchange process which removes both magnesium mg2 and calcium ca2 from water.
There are salt free water conditioners that use template assisted crystallization tac instead of ion exchange to address water hardness.
If it doesn t do that it s not a water softener.