A water softener is a filtration system you can add in your home to remove high levels of minerals such as magnesium and calcium that contribute to hard water which is what occurs when these mineral concentrations are very high.
Soft water is generally considered to have a mineral content of under 60 parts per million (ppm) whereas hard water has a mineral content of over 180 ppm.
Many municipalities are known to have naturally hard water particularly if you live in a mountainous area with high levels of porous rock such as limestone or dolomite. Water passes through this rock and comes into contact with the aforementioned minerals.
Symptoms of hard water in your home include dry skin after showers and baths, soap scum in baths, and water deposits on faucets and kettles among other things. A water softener helps to eliminate these problems.
I’ve lived in a home with a water softener since I was a kid and have seen basic old school manual ones up to modern electric fully automated models. Here are 10 questions and answers regarding water softeners including benefits, downsides and general ownership concerns that you should be aware of to help you navigate the choices.
How much salt does a water softener use?
A good rule of thumb is that a family of four will use about 10 lbs (4.5 kg) of salt per week or 40 lbs (18 kg) of salt per month.
Newer softeners can be manually adjusted to input your local area’s water hardness. The harder your water and the more minerals and iron your water has, the more salt will be used. If you have a larger capacity water softening tank, you will also tend to use more salt.
While you want to follow manufacturer instructions, a good rule of thumb is always keep the brine tank at least half full with salt. That way it won’t run out if you accidentally forget to check the level. Check the salt level at least once per month and top if up as needed.
Modern salt water softeners have digital displays, lights or other methods to warn you about potential problems including low salt levels. Older systems often leave it up to you to ensure the salt tank is consistently filled.
How often should a water softener regenerate?
A salt water softener needs to flush itself out to remove minerals that it has trapped in the system. This process is called regeneration. A water softener will generally regenerate every 2-3 days but it depends on the amount of water you use and the model you own. Some newer models might regenerate more frequently.
Smaller brine tanks will regenerate more frequently if the capacity is much smaller than a larger model.
You can tell that your water softener is regenerating by the sounds it makes and if it’s a more sophisticated model, the display screen might indicate this. If you notice over time that your salt level is dropping, that’s a sign that the softener is functioning in general terms as salt is being used.
When should a salt water softener regenerate? Modern models are usually set up on a program to regenerate overnight when people in the house are likely to be in bed and thus not using water.
Will a water softener remove buildup in pipes?
Over time, using softened water can help to remove build up in water pipes that developed when previously using hard water. Depending on how bad the build up, it may take several months to clean out a water heater and around 2 years to fully clean pipes just by softening your water.
Hard water can cause a build up of minerals, lime scale and stains on faucets and on the inside of pipes over time. Switching to softened water can help to remove the scale from inside your pipes as well as from your water kettle and other appliances that store water.
While you can’t do much more to help the scale on the inside of your pipes, you can quickly clean even hard build ups inside your kettle. Fill your kettle with a reasonable amount of water and add a splash of white vinegar. Boil the ketle and let it sit for 20 minutes, longer if the scale build up is severe.
After the time has elapsed you should notice the scale build up has been remove from the boiled vinegar water when you tip the water out and rinse the kettle.
Will a water softener remove iron?
Many US water supplies have high levels of iron and it’s a difficult job for an average water softener to remove high levels of iron.
The purpose of a water softener isn’t to specifically remove iron and even if it does, the iron will tend to get stuck in the resin bed and remain there until the resin is replaced.
If you run a water test and find that your water is high in iron, your best bet is to look for a water filtration system such as a reverse osmosis system or carbon-based system. They specifically help to remove large amounts of iron from the water supply more so than a water softener can.
Can you overfill a water softener with salt?
It depends on the model of water softener and brine tank you have. Older style units have large plastic bins and you can typically fill them near the top with salt unless the manufacturer says otherwise.
Newer models often have a marking inside the brine tank that tells you how much salt you can add whether as a percentage or by weight. In this case, you can overfill the salt and should avoid doing so.
Your best bet is to keep the brine tank at least half full of salt at all times so that it doesn’t get low and you don’t forget to fill it up and run out.
Follow the manufacturer instructions and don’t overfill the salt dispenser but don’t let it run out either. Speaking of which…
Will running a water softener without salt ruin it?
