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Water Softening: The Basics and the Benefits
You unload your dishwasher and there are once again spots all over your glasses. Your hair has gotten dull and lifeless, and your skin feels grimy. Your clothes are stiff and rough and just don’t seem clean. All of these problems can be explained by hard water.

Hard water is water that has picked up magnesium and calcium while in the ground. One big effect of having hard water is that instead of soaps and detergents dissolving and doing their job, they combine with these minerals in your water and a type of curd is formed, subsequently covering everything in a film. These calcium and magnesium deposits can build up in your pipes and your water heater and can cause major damage.

At Minyard Plumbing, Inc., we have successfully installed water softening systems in the homes of many clients in the Hickory, North Carolina area. We install a mechanical appliance that uses another mineral, such as sodium, to counteract the calcium and magnesium. This is called an ion exchange. We use a mineral tank that has small polystyrene beads. These beads have a negative charge, and since magnesium and calcium both have a positive charge, they cling to the beads as the water fills the tank, forcing the sodium, which was already on the beads before the watered entered, into the water and out through the pipes. Then you are left with the beads which have the calcium and magnesium attached.

Water Softening

The brine solution, which is kept at a different part of the tank, is flushed into the chamber with the magnesium and calcium beads. The sodium kicks the magnesium and calcium off the beads, and the magnesium and calcium are sent down the drain. The water softening process starts over at this point. There are no health hazards to adding these minerals and the result is very successful. If you are tired of soapy films on everything, and spots on your dishes, give us a call and we will be glad to assist you in your water softening needs.