If you have hard water in your home, then you know how annoying it can be due to the residue it leaves and its effects on the skin. Hard water is water with a high salt content that is calcium, magnesium, and chlorides. These salts often leave a residue on your skin and hair when you shower, and that is why they may feel dry and brittle.
One way that people use to soften hard water especially for showering is by using the best water softener shower head. However, it doesn’t soften the water, and you may waste money on a number of them without any changes.
This article will look at why shower head water softeners don’t work and what you need to do to soften your water at home.
How is hard water softened?
One common way of knowing that you have hard water is the fact that soap doesn’t lather easily, so you hardly get any foam. This is because the salts in the water interact with the fatty acids of the soap forming a hard substance instead of foam.
The water must undergo a process where all these salts are removed that is the magnesium and calcium as well as chloride and ferrous iron to soften it. The softener changes the positively ion charged salts.
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The water is pushed into a tank filled with negatively charged beads, so the positive ions of the salts stick to the beads leaving the water salt free. It is a simple case of opposite charges attract. However, since the beads now contain positively charged ions, it means that you would have to discard it.
This is why they are washed with a Sodium solution that regenerates the beads, and the sodium goes into the water that is flushed out.
Do shower head water softeners work?
The water softening process is not that simple. There are a lot of chemical reactions that go into the process which the shower heads do not accommodate. For starters, the shower heads cannot supply the powerful Sodium solution that is needed to replenish the negatively charged ions so that they can work again.
Also, the magnesium and calcium ions have to be removed from the beads, which again is something that the shower heads do not support. So there is not enough time from when the water gets into the showerhead, gets it softened, and comes out of the shower. It has to be a whole cycle that is not supported since the shower passes out water too fast.
What do shower heads water softeners do?
Many shower heads work with a timer that records how much water passes through at a time. It measures how much time it takes before the beads have run out of ions, so they are replenished. Most times this system is not accurate, so you will still be using hard water for a while.
Most of these showerheads only end up removing chlorine from the water, and that is why you may feel a difference in the water. However, if you want to get soft water, you will have to install a water softening system for your whole house.
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That ensures that the water that comes out of your taps and shower is soft, which will reduce your water system maintenance significantly.
Water softener for the shower head may work, but that is for the first few liters of water that goes through it. The showerhead would have to be huge with an inbuilt tank to facilitate the whole process; otherwise, it would be prolonged to produce water. If you live in a place with hard water, it is best to invest in a long-term water softening system.