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5 Reasons to Choose a Salt Free Water System

Water is key to all life; more than 70% of Earth and our own bodies are made of water. We use water every day for drinking, cleaning, cooking, and bathing. Unfortunately, many home filtration systems use hard water, which comes with a host of problems. To fix this, you need to treat your water supply using a salt-based or salt free water softener. If you’re concerned about your drinking water, consider investing in a drinking water system that will keep poor water quality at bay.

To understand how salt free systems work, let’s first explain what hard water is and why people choose to soften it in the first place.

What is Hard Water?

Because water is a liquid, hearing it described as “hard” might sound counterintuitive. The term actually describes the quality, not the state, of water.

Hard water refers to the number of minerals naturally occurring in water. 

Rain contains little mineral content, but when it hits the ground, it absorbs various minerals from the local area—which you then use in your home. Different cities have different scales of hard water, “scale” meaning the number of grains-per-gallon (GPG) of hardness minerals in the water.

Why Soften Hard Water?

Compounds like calcium, magnesium, and silica are responsible for the “hardness” in water. These minerals may seem innocuous, but hard water is responsible for many problems, including:

  • Dried out hair and skin
  • Stiff, dingy laundry
  • Mineral deposits on kitchenware, such as dishes, glasses, and the dishwasher itself
  • Trouble removing deposits in bathrooms (especially in bathtubs and showers)
  • Limescale buildup in sinks, pipes, faucets, and appliances
  • High water-heating costs due to mineral buildup1

The two popular methods of treating the hard water are: 

  1. Salt based water softener systems 
  2. Salt free water conditioner system 

The question is, which one is right for your household?

Water Softener Systems starting at only $35/mo. Try before you buy!

Salt Softener vs Salt Free Conditioner: Choosing the Right System for your Home

Water softeners and water conditioners both reduce the GPG of minerals found in hard water, but they operate in different ways. Water softeners use salt to remove hard minerals, while water conditioners employ a physical process to minimize the damage from those particles.

Water Softener—The Salt-based Solution

Using salt—another mineral—to soften already-hard water sounds backward. Wouldn’t that just increase the water’s hardness? 

The short answer is no; the long answer involves a process known as ion exchange.

To draw out the hard minerals from water, ion exchange uses a salt solution of positively charged sodium ions. The positive sodium ions replace (or exchange places with) the positive hard mineral ions in the water. The hard minerals then attach to negatively charged resin beads in a resin tank, leaving the water supply with a smaller number of sodium ions and a greatly reduced mineral count. 

Water Conditioning—The Salt Free Solution

Water conditioners physically treat water. Instead of removing hard minerals via ion exchange, water conditioners reshape the minerals’ structure, changing the way the minerals travel through pipes.

This method causes a small amount of the hard minerals to crystalize. These small crystals attract other loose particles since their preferred state is this crystalline structure. Therefore, the hard minerals will bond with each other rather than attaching to surfaces around your home.

Now that we’ve discussed these two systems, why should you choose the salt free system?

5 Reasons to Choose a Salt Free Water System

You may be wondering how to use a water softener and the reasons behind choosing  a salt free system . There are many reasons to choose a water softener without salt, including:

  1. Easy drain system – With a salt free water system, you won’t have to worry about periodically flushing and replenishing your brine solution (as you would have to with salt based water softeners).
  2. Sodium content – If you want to avoid adding more sodium to your diet, the salt free water system crystallizes hard minerals without the use of salt.
  3. Power – Unlike salt softeners, many salt free conditioners do not require electricity to operate. This makes installation easier.
  4. Space – Being salt-free, these systems don’t require the use of a secondary brine tank. This is a great solution if space is a limiting factor in your home.
  5. Added filtration – Salt-free water conditioners also incorporate other types of filtration, allowing them to reduce disinfectants used to treat tap water such as chlorine, chloramines, suspended solids, and other volatile organic compounds (VOCs).

How Much Does a Salt Free Water System Cost?

A water softener system, salt or saltless, can cost anywhere between $300–$4,000.

This wide range is due to the fact that there is no one size fits all model; variances in location, the hardness of the water, and systems all lead to different prices.

While water softener and conditioner systems can be an upfront investment, Rayne Water makes it easy to get started. They offer a variety of options including rentals, purchase, and financing.

With Rayne Water systems, it has never been easier to invest in your home and your livelihood. 

Water is the key to life, and Rayne Water is the key to softer water.

Sources:

  1. Water Quality Association. Scale Deposits. https://www.wqa.org/learn-about-water/perceptible-issues/scale-deposits
  2. World Health Organization. Nutrients in Drinking Water. https://www.who.int/water_sanitation_health/dwq/nutrientsindw.pdf