The unsung heroes of our houses who toil nonstop to free us from the dreaded hard water are water softeners. But have you ever paused to consider how these tiny devices accomplish their feats of magic? So, my friends, stop pondering, and let’s explore the inner workings of a water softener before you buy one of the best water softeners available, learn more.

Let’s define hard water first before we move on. Hard water is simply water that contains a lot of minerals, especially calcium and magnesium. These minerals can cause unsightly buildup in your plumbing and appliances, making your skin and hair feel less than soft.

We now have the water softener, a machine that eliminates these minerals and substitutes sodium ions. But how does it accomplish this, you ask? Ion exchange is the first step in the entire process.

A resin tank that holds tiny polymer beads, or resin beads, is a water softener feature. Since the calcium and magnesium ions in hard water are negatively charged, these positively charged beads draw them in. Calcium and magnesium ions switch places with the positively charged sodium ions on the resin beads as the water moves through the resin tank. With the help of this procedure, the calcium and magnesium ions are successfully removed and replaced with sodium ions to produce soft water.

What occurs to all of those eliminated calcium and magnesium ions, though? They are kept in a brine tank full of a salt-and-water mixture. The brine tank will be flushed and refilled with a brand-new salt solution when the water softener enters a regeneration cycle regularly. The resin tank is filled with brine solution, which effectively flushes out the accumulated calcium and magnesium ions and replaces them with new sodium ions during this process.