Water Softeners

What is considered hard water and what are the degrees of hardness? Well very hard water would be 10.5 grains per gallon and 180 parts per million and above. But you need to realize that even moderately hard water of 3.5 to 7 grains per gallon and 60-120 parts per million will leave hard water spots. Slightly hard water such as 1 to 3.5 grains per gallon and 17.1 to 60 part per million will not leave noticeably hard water spots that you cannot cure with a chamois. But really as a professional auto detailer you are really looking for soft water of less than 1 grain per gallon and 17 parts per million.

What Makes The Water Hard?

Hardness in water is caused calcium and magnesium ions that form insoluble compounds; sometimes iron and even aluminum. There are many ways to soften water. Some are more complicated than others; Aeration, De-Ionization or ion-exchange, Distillation, Reverse Osmosis or Softening.

Softening by use of a water softener is the simplest concept used today; water softeners replace hardness ions like calcium and magnesium with sodium or non-scaling ions. The ion exchange resin used in the process is recharged periodically with salt drawn from a storage tank. Many water treatment experts agree and Lance Winslow concurs that softening can be most cost effective when the water has as few as one to five grains per gallon of hardness. Most mobile operators will be happy with one to three grains per gallon of hardness and probably won’t even purchase a softening unit until the hardness is five plus grains per gallon. Their theory is well taken because, if the total dissolved solids (TDS) is that low, there will be little water spotting on cars anyway.

One reason to put in a water softener even if your water is 5 gpg or less is because you wish to prevent scaling in the coils of your steam cleaner or save your pressure washing pump on your auto detailing rig. On a cold water machine, this is not as important because 5 gpg or less won’t ruin a pump. More than five can over time.

Hardness also hinders soap from doing its job. You may notice that your soaps are not cleaning properly. That’s because they are cleaning the water first and combining with the compounds in the water rather than the dirt on the car. You see, the hardness in the water has a tendency to neutralize those cleaning compounds and you have to actually use more soap to offset the neutralizing effect of the hardness minerals.

With hard water, you will use more soap and the cars still aren’t clean. I encourage you to talk to your soap vendors for helpful advice on water chemistry and treatment requirements. Your soap strategy should be custom tailored to your city and the hardness of the water you put in your tank.

Most independent auto detailing professionals agree that areas with hard water will also cause a film on cars that are washed when no softener is used. They also agreed at the annual conference that the decision to purchase a softener should be based on a real water test. You might wish to contact a water treatment dealer such as: Rain Soft, Culligan, Apollo, Calgon, Rayne water Systems or the Water Man in your area. They can help you by having the local water tested or ask city water authority for information on their supply. Once your decision is made to purchase a softener, selecting the proper equipment is easy. Softener sizes should be based upon two factors: Flow Rate (GPM) and Grains Per Gallon (GPG).

Flow rate would typically be six to eight gpm (gallons per minute) with your hose at your residence. We recommend you change your pressure regulator to 90-110 PSI (Pounds Per Square Inch). This would give you approximately ten gpm. So you need a water softener that is a little bigger than the basic model.

Water softeners are basically like refrigerators; says Car Wash Guys Founder Lance Winslow;

“They could last two years or twenty years…and a lot depends on how much goes in and how often it comes out.”

This is why you should monitor softening equipment. You can test the hardness with a testing kit or just pay attention when you’re washing cars. Steel softening tanks last for years. Fiberglass units last well also. Plastic units crack. You may need to change resin every couple of years.

Chances are you will choose to rent softeners for $30 per month and let the exchange company recharge them for you. Be careful when hiring water softener vendors. Ask us for help. You may even be able to trade services for water softening rental plus make money on the account because water softener rental companies have lots of delivery trucks. In any case think on these issues when considering a water softening strategy for your mobile car wash or auto detailing business.

Water softening is probably the most popular of all water treatment technologies. Although there is much mis-conception about how a water softener works, the end result of a proper application is always the same. Water softeners bring most families a much higher quality of household water. Mineral deposits are eliminated. Water spots on shower walls and glassware, gone! Laundry comes out cleaner and softer. No more soap deposits left in the clothing causing itching and rashes. The total overall quality of the water improves, and truly does feel “softer”.

When is a water softener needed? Just about any time the water comes from a ground water source such as a dug or drilled well. About the only time one can argue against the benefits of water softening is if the water is drawn from a surface supply such as a lake. Even rivers generally pick up mineral content as they flow over the ground and become “hard water”.

Water hardness is measured in grains of hardness per gallon or liter. It can also be measured in PPM with 17.1 ppm per one grain of hardness. Water over 7 grains hard begins to benefit from the effects of water softening. At 10 grains the effects of softening are readily noticeable. At 15 grains of hardness rush out and buy a water softener, you will be pleased you did.

David’s believe-it-or-not says the most common complaint I have heard about the effects of soft water are: No 1-the dishes are very slippery when wet (true) and No 2- my hair has gone all pouffy! (true again-the mineral deposits are gone!)

