The Truth of Water – Answers

• 22Dec

  New Softening Technology – Will it work?

  aesthetics, softening No Comments

  Eberto from San Diego writes:

  Our water comes from Otay Water District in San Diego. The water seems fine except for the scaly buildup. I would like to reduce the mineral buildup on our water fixtures and appliances without adding salt. The next-ScaleStop Systems (www.nextfiltration.com) claims to do this.

  What system would you recommend?

  Do you think their claims are true?

  Are you familiar with their products?

  Hi Eberto, thanks for writing in.

  Hard water isn’t a health problem, it is an aesthetic one.  It becomes a problem for people for two reasons. The first is that it reacts with soaps, making it harder to form a lather and producing a soap scum in your sinks and bathtubs.  The other is that over time you get the scale you speak of.

  Generally, hard water scale forms because heat and reaction with pipe materials make the hard water ions, mostly calcium but some magnesium and other metals, become insoluble and are no longer held in the water. This is a slower process than the hard water chemicals reacting with soap, so it builds up steadily over time. The more hardness in your water, the faster it does this.

  The next scale stop systems claim to take hardness, somehow react it with a catalyst to become a crystal and fall out of solution, and form it into a large “seed” ball to which they claim will not react with soap or form a scale in your pipes.

  This may work with soap – if the hardness is already reacted with something it cannot react with soap. However, forcing the hardness out of solubility with water should speed up the formation of scale.

  I have my doubts that this technology will prevent the formation of scale. From what I can see, it may even speed this up.  I cannot find any additional information to back up the companies claims.

  The company does have NSF 42 approval, and this approval states:

  Overview: This standard covers point-of-use (POU) and point-of-entry (POE) systems designed to reduce specific aesthetic or non-health-related contaminants (chlorine, taste and odor, and particulates) that may be present in public or private drinking water. -Source

  The fact that this company does have NSF 42 approval is a boon in their favor. However, this doesn’t mean that they are particularly effective at what they claim to do, but that it works to some degree.

  The literature claims that the company has been providing an effective solution for hardness treatment for six years.  That being the case, they should have lots of installations near you.  Call them and ask for an extensive reference list so you can start making some calls.  With a new and seemingly “perfect” technology, it’s best to get firsthand experience from those who have purchased it.

  I have found a little bit about this product on the internet.  Various forums have said that this is not a softener, but it does help soap lather and reduce scale, but not as effectively as a softener would.

  I can tell you for sure that ion exchange water softeners work. There is absolutely no question in this. It’s a tried and true technology and no one can argue that it doesn’t work.

  If you decide to ask the company for a reference list, I’d be very interested in those customer testimonials as to the products effectiveness.

  I’m sorry I couldn’t be more cut and dry on this one, Eberto, but I don’t have any direct experience with this technology.

  I hope that helped you. Please don’t hesitate to write in for further clarification or if you have another question.

  

  Tags: ion exchange, next-scalestop, scale, water softening

• 08Dec

  Soft Water in Tight Spaces

  softening 3 Comments

  Elizabeth from Pheonix, AZ writes:

  I live in Phoenix, Arizona, home to insanely hard water–according to the 2007 Phoenix CCR report, the lowest detected level of total hardness was 200 ppm/12 grains per gallon, and the highest was 341 ppm/20 grains per gallon. It is my understanding that anything over 7 grains/gallon is considered to be hard, which makes our water supply EXTREMELY hard.

  My dilemma is this: while I would like to get a whole-home filtering or softening system due to soap scum on dishes, gunk in my laundry, scaling in the pipes, shower soap scum, and many other seemingly hard water related misfortunes, I live in a rented condo and therefore can’t install anything like a whole-home system. However, I would like to do something about the water in my shower, as the hardness seems to take a very detrimental toll on my hair and skin.

  What I’m confused about is whether a filter, such as the Aquasana shower filter (http://www.aquasanastore.com/aq-shower-filter.html), would be adequate for improving the effect of the water on my hair/skin, or if I need a specific water *softener*, not a filter. I know very little about chemistry, so while I have tried to read up on water softening/filtering, it’s hard for me to really understand what’s what–especially given all of the misleading pseudoscience out there when it comes to water.

  Thanks so much for reading this, and hopefully you can help me out!

  Hi Elizabeth, thanks for writing in.

  Twenty grains hard is indeed very hard water.  Water hardness is caused by minerals in your water – mostly calcium but also magnesium and other trace minerals.  What happens with these minerals is they react with the soap you use, forming a precipitate you would call scum. Therefore, it takes more soap and a longer time to actually get yourself clean.  The same is true for your laundry and other cleaning activities.

  There are two ways to remove excess hardness from your water. The first is by using reverse osmosis filtration, which removes everything. However, R.O. filtration is very expensive solution.  Most home water treatment companies only sell small systems that treat a few gallons a day for drinking and cooking.  A system that could produce enough water for showering and washing activities would be cost prohibitive for the average home owner.

