The Ever-changing Landscape of Water Hardness
Contrary to popular belief, the hardness levels in your water are not set in stone. Indeed, these levels fluctuate frequently, often ranging from half to twice the hardness level preset in your salt softener. Let's take Brentwood, CA, as an example. The city's 2015 Annual Water Quality Report indicated a hardness variance from 14 to 27 grains per gallon.
Why Do Hardness Levels Change?
Cities often have to alternate their water sources due to seasonal variations in surface water flows, such as rivers and lakes. During the summer and fall, when the water levels in these sources are low, cities often resort to groundwater obtained from wells. Interestingly, groundwater typically presents higher hardness levels than surface water. Therefore, your water hardness levels inevitably change in tandem with these water supply shifts.
Problems Caused by Fluctuating Water Hardness Levels
The primary issue with changing hardness levels lies in the inability of automatic salt softeners to adapt. These devices are programmed for a specific hardness (measured in grains per gallon) and function based on system capacity and gallons. Given their "set and forget" nature, they simply abide by the preset program.
The lack of automatic adjustment for varying hardness levels often results in over or under-treatment of water hardness.
Over treatment - When actual hardness levels fall below the preset level, your softener's program remains the same, leading to unnecessary salt, water, and money wastage.
Under Treatment - Conversely, when the actual hardness levels exceed the programmed level, your home could be exposed to untreated hard water leading to buildup in pipes and appliances, reduced water heater efficiency, and dry skin and hair.
This predicament illustrates how your salt softener may struggle to keep pace with ever-changing hardness levels.
The Inefficiency of the "Safety Factor"
Some manufacturers incorporate a "safety factor" into their salt softener programs. This factor reserves a portion of the softener's capacity for unexpected variations in water hardness levels and usage. While a well-set safety factor can minimize the risk of untreated hard water, it also escalates the wastage of salt, water, and money, regardless of the hardness level. The most viable solution seems to be periodically measuring the hardness and adjusting the salt softener program. However, even with this approach, salt-based softeners rarely deliver flawless results—they either waste resources or allow hard water to pass through.
Game-changing Cascadian PolyHalt® Saltless Water Softeners
Now, let's shift our attention to Cascadian PolyHalt® saltless water softeners.
These advanced softeners offer a unique method of water softening that outperforms traditional salt-based softeners. PolyHalt® establishes an ion bond with hardness minerals, softening the water by preventing these minerals from causing issues. They are smaller sized cartridge based systems able to treat water for the whole home or business and are available with in combination with other treatments such as activated carbon treatment and sediment filtration in one small wall mount package.
Not to be underestimated is the inherent simplicity of Cascadian's Integrated Cartridge Solutions because there is no moving parts, no electronic control systems that go haywire, no drain is required so it can be mounted most anywhere. Maintenance is a simple filter change once per year.
Let's briefly compare Ion bond and ion exchange softening
Minerals dissolved in water have a positive electrical charge. They are said to be positively charged ions. It is this charge that makes the softening process happen.
Salt-based softening works by a process called ion exchange – for every bit of hardness removed a bit of salt is added to the water. This is ion exchange softening; hardness ions are exchanged for salt.
PolyHalt® saltless softening is considered one of the simplest and effective processes for water softening. PolyHalt® is negatively charged and is designed to attracts and bonds to positively charged hardness minerals forming a new complex. When minerals are complexed or bonded with PolyHalt® they no longer behave the way they could as simple ions. This is the beautiful simplicity of PolyHalt®, it works via natural chemical attraction. They remain in the water unable to behave hard, this is the basics of PolyHalt® on bond softening.
Another unique aspect of PolyHalt® ion bond softening is its capacity to automatically adjust to changing hardness levels, eliminating the need for manual programming. This automatic adjustment means no waste and no untreated water to cause problems. The end result? You enjoy consistently soft water flowing through every tap in your home, regardless of the ever-changing water hardness levels and you don’t waste resources or harm our environment while enjoying your clean soft water.
Join Forces with Cascadian in the Battle against Poor Water Quality
For most city water applications Cascadian recommends the ICS-TP or ICS-STP treatment systems. Cascadian provides solutions to a range of water quality issues that you can learn about here. For more detailed insights into our cutting-edge ICS systems and the diverse water treatment solutions we offer, please visit this page. Embark on a journey towards cleaner water solutions with Cascadian today. Take the Filter Finder quiz to find you perfect water treatment solution.
