What is a water softener.
A water softener removes calcium and magnesium from water supplies and is often the only way to enable hard water to be used.   It’s a fact of life that, irrespective of the claims by sellers of magnet or other ‘miracle’ solutions, as soon as hard water is heated the hardness comes out of solution and deposits inside hot water heaters and pipes.

How does it work.
Softeners work on an ‘ion exchange’ principle, where hardness causing ions are attracted to a special media and at a programmed point, after a certain flow
has been softened, the media is cleaned, or ‘regenerated’, with a saturated
brine solution, after which it can soften for another cycle.

How effective is it.
Softeners remove virtually all hardness from supplies, and this results in
benefits such as softer and fluffier fabrics after laundering, virtually no
discolouration of clothes compared to those washed in hard water, easier
cleaning of shower stalls due to almost no soap scum formation, sparkling
glassware and crockery when machine washed, and a host of other benefits.

In addition to a host of lifestyle improvements, a softener should pay for itself over time, from savings in maintenance on hot water heaters, dishwashers and other hard water sensitive appliances as well as from savings from not having to use anywhere near as much washing detergent, dishwashing powder, final rinse chemicals and a host other expensive consumables.

Commercial laundries and many other commercial water users only use soft water, and if there was no cost benefit, they sure wouldn’t be spending big dollars on equipment!