  The second – and more economical method – is by a chemical process known as “ion exchange”.  In this process, the calcium and other hardness atoms are “grabbed” by a resin media and in place the media gives back a sodium atom.  Sodium atoms do not react with soap and therefore there’s no scum formation and you get a better clean using less soap.

  Because this ion exchange process uses up sodium atoms, they must be replaced. All units us a brine solution to do this.  You fill the machine with softener salt, and when it needs a regeneration it goes into a regeneration cycle, washing the calcium away from the resin and replacing it with sodium. That process ensures that you always have softened water available from the machine.

  The shower filter you mentioned in your question will do a good job at removing chlorine from your shower water (until the carbon in the filter is used up) but it will not remove any hardness and you will still end up with the same problems you had before.

  Unfortunately, to get properly softened water, there is no way of getting around installing a unit in your plumbing.  However, I did find something that may be of use to you.

  There’s a large, well known water treatment company called Kinetico.  They specialize in home treatment, commercial, industrial and municipal treatment.  They manufacture a special softener for apartments, condos and other smaller spaces that is small enough to fit under a sink.

  Here’s a picture of the unit, and dimensions to show it’s size:

  

  The unit does not require electricity, it uses water pressure to power a timer and to power the regeneration cycle.  The unit also uses salt blocks, which you simply drop into the machine when they have been consumed.

  You will need a plumber to install this unit. It will probably be best in a laundry room, as the unit has a drain that discharges during the regenration cycle.  You will need to shut off the water as well, to install this unit.  It is my understanding that all apartments have a water shut off valve to them, as it is not practical to turn off water to the entire building to do repairs only to one apartment.

  If you want to find out more about this unit, it is a Kinetico 2020 compact softener.  You can click here, it will take you to the Kinetico locator website to find a Kinetico dealer closest to you.  They have professionals who will most likely be able to sell and install this unit for you.

  I hope I’ve helped you today. If would like further clarifications or have any other questions, please do not hesitate to write in again.

  

  Tags: apartment softener, shower treatment, softening

• 10Nov

  Electronic Water Softeners – Misconception and Misdirection

  Drinking Water, health, softening 4 Comments

  Pete from Henderson, NC writes:

  Does the EasyWater water softening product work?  I have seen a lot of discussion of this but would like to know if this has been tested and if so does it really work?

  Hi Pete, thanks for the question.

  Most people want water softeners because of the effect that hard water has on detergents and soaps.  The harder your water, the harder it is to get a lather from your soap.  This is because the components that make your water hard – dissolved calcium, magnesium, and other trace minerals – react with the soap to form a precipitate, or what you would call “scum”.

  The key here is that regardless as to what form your dissolved calcium is in, as long as it is dissolved and in your water supply it will continue to react with your soaps and detergents and produce that undesirable effect.

  I went to the Easy Water website.  There are a few key elements I found there:

  • The main focus of the website was on how harmful sodium is, and how traditional methods add sodium to water.
  • They claim only to reduce and remove scale, there’s nothing about effects with soap or detergents
  • The only third party proof they have is some questionable photos of what they claim is calcium in tree like branches before hand and little smooth droplets after wards
  • They post no data that they’ve had third party accreditation of this technology proving it works in blind studies
  • The only other resources they do have points to articles on how unhealthy too much sodium is for you

  This electronic water softener claims to send “electronic pulses” that change the state of the calcium ion.  Regardless, if it’s still there dissolved in the water, it will still cause problems.

  The website does not address the science behind softening, it does not give any valid references to real studies and tests that has been done, it uses clever marketing and health scare tactics to try and drive sales.

  To go into the actual and proven methods of softening, there are three ways:

  1. ion exchange
  2. sequestering
  3. reverse osmosis filtration

  Sequestering involves the addition of chemicals to “bind” the calcium in the water, rendering it ineffective for scale formation or reaction with soap or detergents.  This is generally done with boilers and large industrial heating systems, as sequestering chemicals do not make good drinking water.   Reverse osmosis filtration removes everything, and is extremely expensive for whole house water flows.

  Ion exchange, for a home owner, is currently the most viable and trusted way to soften your home water.  It is a tried and true method, has been proven over and over again, and simply works, no questions asked.  There is of course two issues that an Easy Water sales representative would bring up, health issues from excessive sodium, and environmental issues with the brine backwash.

  Both issues are easy to deal with.  When your plumber is installing your softener, have him run a line of un-softened water to your kitchen tap.  Use this water for drinking and cooking.  For the environmental concerns, please follow this link to an article prepared by the Canadian Water Quality Association.  It seems that dilution of your septic water with briny softener backwash isn’t such a problem after all.

  My opinion is stay away from any of these electric water softeners, go with tried, true and proven, and you can’t go wrong.

  I hope I’ve helped. If you need any further clarification, or have another question, please let me know.

  

  Tags: easy water, electronic softeners, misconceptions, misdirection, softening

   Next Entries »