If your water softener runs out of salt, you will obviously no longer produce soft water. Your water will become hard and all the side effects of side water can occur i.e. calcium and magnesium build up, soap scum, etc.
The main issue with running out of salt tends to occur with older style non-electric water softeners. When you run out of salt, the system keeps operating but it doesn’t know it has run out of salt. Common side effects can include iron and other minerals getting into the control valve of your softener which can cause damage over time. The salt brine tank may overflow if the valve fails to shut off and the tank could fill with water and flow onto the floor.
If you run out of salt, fill the brine tank with salt but don’t allow the system to regenerate for at least 6 hours so that the salt has time to dissolve. The bottom of the brine tank should always have some water so that the salt at the bottom of the tank can dissolve and then be used as part of the regeneration process.
If the salt at the bottom of the tank is still solid and undissolved, the regeneration won’t work and you’ll be producing hard, unsoftened water.
Does a water softener help with dry skin?
A common side effect of hard water is dry skin. Conversely, using softened water can help to soften your skin and additionally enable you to use less soap when you bathe and fewer detergents when doing laundry.
Soft water tends to react better with soaps and shampoos and will tend to lather noticeably better.
Hard water on the other hand tends to react less positively with soaps and detergents and often leaves a soap residue on your skin which contributes to dryness.
Soft water is also known to produce silkier softer hair after bathing too. Again, hard water tends to leave a shampoo residue on your hair and scalp which contributes to dryness.
Can a water softener cause hair loss?
One rumor about water softener usage is that some people believe they lose hair after installing one in their home. They seem to notice that their hair gets thinner coinciding with the usage of a water softener.
In reality, it couldn’t be further from the truth.
Hard water tends to cause shampoo and soap residue to remain on your hair and scalp. Softened water on the other hand is known to produce shiny, silkier hair with no soap or shampoo residue remaining. The softer water may give the effect of thinner hair simply because your hair lies differently than it would after being washed with hard water that retains some of the shampoo or soap.
On its own, soft water will not promote hair loss. There is however research evidence
to suggest that hard water can negatively impact hair dullness and contribute to more hair breakage.
Is soft water bad for plumbing?
Softened water is generally better for your pipes as it removes hard minerals that can cause a build up in your pipes, in your kettle and other water using appliances such as the coils in your hot water tank.
Newer homes with modern plumbing generally won’t notice problems when using a water softener.
Older homes with lead pipes may have the issue of the soft water drawing chemicals like the lead into the water supply. If you have an older home and/or have lead pipes, get your water professionally tested to see if any chemical levels are high.
Is it OK to drink water from a water softener?
Two common thoughts regarding drinking softened water is that it will increase your salt intake unnecessarily and that it removes helpful minerals that cause hard water, namely iron, calcium and magnesium. In fact both of these statements can be countered, as follows:
Firstly, the average water softener adds about 50 mg of sodium for each liter of water which is a very small amount. By comparison, the American Heart Association recommends no more than 2,300 mg of sodium per day for an adult. So the amount of sodium added is very small.
Secondly, while iron, calcium and magnesium are removed from softened water the fact is that most people get enough of these minerals from their diet. If not, you can either improve your diet or take a multivitamin as it’s likely that your drinking water isn’t really the water in the first instance.
Final thoughts
Make sure your water softener is installed with a bypass valve. This valve enables you to bypass the water softener as the name would suggest, in the case where the softener breaks or otherwise stops working. You use this valve to direct water throughout your house so you can still have water while the softener isn’t working.
This came in handy for me once when the resin at the bottom of the softener tank gummed up and blocked the system and wouldn’t allow water to pass through. I bought new resin, cleaned the tank out, replaced the resin and got the system working again. If not for the bypass valve though, we’d have had no water in the house for several days.
Also, depending on where you live, your water softener system might require one (1) hard water drinking tap. Or you may just request a hard water tap with unsoftened water for personal reasons as we’ll see below.
Your system could be set up either by law or due to personal preference that your kitchen faucet (for example) has regular hard water for drinking. That way any water you drink from this tap is unsoftened. If you have a cat or dog, you would then use this tap to fill their drinking bowl to avoid adding unnecessary sodium to their diet.
Want to learn more about salt water softeners? Check out my article called How Much Does A Water Softener Cost to continue learning.