Delaware’s Top Water Softener Installation Service
With approximately 85% of the nation dealing with hard water at their homes, Delaware is no exception. Hard water has a very high concentration of minerals like calcium and magnesium. These minerals tend to leave behind limescale buildup on your fixtures and can prematurely deteriorate your piping and other plumbing components. Hard water can even make it harder to clean your clothes and dishes and leave your hair frizzy and your skin overly dry. Fortunately, a water softener can help.
There are various components of a residential water softener system.
- Resin beads
- Mineral tank
- Brine tank
- Control valve
- Drain line
- Bypass valve
- Safety float
- Brine injector
All these components work together in one system to help remove magnesium and calcium from your home’s water supply. A water softener is typically installed on your water main, often right before your home’s water heater. This allows it to treat all the water coming into your home before it reaches all of your piping, plumbing fixtures, and appliances.
This system works via the ion exchange process. Inside the larger mineral tank are resin beads that are negatively charged with sodium molecules. The magnesium and calcium in the water will naturally bond to the resin beads and release the sodium molecules. As fresh water comes into the mineral tank, this ion exchange process happens, and sodium releases into the water as it travels to the rest of your plumbing fixtures.
Every so often, the water softener will go through a regeneration cycle where brine solution from the brine tank enters the mineral tank. This brine solution removes all the magnesium and calcium from the resin beads and flushes them away. It’s also responsible for recharging all the resin beads with sodium so that they can continue to do their job effectively.
Because these water softener systems use salt, they do require a little maintenance on the part of the homeowner. You need to refill the salt for the brine tank in order to keep your system functioning optimally. The frequency of refilling is going to highly depend on how hard your water is. Most homeowners find that they need to refill their salt tank around once a month. Most water softener systems will last for around 10 to 15 years with proper upkeep and care.