Water Softening
Integrity Water Inc. Water Softeners work hard to get rid of hard water-causing minerals, removing scale and build up over time. Hard water symptoms to look for include:
- Water spots on your glasses
- Hard crust around faucets or drains
- Skin feels dry or irritated after showering
- Cloudy ice cubes
Let Integrity Water Inc. recommend which water softener can help you the most.
Water is great at dissolving and holding minerals. As water travels to your home; it comes into contact with natural minerals - most commonly calcium and magnesium - which are dissolved and held in the water. Once water has accumulated enough dissolved mineral it becomes "hard water". This is what will cause water spots, crust around faucets, and give you cloudy ice cubes.
Hard water is softened by removing the calcium and magnesium and one of the most effective methods of softening water is through a process called an "ion exchange". When hard water passes through the softening system’s resin bed; it chemically exchanges the hard ions in the water with soft ones, so only softened water passes through to your home.
Over time, the resin bed will fill up with hardness ions and must be cleaned or "regenerated". Sodium chloride (salt) or potassium chloride is typically used in the regeneration process which cleans and restores the resin to a clean and ready state so the ion exchange process can begin again.
Why You Should Choose A Water Softener
1. Healthier, Softer Skin
If you’ve always used hard water to wash your skin, you may not know there is any other way to feel. You’ve gotten used to feeling dry after a shower, and needing massive amounts of moisturizer to help reduce irritation. You’re about to be pleasantly surprised. It turns out that the type of soap you use, the moisturizer brand, or a genetic predisposition to dry skin might not be to blame. One of the benefits of a water softener is that the removal of the minerals will make the water more gentle on your skin.
2. Shiny, Strong Hair
Hair, especially for those of us with a lot of it, requires a lot of care. You spend a lot of time making sure you’re using the best shampoo, conditioner, and products that will keep it healthy. You could be losing that battle before you even reach for the soap. Washing your hair in hard water could be the reason it feels dull, brittle, and looks damaged. Just like your skin, hard water dries out your hair, and the minerals and ions can make it feel and look damaged. Even with all the moisture-infused products on the shelves of salons across the world, the best way to get your hair looking and feeling healthy is to wash it in the right kind of water: soft water free of chemicals and damaging minerals.
3. Clothes Are Softer and Look Cleaner
If soft water can do that much for your skin and your hair, imagine what it can do to your clothes! Remember the last time you bought a brand new, soft sweater that was going to become your new favourite? What happened when you washed it? It stopped being as soft. It’s not your laundry detergent. This is one of the effects that hard water has on you clothes. Just like your skin and hair, it can dry out material. It can also leave that mineral buildup soap can’t quite cut through, making you think your clothes are still dirty. Soft water won’t leave the mineral buildup, meaning your clothes, like your hair and skin, will become fresh and ‘healthy’ again. No more having to wash them twice because they still look dirty, or lamenting the lack of softness.
4. Removes Any Unwanted Tastes from Your Drinking Water
We’ve mentioned the ‘earthy’ taste that can come from the water. Depending on your water source, that earthy taste can have traces of everything from hard minerals to metallics like iron. Everyone’s taste is different. Many people prefer the taste of soft water to hard water because it doesn’t have the taste of minerals, fluoride, chloramine, or any other additives, natural or chemical. A water softener will help remove the things you’d rather not be drinking. Instead, you turn on your tap and can drink fresh, professional-grade filtered water at any time.
5. Soft Water Is Easier on Your Pipes and Appliances
Soft water really is softer on everything. Your plumbing and your appliances won’t see that scale buildup that hard water leaves behind. This will help reduce scale-related plumbing problems in the future. A water softener system will also help cleaning go more swiftly, in part because soft water reacts more favourably with soap, giving you lots of suds and bacteria killing power.
6. Softer Water Will Save You Money
As if all the health benefits weren’t enough, a water softener can actually end up saving you money. Calcium is not a heat conductor. We know: why does this matter to me? The scale buildup that occurs from hard water is also occurring in your hot water tank. The more buildup there is, the harder your tank has to work. This uses more energy. Soft water won’t leave a buildup, and will decrease the amount of calcium your hot water tank has to fight against. It will use an efficient amount of energy, and keep your hot water costs down.