为什么我的软水机需要加盐?

虽然你知道软水器可以解决各种 硬水问题, many homeowners still have questions about what takes places inside those tanks. One of the most common points of confusion for homeowners revolves around water softener 盐.

Every time you haul a heavy bag of softener 盐 into your home and refill the brine tank, 你可能会想，“有多少盐最终进入了我的水?? 我是不是在喝咸水、洗澡、做饭?”

事实是，软水机不添加任何 盐 对着水. 水软化过程将盐分解，以利用其 钠. 这是有区别的.

To clear things up, 盐, also known as 钠 chloride (NaCl), contains 钠 (Na). 盐是一种化合物，钠是一种元素. 你会在许多食物和配料中发现钠，比如面包, 披萨, 奶酪, 最明显的是, 食盐.

但是为什么软水剂需要钠呢? 你的身体系统会将多少钠转移到水中?  最重要的是，它会影响你的健康吗? 365体育APP下载采访了运营经理内特·弗里茨 清水中心, our local water treatment dealer in Appleton, Wisconsin, to find out.

水软化剂的工作原理

Fritz explains that 钠’s role in softening water requires a basic understanding of 传统的软水器是如何工作的. Without adding 钠 to your water softener, hard water minerals cannot be properly removed.

溶解的矿物质钙和镁是造成硬水的原因. In order to remove those minerals, water must go through what’s known as an ion exchange process.

这种交换发生在装满介质的圆筒罐中, 比如树脂, 或者365体育APP下载独家的井水媒体, Crystal-Right™. 本质上, calcium and magnesium ions are captured by the media inside and removed from the water before it travels to the rest of your home.

“The media is negatively charged, and your water’s hardness is positively charged,” explains Fritz. “Opposites attract and the positive and negative ions bond together as water flows through the resin to be cleaned.”

离子交换过程

一旦所有的树脂都被坚硬的矿物质填满, 它需要充电了, 这时软化剂盐就开始起作用了. 在软水器的再生周期中, 这种情况在你睡觉的时候经常发生, 盐水罐中的盐水流经介质罐.

盐水溶液中的钠也带正电荷. So, it breaks away from the chloride and attaches to the negatively-charged resin. 当这种情况发生时, the calcium and magnesium molecules get kicked off the softening media and flushed out of your system. This leaves the media recharged and ready to continue removing hard minerals from your home’s water.

下一次离子交换过程发生在软化过程中, the 钠 molecules are released from the media and travel with the soft water throughout your home.

好消息是, 钠 does not contribute to any of the hard water issues that calcium and magnesium cause. Still, many homeowners wonder if 钠 in their water can have other effects. 如果你喝含钠的软水，会影响你的健康吗?

那么，你的水中有多少钠呢?

The amount of 钠 in softened water depends on how hard the water is to begin with. 离子交换过程就是交换. The harder the water, the more 钠 is required to remove the calcium and magnesium.

然而，即使是极硬的水，钠的总量也很少. 它太小了, softened water falls within the Food and Drug Administration’s category of “very low 钠.” This means that the level of 钠 should have little or no effect on most healthy adults.

“A lot of people look at a water softener and see that big tank of 盐 and think that water is always flowing through and absorbing the 盐,弗里茨说。. “从长远来看, if you were to drink an entire gallon of softened water that originally had 20 grains of hardness per gallon (gpg), that would be about the equivalent 钠 intake to eating four slices of white bread.”

基本上, homeowners don’t have much to worry about in terms of softened water impacting their health. 的好处 of soft water on your skin, home, clothes and appliances, however, are abundant.

为你的家买到合适的水

Although the amount of 钠 consumed in soft water is minimal and poses no serious health risks, 有些人宁愿不喝它. 在这种情况下，一个理想的添加到你的家是一个 反渗透(RO)系统. 这些饮用水系统可以去除钠, 城市用水中的氯, 还有许多其他不需要的污染物, 提供美味的水.

每家的水都不一样, which is why you should always have a water treatment expert assess the conditions and provide a recommendation based on your specific needs and expectations.

传统的对. 无盐水软化剂:有什么区别?

Perhaps you’ve heard of 盐-free water softeners and wondered if they were an effective option to soften water and minimize 盐 usage. Fritz explains there is a big difference between the two and that 盐-free (or tankless) water softeners are an ineffective method to treat hard water.

“Salt-free water softeners are not removing the calcium and magnesium that makes water hard, they’re just chemically altering the hard water minerals so that they won’t cling to things,弗里茨警告说.

水 softeners actually remove problem minerals whereas 盐-free water softeners simply condition them. 用无盐水软化剂, 房主可能会看到斑点和规模略有减少, 但是你不能得到传统软水器的所有好处.

正因为如此，即使是房主的日博365APP下载，如安吉的名单 提醒房主了解两者的区别.

“The advantage of water softeners is they can extend the life of your water-using appliances, 你的管道, 甚至你的衣服,安吉·希克斯, Angie 's List的联合创始人补充道. “One study showed that water heaters using hard water lost half their efficiency over a 15-year lifetime, whereas those using softened water retained their original efficiency rating.”

洗碗机和洗衣机也是如此. 当它们在硬水上奔跑时, these appliances become less and less effective until eventually they break down. Hard water minerals also react with shampoo and soap to form a scum that sticks to the sides of the bathtub (and to your skin). 当你安装传统的软水器时, cleaning products clean better because the hard water minerals are removed requiring less elbow grease and less product.

Fritz also mentions that some 盐-free or tankless water softeners owner’s manuals actually suggest using a traditional water softener in conjunction with a tankless water softener. 在现实中, all you really need is one good traditional system that is calibrated to treat the water quality in your home.