How does a water softener work? Does a water softener leave salt in my water? Let’s get this straight once and for all. A water softener works on a system called “ion exchange”. For every grain of hardness (calcium/magnesium) your water softener takes out of the water-IT MUST REPLACE IT WITH AN EQUAL AMOUNT OF SALT. Let me repeat this. The softener exchanges the calcium with salt. The calcium is actually a salt as well, so I should properly say that the calcium salts are replaced with sodium salts. If the softener works perfectly, the exchange would be exact but this is not possible. There is always more salt left in the water than the amount of calcium it removed. The ratio of exchange used to be terrible, and still is in some older model systems. But many newer technologies incorporate systems of rinsing that reduce the left over salt in your water to very acceptable standards. The exchange can be measured with a TDS meter which every salesman should carry, or he is not testing your water properly. The increase in TDS from your feed water to your product water will identify how much excessive salt is left behind. An efficient softener leaves less salt behind than in one gallon of water than is found in one piece of white bread.

A water softener should not be installed where a sodium restricted diet is recommended. Although I would suggest that the softener still be installed if the water warrants the application, and a reverse osmosis unit be placed in the kitchen to remove the salt, and all other impurities, for cooking and drinking water. Water softeners will often remove small amounts of iron from your water. But this will increase the salt used, and the salt left behind. Larger amounts of iron, over 1mg/ltr will cause excessive salt use, and eventually foul the bed of the softener. A water softener should not be used as the primary means of reducing iron in water.

Another consideration in softening is your septic system. Water softeners rinse large amounts of salt into your drain water. If you are on a septic system, as many rural systems are, you will damage the cement holding tank and salt will harm vegetation in the area where the septic is located. Potassium Chloride is a suitable replacement under these circumstances, or if you just want to be more environmentally conscious in your water treatment application. Potassium is far less corrosive and does not have as much negative impact on the environment. Potassium is also often recommended as a sodium replacement for people on salt restricted diets. (although my preference where health concerns are an issue, is the application of a reverse osmosis after the softener).

Saltless Water Softeners? RUBBISH! There are no saltless water softeners which have been tested and certified. But lots of them have been tested and discarded as rubbish. The Water Quality Association is an organization which is there to inform and protect the public in regards to the water treatment industry. To my knowledge they have tested many electronic, electric, or magnetic devices and found that none of them remove one grain of hardness from water. Some of these devices will reduce scaling, the effect of mineral deposits sticking to surfaces, but none of them remove anything from the water. Once again, I see this as dealerships and sales people who just want to get the sale, so they give the customer what the customer wants. A magic wand. Well I can supply you with magic wands for $1.29 so don’t pay more than that for any magic wands. I am sure these statements will ruffle some feathers, but until I see the WQA certifying a saltless water softener, I will stick to my statements.

If you install a water softener in your home, and keep it for six months to get used to it, you will not likely ever be without one. I have had mine for 14 years now. Yup, the same one. Make a wise purchase and you will have a long lasting piece of equipment.

I have said many times, ” a wise and educated consumer makes wise choices”. Your water, your health, your responsibility.

There are over 20 million households in the United States currently using on-site septic systems, and that number appears to be growing. We get many questions from our customers as to what effect (if any) water softener discharge has on a these systems. With such a wide range of information and opinions available, we felt that it was appropriate to examine some of the studies on this topic, and try to accurately present an overview of current understanding.

The Septic System and Water Softening Process

Septic system function is very straightforward. Your homes plumbing is piped into a in-ground storage tank. When wastewater enters this tank, the heavier solids settle to the bottom. Bacteria present in the storage tank digest the solids, breaking it down to a liquid. After this process is complete, relatively clear water is discharged from the primary tank into a second holding tank or distribution box. Water then re-enters the surrounding soil through a drainage field consisting of perforated underground piping.

The water softening process is accomplished by a chemical cation exchange that replaces the calcium and magnesium in your water with a equivalent number of sodium or potassium ions. During the softening process, your household water passes through the resin bed, and the magnesium and calcium contained in the water are removed. A given sized resin bed has a fixed capacity to remove hardness before it needs to be regenerated to full capacity in order to continue to provide softened water (for example, one cubic foot of resin has the ability to remove 32,000 grains of hardness from your water). When the resin bed is nearing exhaustion, the control valve washes the resin bed, and draws salt containing solution from the brine tank through the resin. As the salt contacts the resin bed, the process of ion exchange occurs, and the magnesium and calcium (hardness) that was collected in the bed during operation is washed to drain. After a final rinse to remove the excess salt, the resin bed is again ready to provide softened water.

The concern of discharging water softeners into an on-site septic system arises out of a belief that sodium salts used by water softeners during the regeneration stage – or the increased amount of water entering into the system – may be harmful and possibly cause septic systems to fail. Although there is no scientific data available that supports harmful effects, there have been many investigations into the potential for problems to occur.

