Water Softener 101

Mid-Atlantic Water provides residential and commercial water softeners to meet the diverse needs of our customers. However how do you know you need water softener and how do they actually work?

Hard water is water that contains a great deal of calcium and magnesium. Hard water picks up these minerals as it trickles through soil and rocks. If water travels a long distance to get your home or business you might have incredibly hard water. Hard water is measured in gpg or grains per gallon. Soft water has less than 1 gpg where hard water can have anything above 7 gpg.

Water softener adds salt to your tank to soften the water. In the resin tank the hard water entering your home will go through an ion exchange resin that removes calcium and magnesium and adds in sodium or potassium. The brine tank is where you will introduce salt 6-8 times a year depending on your water hardness. As your water softener system works and removes minerals the ion-exchange process will regenerate and continue the process. The salt solution works to recharge the resin in the filter tank but is then rinsed out after regeneration. 

Two of the most common residential water softeners are single-tank and twin-tank water softeners. Single-tank water softeners take up only a small amount of space and keep track of how much water is used. Once your single-tank is at capacity the water softener will regenerate so that you will not run out of treated water. A twin-tank water softener has two resin tanks so that one will be regenerating while you use the other. The twin-tank model takes up more space but will never leave you without soft water.

Quality Water Softener Installation and Maintenance from Mid-Atlantic Water

If you are ready to upgrade the water softener systems you use in your home or business give Mid-Atlantic Water a call today at 800-460-5810.