Water Softening Systems

“I don’t want salt in my water.”  Well, neither do I.  Salt is a necessary component of softening your home’s water. Traditional water softeners use salt to remove calcium and magnesium that make your home’s water… hard.  There are Salt-Free options, but they only chemically alter the hard water minerals so they won’t cling. With the Salt-Free Softeners you might see some reduction in spotting and scale, but you are still going to have…hard water. 

So as of RIGHT NOW the best possible way to soften hard water is by using… salt.  The good news is that our softeners use less water. Then by using less water, our softeners use less salt.   They use W.E.T. Technology.  (Water Efficient Technology.)

W.E.T. Technology  

Beyond a catchy acronym Water Efficient Technology is a series of features that allow a softener to only use water and salt based on what it needs.  Just like other appliances (Yeah, softeners are appliances, but with a return in investment), softeners have become more efficient over the years, but softeners that aren’t equipped with W.E.T. still use more resources than necessary.  With W.E.T. softeners, they are capable of saving up to 50% of water and then, of course, salt. 

 

The History of Water Softening:  Lime Softening

To understand the importance of W.E.T., we almost need to time travel back to ancient times.  Since the dawn of washing pots and pans, early civilizations felt the frustration that many in modern society do today with hard water.  Residue and spots were left post wash and they found that boiling water lessened it, but that using sand, cloth or charcoal really improved it.  Now the concept of water softening wasn’t discovered until the mid 1700s.  

Scottish chemist Thomas Clark is credited with discovering lime’s ability to soften water in 1748.  The process consisted of adding a solution of calcium hydroxide (also just known as lime water) and any calcium carbonate.  The added calcium in the water was precipitated and became hydroxides and silicates. Then, the precipitates can be filtered out, or soda ash can be added to remove permanent hardness. 

Lime softening was applied in industrial settings where it was vital in protecting steam engines and boilers from hard water risks.  The disadvantage of lime softening was that it created large volumes of sludge.  Disposal of the sludge was a logistical nightmare, and inventors and chemists clawed for more efficient methods. 

The History of Water Softening:  Ion Exchange

At the start of the 1900s, in 1905, English chemist Arthur P. Grosse was first  able to successfully demonstrate the exchange of calcium and magnesium ions with sodium ions by using a synthetic resin.  Then, in 1925, Emmett Culligan was able to improve upon that idea by introducing the first practical water softener. Culligan built a water softening business in the middle of the great depression by utilizing “door to door” sales, but eventually franchised his ideas and business into a national water treatment brand. 

 

Ion exchange hit a stride in the mid-1900s and proved to be more efficient and helped to eliminate the need for heavy chemicals and the excessive waste.  The use of salt in the ion exchange process is still utilized today, but has improved with higher capacity and more efficient softeners.

Although much more convenient and practical, critics still circle the use of salt as a burden.  As mentioned above, salt is a necessary component of the ion exchange process.  

 

Salt’s Role in the Ion Exchange

“I’m putting salt in, but where is it going?’ 
When salt is placed in solution, it no longer exists as “salt” but as charged particles called ions.  The chemical formula for salt is NaCl, and we only need the sodium side (Na) to convert into an exchange partner with the water itself. In the softening process, the hardness cat-ions (positively charged particles) are exchanged for sodium.  The total amount of ‘stuff’ doesn’t change.  These zeolite crystals catch hard minerals like calcium and magnesium that are suspended in your home’s water.  This process removes the hardness with sodium and makes the water soft.  Then, the calcium and magnesium that was on the synthetic resin is flush with the sodium and essentially is flushed down the drain. 

Ie:  You and your friends are at a bar sitting on stools up at the bar.  In walks a pretty rough character (calcium) that demands your stool.  You don’t want a problem, so you just head out to the parking lot.  Then one of the rough character’s friends (magnesium) walks in and demands that your friend that was sitting to the left of you give up his seat as well.  So your friend joins you out in the parking lot.  Then one by one the rough character’s crew takes over all of your friends’ seats at the bar.  Now you and your friends are out in the parking lot and you’re mad… I mean, really mad.  So you find whatever you can find in your cars, boxing gloves, mouthguard, your local wrestling team, etc, (salt) to go back and take back your seats.  So you and your friends go back in and take the rough characters off the stools from the bar and throw them out into the parking lot. 

Salt and Your Septic Tank

Misconceptions:

• Salt brine is toxic to bacteria in the septic system.
• Flow rates and backwash volumes affect the settling and floating causing carryover of solids to discharge field. 
• Softener discharge reduces the percolation rate by causing swelling of soil particles. 

The Facts:  

• The use of efficiently operated water softeners may improve septic performance, while the use of inefficient softeners may have a negative impact on solids discharged to the septic field. 
• The reduction of influent chloride to wastewater treatment plants by the optimization of residential water softeners. 
• An efficient softener uses less salt to regenerate.
• Use of an efficient softener may reduce water backwash by 50 percent per year.

 

How W.E.T Works

Throughout the history of water softening, we’ve become more efficient and more environmentally conscious. At NEGLEY’S WATER we offer a full range of Evolve Water Treatment systems that are customized to your water, your home and your preferences.  With an Evolve system W.E.T Technology is included with your softener.  Included with W.E.T:

Proportional Brining

• During the required regeneration of a softener, salt is proportional to the amount of water treated.  Less water means less salt. 

