White Water F.A.Q
A Water Softener only adds Sodium to your water during its cleaning cycle. Doing so creates a Ion-Exchange that removes trapped minerals in the Softener recharging the softening resin within the tank. A wash cycle then takes place removing the majority of the sodium from the machine. Once a machine has completed its entire cleaning routine you are left with a virtually indistinguishable amount of Sodium in your water, on average less then a glass of milk or a slice of bread. For a more detailed explanation feel free to click the button below.
The way to check is by putting your water treatment system on bypass (check bypassing system videos) using the bypass valve which is almost always at the back of the softener. Turn on 1 or two cold water taps to full flow and move the bypass valve to the on – off position. If you notice a change in flow, then definitely there is a problem.
This is most often caused by excessive water use and the softener is trying to keep up. Before you say you are not using any more water than normal please confirm… (Refer to next question)…
When you know that you are not using any water in your home, check the water meter that feeds your home. If you see the little triangle spinning or in the case of digital meters, the numbers change after about a minute of observation then you are indeed using excessive amounts of water. The most likely culprit for water leakage are toilets and/or humidifiers.
Characteristics of soft water include having a very slippery feeling while you bath or shower, as well as soap tends to lather “like crazy” when soft water is present. A more definitive test is to get a jar, half fill it with soft water and place a tiny amount of dish soap in it (usually just a small finger covered in dish soap works). Shake the jar and if suds appear the water is likely soft. Do the same when the water softener is bypassed and you have let the water run so you know that you definitely have hard water, you should have next to ZERO bubbles. Regardless there should be a marked difference between the two. Otherwise White Water will always be happy to test any water brought to our shop.
As a rule… YES! A water softener should comfortably be able to remove as high as 2.5 to 3 ppm of ferrous iron (that’s a lot of Iron). The exception to this is when the municipality ads chemicals to the water to prevent the iron from sticking to their pipes. This action also virtually eliminates the ability for any softener to remove iron. If you are on a rural water supply, usually a water softener will meet all your iron removal needs.