What Are Water Softeners? (Simple Explanation & Benefits)

Today, I decided to figure out what the heck a water softener is. I’ve heard the term thrown around, especially since we moved to this new house with ridiculously hard water. My wife keeps complaining about spots on the dishes and how dry her skin feels, so I figured it was time to do some digging.

What is a water softener

First, I googled “what is a water softener.” Simple enough, right? Turns out, it’s basically a filtration system that removes the stuff that makes water “hard”—namely, calcium and magnesium. Apparently, these minerals are what cause all the annoying issues we’ve been experiencing.

Then I checked how to know the water is hard or not. Many articles and videos indicated to check the water hardness level, and then I found the data in my city is over 180ppm, oh my god, it is hard.

How do they work

Next, I wanted to understand how these things actually work. Most of the articles I found talked about something called “ion exchange.” It sounded complicated, but it’s actually pretty straightforward. Basically, the water softener has a tank full of these little resin beads. These beads are coated with sodium ions. When the hard water flows through the tank, the calcium and magnesium ions are “attracted” to the beads and stick to them, swapping places with the sodium ions.

• Hard water goes in.
• Calcium and magnesium stick to the resin beads.
• Sodium ions are released into the water.
• Soft water comes out!

So, the water that comes out is “softened” because it has less calcium and magnesium and more sodium. It’s like a little mineral swap meet happening inside that tank.

What do they look like

I then spent some time looking at different types of water softeners. They mostly look like big, tall tanks. Some have a separate brine tank next to them, which I learned is where the salt goes. The salt is used to recharge the resin beads, kicking off the calcium and magnesium and replacing them with sodium again. It’s a whole cycle.

Any downsides

I also looked into the potential downsides. I read that softened water can have a slightly salty taste, although it’s usually pretty subtle. Some people also worry about the extra sodium in their diet, especially if they’re on a low-sodium diet. I’m not too worried about that, but it’s something to keep in mind.

Finally, I started to researching prices and installation. That’s a whole other can of worms. I think I’ll tackle that tomorrow. For now, I feel like I have a pretty good grasp of what water softeners are and how they work. Maybe my wife and dishes will finally get a break!