Proportional Regeneration

• Regeneration is based on how much resin has been exhausted before the impending ion exchange. This leads to less water being used, which, of course, means… less salt. 

Alternate Regeneration

• Performs a full regeneration occasionally to maintain performance. Reducing the salt and water used could cause system fatigue over time, so W.E.T. assigns a full cycle to refresh the complete tank.

Salt Monitoring

• Evolve systems include a salt monitor that measures salt levels in real-time. It offers an audio and visual reminder to make sure that your softener is running at its most optimal level. 

Savings History Screen

• Compared to other systems that aren’t Evolve, you’ll be able to compare the cost savings you’ve made based on pounds of salt and gallons of water.  You’ll also be able to troubleshoot leaking or running water outlets within your home, such as a leaking toilet or a running yard hose. 

 

Evolve Series Softeners

Advanced water softening technology that has an earth empathic customized approach to your water, your home and your preferences.  

EVR: State-of-the-art water softening

• Self-chlorinating generator that gives precise levels of chlorine that passes through the resin media bed with each generation to sanitize and help eliminate unwanted odors and tastes. 
• W.E.T technology that tailors your softener to your water and your household. This saves money and excessive overuse of resources. (See above)

EVRC:  City water softening 

• It has all the options of the EVR but also handles city water problems with odor and taste associated with the high-performance resin and activated carbon.
• The EVRC has a dual-chamber tank that holds both the carbon and resin. 

NEGLEY’S also offers a customized neoprene sleeve that is outfitted over your mineral tank which gives a stylish and functional touch to your new system.

Benefits of Soft Water

Saves 50-75 percent on soaps and detergents.

• Have you ever seen cleaning products go down in price?

 

Hair is smoother, more manageable. 

• An efficient water softener will require minimal soap and less rinses.  This means hair appointments last longer. 

 

Skin is silky and more hydrated

• Those hard minerals like calcium and magnesium clog your skin pores.  This creates skin irritation and itchiness as your skin works to unclog the pores. Not to mention, with an efficient softener like our Evolve Series softeners, there will be less soap scum residue left on post-wash. 

 

No deposits or scale buildup on fixtures.

• Water touches everything in your home. When water is untreated within your home, it could contain unwanted minerals such as calcium and magnesium.
• 7,000 grains of hardness = 1 pound.  Ie:  at 18 grains per gallon of hardness in a home’s water x 400 gallons of water a day for a family of 4 =7,200 grains of hard water per day.  (So that’s one pound of hard water passing through a home per day and up to 30 pounds a month.)  
• Soft water saves up to 80 hours of cleaning a year.  (How valuable is your time?)

 

Cleaner, softer laundry that lasts.

• Wearables last longer because washes are more efficient with no hard minerals interfering with the process.
• Less abrasive detergent is required. 
• Before treatment, how often did you empty your lint trap? (Psst… that’s laundry wear.)
• Soft water helps clothes last 15-30% longer. If we could give you a 30% off wearables coupon, would you use it?

 

Easier on septic systems because less soap is used (see above)

Keeps appliances working efficiently:

• Washing machines can run at lower temperatures. With an efficient softener in place, washing machines can run at 60 degrees compared to 100 degrees to remove hard water laundry stains. 
• Appliances are able to reach their life expectancy and full energy efficiency.  Battelle study findings. Gas water heaters: Soft water maintained original factory efficiency for 15 years.  Every 5 grains of hardness causes a 4 percent loss in efficiency and a 4 percent increase in gas costs.
• You’ve probably heard someone say, “They don’t make ‘em like they used to.”  Well, that’s because they don’t.  Appliances are made to run more efficiently with small lines and valves.  There just isn’t a big enough pathway to account for hard water deposits. 

 

What to Expect with a Negley’s Water Water Softener System

Consultation
NEGLEY’S offers a free water analysis and consultation.  A water consultant will test your water right from your tap to tell you where you’re at and maybe where you need to be. If you have existing water treatment, the consultant will test before and after to make sure that it is giving your home the water your family deserves.  They’ll leave an on-the-spot estimate that has a customized system based on your water and home. 

Installation
A trained NEGLEY’S technician will install your new water softener with a brine tank full of salt.  NEGLEY’S also offers a salt delivery service.  The installation time range will be communicated, and the process will not be invasive of your time and schedule.  All technicians are fully bonded and insured.  

Post Installation
For every four years of hard water, it takes one year of soft water to clean calcium in pipes.  Water is a natural dissolver.  It isn’t uncommon for the next day after water treatment is applied to see “gunk” coming out of faucets.  NEGLEY’S WATER offers a free recheck two weeks after water treatment installation to not only see if your new system is running correctly but to answer any questions that you may have.  With the addition of a new softener system, NEGLEY’S offers a free one year annual service as well. (parts and additional fees may apply).

Better Quality of Life
If you can improve your home, happiness, and health with better water, while saving money, how soon would you start?  Start today and Feel Better About Your Water with NEGLEY’S WATER.