Removing unwanted minerals
from water may be easier than removing the mystery from water
softeners even though the devices have been used for more
than 60 years.
Water softeners remove unwanted calcium and magnesium.
These minerals, commonly referred to as lime, form scale
in plumbing and soap curd on objects cleaned with hard water.
Mineral particles even become deposited between cloth fibers,
leaving laundry dingy while deteriorating the fabric.
Hardness is found most frequently in ground water though
amounts vary geographically. It's measured in grains per
gallon (GPG). There are 7,000 grains to a pound, yet water
with as little as one GPG of calcium can cause severe scaling
in commercial applications like boiler treatment. Water
containing less than seven GPG is generally considered acceptable
for home use.
Softening Up
In water softening - also called ion exchange softening
- an ion, an electrically charged particle, is attracted
to ions of the opposite charge. A strongly charged ion will
bump a weaker ion away from its "mate" and leave
it unattached.
Both calcium and magnesium have strong positive charges,
as does water-borne iron. The positive ions, called cations,
are attracted to the strong negative ions, or anions, of
the ion exchange resin found in water softeners. The resin
looks like amber sand, but is actually a plastic bead-like
material, coated temporarily with weakly bound sodium ions.
In
addition to the resin, there are other important parts to
water softeners. There is the resin tank, which is usually
a fiberglass pressure vessel. Threaded into the top of the
resin tank is the control valve, which directs water through
the tank and makes regeneration possible. The last component
is the brine tank, a storage area for salt and a few gallons
of salt brine.
North
Sta
whole
house ultraviolet system and well water treatment
specifically targeting contaminants like iron, sulfur,
magnesium, and others. 
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