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:
- ion exchange
- sequestering
- 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.
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