Do Water Softeners Make Your Water Salty? Answer: NO

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Sodium is a naturally occurring mineral that is found in almost everything you consume.  From apples to almonds, the water and milk we all drink, sodium is a common ingredient.  So when someone say's "Sodium is used to soften water" : This is one of the biggest miss statement / misconceptions!  Here's why.  Calcium (Ca2+) and magnesium (Mg2+) ions that cause water hardness can be removed fairly easily by using an ion exchange procedure. Standard water softeners are cation exchange devices. Cations refer to positively charged ions dissolved in the water. Cation exchange involves the replacement of the hardness ions with a non hardness ion.

Water softeners usually use sodium (Na+) as the exchange ion. Sodium ions are supplied from dissolved sodium chloride salt, also called brine. In the ion exchange process, sodium ions are used to coat an exchange medium in the softener. The exchange medium can be natural “zeolites” or synthetic resin beads that resemble wet sand.

As hard water passes through a softener, the calcium and magnesium trade places with sodium ions.  Sodium ions are held loosely and are replaced easily by calcium and magnesium ions. During this process, “free” sodium ions are released into the water.  After softening a large quantity of hard water, the exchange medium becomes coated with calcium and magnesium ions. When this occurs, the exchange medium must be recharged or regenerated.  To recharge the softener with sodium ions, a softener is back flushed with a salt brine solution. During a back flush, the brine solution replaces the calcium and magnesium ions on the exchange medium with sodium ions from the salt solution.  The Chloride part of "sodium chloride" along with the calcium and magnesium is back flushed and to drain.  The Sodium and Carbonate  ( from calcium carbonate "hard water") are what is exchanged and thus what is in your water after the softening process.. Baking Soda thus is the by product of a water softener.  So Sodium is not a softening component, it is converted to a detergent to clean the Ion Exchange Resin which is the means to soften the water.  Now Sodium Carbonate is different than Sodium Chloride.  But technically it is classified as a salt.

In Most Cases

You will intake higher levels of sodium from your every day diet.  According to the Dietary Guidelines for Americans, the recommended limit for sodium is less than 2,300 mg a day. The average American consumes about 3,400 mg a day, but the vast majority of sodium comes from table salt and processed and prepared foods, like cold cuts, canned soups, fast food, and frozen dinners. Here are the sodium levels of some common food items:
*An 8-ounce glass of low-fat milk contains about 120 mg of sodium
*One egg contains 59 mg of sodium
*An 8-ounce glass of orange juice contains about 25 mg
*A can of soda contains 40-45 mg
*Depending on the brand, a standard 1-ounce slice of bread has between 80 and 230 mg of sodium
*A teaspoon of regular table salt contains 2,300 mg of sodium

When you do the math, water softeners add a very small amount of sodium to your diet. Considering the many benefits of installing a water softener, you may still feel nervous about any additional salts added to your daily intake.  A water filter system like reverse osmosis will absolutely remove the sodium carbonate that is the result of a water softener.    




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