Do your hair and skin feel dry after a shower or bath? When you pull your clean dishes out of the dishwasher, do they have dry spots instead of a clear shine? These are some of the most common signs of hard water in your home.
Despite the problems hard water causes, you might have heard bad rumors about soft water and water softening systems. In truth, softening your water benefits your household. Let’s look at three misconceptions about water softeners to dispel.
Misconception 1: You Can’t Get Clean With Soft Water
One common misconception is that soft water feels slippery, so you can’t use it to rinse out soaps and detergents. The opposite is true: hard water makes it difficult to clean anything in your home.
The high concentrations of calcium and magnesium in hard water chemically react with soaps and detergents to create soap scum. You can see soap scum build up in your bathtub, but it’s also present on other surfaces “cleaned” by hard water, including your hair and skin!
Soft water doesn’t create soap scum when it mixes with soaps and detergents. Your hair and skin will retain moisture without getting clogged, your laundry will be softer, and your dishes will sparkle. You’ll use smaller amounts of your cleaning products to achieve greater cleanliness.
Misconception 2: Water Softeners Add Salt to Your Water
The second misconception we want to dispel is that water softeners make your water salty. This myth comes from a misunderstanding of how systems work. Most water softening systems contain resin covered with sodium ions. When hard water flows over the resin, the calcium and magnesium ions in the water stick to the resin, and the resin releases sodium ions.
Unlike calcium and magnesium, sodium ions don’t negatively interact with your detergents and soaps. And while sodium is part of what makes up salt, the small amount of sodium in soft water is not salty.
Misconception 3: Water Softeners Purify Water
The final myth is that a water softening system purifies your water supply. The truth is water softeners filter out hard water minerals, helping to keep your home clean and preventing build-up in your pipes and water heater.
But water softeners don’t filter contaminants. Different, specific filters can treat your water if you have problems with arsenic, uranium, iron, sulfur, chlorine, or other impurities. It’s important to get the right water solutions for your home.
Remove Hard Minerals With Good Water Company
Good Water Company is the superior water softener service provider in Colorado and New Mexico. If you’re tired of hard water in your home, contact us for the solution.
