Choosing a Water Softener
Hard water can be treated with water softener. Hard water has the presence of calcium, magnesium, and sometimes, iron in water. This can cause a number of problems. Mineral residues can add up and clog pipelines and cause boilers to conduct less heat. It wouldn’t be easy to make a soap to come to lather with hard water. It could also make detergent solutions less effective. It can even damage laundry machines in the long run. So if you wanted to have safe and soft water into your home, you can always get a water softener unit that can be directly connected to a water supply.
There are a number of water softeners out in the market. They differ from each other in terms of functions, features, manufacturers, and of course, in price. If you are about to buy one for your home or office, here are some things that you need to know to decide which one is right for you.
Five types of water softener
There are a total of 5 different types of water softener including manual, semi-automatic, automatic, DIR or demand initiated regeneration and off-site regeneration.
Manual water softener requires the user to manually open and close its valves to adjust the unit’s rate, frequency and duration of its backflushing/ recharging. If you wanted to activate your water softener with just a press of a button, then a semi-automatic water softener would best fit you. With an automatic water softener, you no longer need to monitor the unit since it can automatically recharge by itself. All you need to do is to set the time and put in more salt if needed. An automatic water softener is the most popular model in the market.
DIR water softener has two tanks. One is for softening water and the other tank is for recharging. It also has one brine tank where the salt and water solution is added. A DIR automatically supplies soft water by demand. On the other hand, an off-site regeneration water softener works with rental units that you need to recharge off-site.
Understanding regeneration
Regeneration refers to the process of cleaning and replenishing a water softener. Regeneration can either ensue with a use of a timer or recharges itself on demand. It is important to look into this particular feature when buying a water softener.
Ease of use
Your water softener unit should also be easy to operate. Installation of the unit should also be something that you should check out before purchase. If the unit would require professional set up, then you need to know how much would installation cost you.
Durability and warranty
Always look into the warranty of the product before purchase. There should be a guarantee of after-sales service as well. A good quality water softening unit should last you a decade before you have it checked or repaired.
Brand and manufacturer
There are a number of manufacturers that have a reputation of providing quality and durable water softener units. Most popular brands also offers good warranty and guarantee policies. Some of the brands that you can choose from are GE, Fleck, RainSoft, Kinetico and Culligan, among others.
You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.
