How to Convert Hard Water to Soft Water
Did you recently notice the white spots on your clothes? Has your new soft towel turned stiff? Does your skin feel itchy? If yes, then the chances are high that the water supplied in your house is hard water.
You now probably know the harmful effects of hard water! Hard water can damage your household appliance, and apart from that, it also affects your body.
It is advised that you use soft water for drinking, washing clothes, and even running household appliances. If you are now wondering how to soften hard water, you are in the right place.
In this article, we will discuss various ways by which you can convert hard water to soft water.
You may also like to read: What is Hard Water, its Advantages and Disadvantages
What is the Need for Converting Hard Water to Soft Water?
Hard water is rich in minerals, mostly calcium, and magnesium. Hard water is neither good for your body nor your appliances. For instance, the minerals which are left behind by the hard water can clog the pipes, stain tiles, and glass, and it can further reduce the efficiency of the appliances. Apart from that, it decreases the life span of appliances like washing machines, geysers, and dishwashers.
When you bathe with hard water, your skin becomes itchy, and the mineral residue is left behind on the scalp, which can contribute to dandruff. Hard water can severely ruin your skin, hair, and nails. To prevent these harmful effects, it is important to convert hard water into soft water.
To better understand the need for converting hard water to soft water, you should first know about the difference between hard and soft water.
How to Make Hard Water Soft?
Before we tell you more about how you can convert hard water to soft, we would like you to answer one question.
How sure are you about the hardness of the water at your home? Do you have any idea of how hard the water is?
If you do not have any confirmed answers to these questions then you should first conduct a water hardness test. Measuring the hardness of water is easy and will give you an actual picture of how hard the water is.
Depending on the results of the water hardness test, you can then choose one of the ways listed below to make hard water soft.
Hard water is of two types. The permanent hard water cannot be converted easily into soft water. However, the temporary hard water can be easily converted into soft water by following a simple process. If you want to convert hard water into soft water, you can try one of the three hard water treatments which are described below.
Ion-Exchange Water Softening
This is a sure-shot way of converting hard water into soft water. The ion-exchange water softener exchanges minerals like calcium and magnesium with sodium minerals. Calcium and magnesium are ionic and this fact can be used for removing the hardness from the water.
An ion-exchange water softener passes the hard water over resin beads, which are human-made. These resin beads are negatively charged, and minerals like calcium and magnesium share a positive charge. When calcium and magnesium come in contact with the resin medium, they are replaced with sodium ions, and this removes the hardness of the water.
Boiling (for removing temporary hardness)
You can remove the temporary hardness from water by boiling it. To use this process, you first need to boil the water. And after that, you will have to allow it to cool down for the next couple of hours. This will settle the minerals present in the water at the bottom of the vessel. You can then pour the water from the vessel and leave the minerals in the vessel itself.
Using Baking Soda or Vinegar
Vinegar is acidic, and baking soda is alkaline. You can use either of the two for converting the hard water into soft water. Both baking soda and vinegar remove the scaly buildup, which is caused by the minerals present in hard water. It is advised that you use distilled white vinegar. You have to add one tablespoon of vinegar for every three cups of water to remove the temporary hardness from the water.
The process that you use for converting the hard water into soft water depends upon the quantity of water that you are dealing with.
For example, you cannot use the process of boiling water to remove the hardness of the water if you are going to use it for the washing machine. It is practically not possible as the quantity of water is very high. Therefore, the process of softening water depends on where you are going to use water.
Mostly, we need to convert the hard water into soft water when we use the water in the kitchen, laundry, bathroom, or drinking. We have covered the softening process of water for all these four different purposes in the article. Depending on your requirements, you can use a suitable technique.
1. Softening Water for the Kitchen
Hard water in the kitchen can destroy your vessels, and if you are using it to make your food, it can affect your body. In the kitchen, the amount of water that you will be using is comparatively less. Hard water treatment in the kitchen can be done in two ways:
Boiling the Water
When you boil the water, the temporary hardness from it is removed. In the first step, you need to boil the water. In the second step, you will have to cool the water, if possible, naturally. These will settle the minerals at the bottom of the vessel. You can then scoop up the soft water from the top and leave the mineral deposits at the bottom of the vessel.
Fix a Hard Water Softener on the Kitchen Faucet
A permanent hard water softener can be attached to a kitchen faucet. The hard water softener present in the faucet will remove the minerals from the water before releasing the water from the tap. However, this will not filter the water. If you need potable water from the tap, you will have to add a secondary filter to the tap.
2. Softening Water for Laundry
Hard water is harmful to clothes. The minerals left behind by the hard water create white spots on the clothes. Hard water also reduces the efficiency of the detergents and makes the soft clothes stiff. There are four ways by which you can soften water for laundry.
Using Water Conditioner Liquid
A water conditioner liquid traps the minerals present in the hard water. The water conditioner liquid acts as a hard water to soft water converter.
While buying a water conditioner liquid, go for the one that is non-precipitating. The precipitating water conditioner liquid leaves white precipitates behind.
The next time when you wash your clothes, add a few drops of water conditioner liquid. It is important to add the conditioner in the second cycle of washing too.
Using a Hard Water Softener
From reducing the efficiency of heating elements to premature wear and tear, hard water causes serious damage to your washing machine.
The easiest way to tackle all these hard water problems is to use a hard water softener for your washing machine. A hard water softener can be used in the water inlet of the washing machine. Before dispensing water in the washing machine, the water softener will convert the hard ward into soft water. This will further reduce the cost of using a water conditioner liquid every time; you need to do laundry.
Click to read: Impact of Hard Water Softeners on TDS Level
Using Baking Soda
One can add baking soda to the water. This will temporarily reduce the hardness level of the water. For a tubful of water, half a cup of baking water will suffice to fulfill the requirement.
Using Vinegar
Hard water leaves white spots on the clothes after washing. To remove the white stains, use white vinegar. Apply diluted vinegar with an equal amount of water and scrub the spot on the cloth. The amount of vinegar to be used depends upon the scale present in the clothes.
3. Softening Water for the Bathroom
When you take a shower with hard water, your skin feels itchy because the minerals stick in your body. If you shampoo your hair with hard water, it again leaves behind the minerals in your hair. This can cause dandruff. Boiling the water for a bath is not a practical solution. You can use a tap/shower hard water softer. Are you now wondering how to make hard water soft for bathing?
Use a Tap/Shower Hard Water Softener
The way you use a faucet in the kitchen for converting the hard water into soft water, you can use a water softener for the bathroom. The hard water softener fixed in the tap or the shower will convert the hard water into soft water, and the processed water will become fit for bathing purposes.
Most tap/shower hard water softeners work on the principle of ion-exchange water softening.
4. Softening Water for Drinking
For bathing or laundry, a water conditioner liquid or a hard water softener will do. However, for drinking purposes, a simple water softener treatment will not work. You will need to take an additional step. It is because the previous methods will only remove the hardness from the water, but will not filter out the impurities. To make the water potable, you will need an additional filter.
Use an RO Rater Purifier
If your house is supplied with hard water, for making it potable, it is advised that you get an RO water purifier. The RO water purifier will not only convert the hard water into soft water but also remove the impurities from the water and will make it potable.
Click to read: Why Hardness is Different from TDS of Water?
Conclusion
Now that you know about multiple ways of converting hard water into soft water, you can easily make the conversion. The process of converting the hard water into soft water will depend on your requirements. Based on your needs, you can use one of the suitable methods described above. Let us know which method worked for you.
Thanks for sharing good information about the conversion from Hard Water to Soft Water.
very useful and knowledgeable. I knew nothing but now I have gained sufficient knowledge
thanks