Water Softener Cleaning

When your water softener is not working at its optimal level, you may notice salt residue on glass and sinks even when you've been adding enough softener solution. This is a sign that the injector needs to be cleaned. Cleaning the injector at least twice a year can help improve the efficiency and performance of your unit. Here's how to get started with the water softener cleaning process.

nuvoH2O Home Salt-Free Water Softener System

1. Switch your water softener to bypass mode. Turning on the bypass valve ensures that water will not be run through the softener during the cleaning process.
2. Disconnect the water softener from the electrical outlet. This is a safety measure that also reduces the chances of interference during the cleaning process.
3. Remove the water softener injector cap. This is usually found at the back of the water softener near the top of the unit. Move this slowly and set it aside.
4. Remove the injector screen. This is located behind the cap, you will need to wash the screen with warm soapy water.
5. Clean the water softener injector nozzle. Use the canned air to clean out any dust or debris that has accumulated in and around the nozzle. Continue cleaning using the end of a paperclip.
6. Put the injector screen back in place. Secure the screen back to its original position over the nozzle.
7. Screw the injector cap back to its original position. Slowly place the injector cap onto the screen and tighten it to secure it.

Prepare the water softener for testing. Plug the water softener unit back into the electrical outlet.

Test the unit. Turn the softener back on after all parts of the injector have been replaced.

Article By Sabah Karimi

Water Softeners Are Useful, Not Sexy

Water softeners aren't really a sexy purchase, but they can go a long way toward making life better in your home. Hard water is a common problem associated with well water. You may have noticed rings in your toilet or dishwasher, laundry not quite getting cleaned, etc. Many times the answer can be a water softener. Most kinds of softener machines are sized according to how many people are going to use them. The bigger the unit the more expensive it is. Most people think that the typical purchase of a water softener is a sizable investment, but it doesn't have to be.

Many companies that sell water treatment equipment offer hardness tests. We went through the home demo from a major national chain (I won't name names) and of course they showed how horribly hard our water was. They gave us the speech on how much soap we can save with soft water (that is true) and showed us the difference in water types (far clearer with soft water). But then they wanted us to pay hundreds of dollars a year to use their special system plus expensive salt. No way! There has to be a cheaper option. Fortunately there is. We did our homework and compared models at the major home improvement stores. We saw that most were far cheaper than the brand name monthly subscription scenario. For about $250-$300 up front and then $12 worth of salt that lasted 8 months we had soft water. I love a bargain!

Many people think soft water tastes salty. You can control how your softener unit works to adjust the level of "softness" you want. Give it a few days and make adjustments slowly. You will soon find that perfect setting and you'll save a fortune in the process, not only in dish and laundry soaps, but in household cleaning supplies and no monthly subscriptions.

If you are having water issues at your home and hardness appears as the only substantial water problem, the installation of a water softener is recommended. Sometimes the required water treatment may range from nothing at all to simple filters, a small water softener or a small reverse osmosis system. Until you know the real problem don't go overboard getting everything. Start with filters and then get an economical unit and you'll be amazed at the difference.

Article By Kristen Easton 

Dangerous Hardness Ions

Water is everywhere. Nothing can happen without it and nothing can live. We commonly say about pure water and impure one. This recording to the possibility of drinking it or not. But except the rain there is no such thing as clean water. There is one important class of impurity: hardness.

Hard water is the type in which we have dissolved minerals of magnesium and calcium. And water that comes to our houses probably always has it. It's kind of a natural process: rain is falling and getting into the rivers and finally to our houses. But while it sleeps trough the ground it is slightly possible that it picks up minerals from the rocks like limestone, chalk. And that is the reason of hard water at home.

As it may seem natural to have that kind of water at home it may cause different problems. For example when you are wondering why your bills for heating increased the limescale might be the answer. The minerals, during the heating process, form a visible scale in pipes. As a result, the scale is clogging them and the efficiency of heat that it is needed to make water hot is increasing. That is why bills may get much higher. Whole process may also damage other appliances which are using heated water as for example kettles and dishwashers, and shorten their lives. Not speaking about smaller issues caused by hard water as sticky hair or harsh clothes.

We have two categories of hard water - temporary hard and permanent. The first one is water which hardness can be removed by boiling it. It's caused by combination of ions and bicarbonate ions in the water. And boiling promotes the formation of carbonate from the bicarbonate and precipitates calcium carbonate out of solution, leaving water that is softer upon cooling. Second type is much harder to soft and this is the one which deposits limescale and causes all the bad effects that were described above. To make permanent hard water soft you can't boil it. Heating permanent hard water increasing the problem. You need a good water treatment.

The most popular solution is using water softener. It might be one that works by replacing the calcium and magnesium in the water with sodium. Or an electronic limescale remover, that may remove lime scale problem. The truth is that all are less expensive than ignoring the problem. Prevention might be much cheaper than removing the effects. In that case the only thing left is to think about the best solution for you to deactivate dangerous 'hardness ions'.

Article By Idalia Luczak