The Effect of Sodium Salt on Septic Systems

Common knowledge supports that higher levels of sodium salt can have a direct impact on bacterial life forms. For instance, most bacteria usually found in fresh water ecosystems would be unable to live in a high salinity environment like an ocean. For this reason, concern was generated that septic systems that rely so heavily on bacterial action may be effected by high concentrations of sodium.

These concerns seem to be unwarranted. First, a typical residential sized water softener discharges between 40 and 70 gallons of water per regeneration. Through much of the regeneration process, fresh water is discharged, containing no salt at all, so the total concentration of salt is very dilute. However, during some stages of regeneration, the sodium concentration can reach as high a 5,000 to 10,000 ppm for brief periods of time.

To see if this level of sodium effected microorganisms typically found in aerobic on-site septic systems, a study was performed that exposed these microbes to a worst case scenario of 10,000 ppm brine solution. The study concluded that “there were no statistically significant differences in the metabolic activity of the microbial community”, and that it was “unlikely that failures in domestic water treatment system are the result of exposure to the brine from home water softeners.” (1)

Other studies indicate that the effect of putting softened water into septic system can actually be beneficial. There is a very low amount of sodium contained in softened water. For every grain of hardness removed, approximately 8 ppm (parts per million) of sodium is added. Although some naturally occurring water sources have very high sodium levels, softened water normally has a slightly elevated sodium level vs. untreated hard water. While this concentration is normally insignificant at typical hardness levels, these higher sodium levels are more in the optimal range for septic system bacterial growth, and can promote bacterial development.(2,7)

The Effect of Increased Water Volume from Water Softeners on Septic Systems
While the volume of water discharged by a water softener during the regeneration process will vary depending on water pressure, pipe diameter, and softener design, water softeners typically use 40 to 70 gallons of water during regeneration. Questions have been raised as to what effect this increased volume of water (hydraulic load) may have on septic system performance. Did the flow rate and volume of water softener entering the system during water softener regeneration adversely effect the normal settling process, and allow solids to enter the drain field?

Investigations by NSF International determined that the additional volume of water due to softener regeneration is not sufficient to cause any harm to septic tank systems. In fact, water softener regeneration flow rate and volume is lower than the typical discharge from an automatic washing machine.(3) Further, old style “time clock” based water softeners regenerated as set on a calendar basis, normally one to two times per week – the newer generation of metered (on demand) water softeners measure household water consumption, and only regenerate as needed – this further reduces the amount of water discharged into the septic system.

The Effect of Water Softener Salt Discharge on Percolation in Septic Drain Fields

There has been some anecdotal evidence that sodium added to septic systems by a water softener may have negative effects on the ability for the drain field soil to percolate properly.

Many studies have been performed to investigate this issue (2,4,6), and seem to indicate that water softener regeneration discharge does not interfere with drain field percolation, but may actually improve percolation in finely textured soils. This may be due to a higher calcium concentration found in softener regeneration discharge. When this “calcium rich” water enters the drain field, it sometimes increased the porosity of the soil (dependent on the type of soil present), improving the percolation process. To further support this finding, gypsum, another calcium rich material, has long been used for this same purpose.

Conclusions and Recommendations

The results of our review are corroborated by a fact sheet published by the Environmental Protection Agency(5), that points out the following:

a) High concentrations of calcium and magnesium in the softener backwash water have no deleterious effect on the biological function occurring in the septic tank and may, in some cases, be helpful.

b) The additional volume of wastewater generated is added slowly to the wastewater stream, and does not cause any hydraulic overload problems.

c) Soil structure in the soil absorption field is positively affected by the calcium and magnesium ions in water softener effluent.

Based on a detailed evaluation of information and studies performed in this area to date, we conclude that water softener regeneration discharge does not negatively impact common on-site aerobic septic systems. Slightly elevated levels of sodium in regeneration discharge do not seem to effect septic system microorganisms, and may indeed benefit the septic process.

Other matters seem to play a much more important role in proper septic tank function. You should always minimize the amount of household cleaners that enter the waste stream. Whenever possible, reduce the use of soap and harsh chemical cleaners, and consider “natural” products containing low levels of phosphates. If you already have a water softener installed, remember that you can reduce the amount of soap use substantially – by as much as 50% to 75% – soap no longer has to work as hard to remove the minerals already removed by a water softener. Avoid using a garbage disposal with an on-site septic, as minimizing these types of organic wastes will reduce the load on the system. And finally, reduce when possible the amount of water flowing into the system from showers, baths, washing machines and dishwashers.

Work in this area is on-going, and a symposium discussing this issue is scheduled for March, 2006 in Chicago. A joint task force has been established between the Water Quality Association (WQA) and the National Onsite Waste Recycling Association (NOWRA) to plan and oversee joint activities and investigate any future findings. Failures of specific on-site septic systems will also be examined by this task force in order to determine the cause.

In conclusion, and after reviewing a range of scientific studies to gain a present-day understanding of this issue, it appears that owners of onsite septic systems can continue to enjoy the benefits that softened water provides, without concerns of system damage.