Maintaining Your Salt-Free Water Softener

A salt-free water softener uses potassium chloride instead of salt, so you will not experience salty water, or the salt build up that can occur inside the tank of your water softener. There are many other positive benefits of using a potassium chloride water softener, but you will only see them if you maintain it properly.

One of the things that you will need to keep track of is how much potassium chloride you have inside your brine tank. The potassium chloride should be at least three inches above the water line at all times, although you may find that you can keep less in there if you find a residue on the sides. It is a good idea to check your levels every couple of weeks at first, until you know how much potassium chloride you are using.

Your valves are a necessary component of your potassium chloride water softener, and you will want to turn them from one position to the other and back again once a month. This will ensure that they will turn easily when you need to cut off the water supply to your softener. This is also the time to clean the valve between the brine tank and the resin tank. To clean that valve, you will need to disassemble it first, but make sure that you relieve the water pressure before taking anything apart. If you notice that any of these valves are leaking, this would be the best time to replace the washers or seals.

The resin in your potassium chloride water softener is what helps soften your water, and you will want to keep it functioning properly. A water softener cleaner can be added every few months prior to a regeneration to keep the resin in optimal form.

New potassium chloride softeners do not need to be cleaned often, but they can benefit from an annual cleaning and so can your homes water. To clean your potassium chloride water softener, you will need to close off the water intake and take all the water out of the tank. Then you will remove all the potassium chloride and scrub the inside of the brine tank with hot soapy water. After the tank has been thoroughly rinsed out, you should sanitize the tank with a mixture of water and bleach.

Keeping this maintenance schedule will allow your potassium chloride water softener to continue working for many years, as it provides you with softer water.

At Reynolds Water Conditioning Company, we are here to help make sure our clients don’t buy water treatment systems that they don’t need. We are here to make sure you find a water softening system that gives you the results you are looking for, whether it is to remove iron or odor from you water; we have a solution that will help! For more information contact our experts at 800.572.9575 or at our website https://reynoldswater.com.

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Increase Water Quality With A Water Filtration System

Health care experts advise people to drink at least 8 full 8 oz. glasses of plain water every day to stay hydrated. This is important because the human body is two-thirds water and without an adequate supply of fresh, clean drinking water your body will be at risk. Most homes in the United States are either hooked up to a municipal water source or localized well water.

Unfortunately, just because the water source is supposed to be safe and healthy to drink, there have been issues in the past whereas one or more of the water sources like a water well was contaminated. If this is a fear you have then there is something that you can do to prevent your family from drinking contaminated water without any knowledge that it is happening.

One solution would be to have a full house water filtration system or one that attaches to the faucet and filters the water before it comes out. Most water filtration systems work by having the water flow through some type of media material that is designed to trap even the tiniest of contaminants present in the water. There are several different types of water filtration systems and each one works in a unique way to clean the water and prevent you from being contaminated.

5 Different Types of Water Filtration Systems

Activated Carbon Filter Systems

Activated carbon filters or carbon filters for short work trapping suspended particles in the water and also helps to absorb chlorine and other chemicals that after often responsible for causing the smelly odor in your water that comes out of the faucet. Most of the systems that use these type of filters make it possible for them to be replaced periodically.

Reverse Osmosis Filter System

This filter system works by forcing the water under pressure through a membrane that will only allow water to pass through it and nothing else. This is also why RO is used to convert seawater (saltwater) into drinkable freshwater. The RO filter is usually part of a total water filtration system.

Alkaline/Water Ionizer

One of the more popular health kicks these days is alkaline water. One of the reasons is because is being reported that many of the most common illnesses thrive in acidic conditions. By drinking only alkaline water, you reduce the acidity level within your body you could help to possibly prevent one or more of them.

UV Filters

Ultraviolet filters are used specifically for killing dangerous bacteria when present in a water supply. By exposing the water to ultraviolet radiation any bacteria will be killed without having to use dangerous chemicals or heating up the water. This type of filter is also typically found as part of a multiple stage filtration system.

Infrared Filters

This type of filtration system combined heat and electricity to filter and soften the water by negatively charging the water to change its molecular structure. These type of filters work a lot like Alkaline and Water Ionizers.

At Reynolds Water Conditioning Company, we are here to help make sure our clients don’t buy water treatment systems that they don’t need. We are here to make sure you find a water softening system that gives you the results you are looking for, whether it is to remove iron or odor from you water; we have a solution that will help! For more information contact our experts at 800.572.9575 or at our website https://reynoldswater.com.

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6 Reasons Why You Should Consider Reverse Osmosis

Many homeowners are looking into reverse osmosis water treatment as a useful method for treating contaminated drinking water. RO is probably best known for its use in turning seawater into actual drinking water however, it’s also an effective way for treating water quality problems your home might be facing. Having a reverse osmosis water system in your home can reduce how much bacteria, particulates, and other common things found in contaminated drinking water so that you drink only clean water. Here are a few reasons why you’ll want to get a reverse osmosis water filtration for your home:

High Quality, Drinkable Water

Water that has been treated using a reverse osmosis water filtration system is totally drinkable and some cities actually use this treatment when there’s too much saltwater in the water. You’ll be able to taste the difference in the cleaner water since there are no impurities that will give your home’s water a funny taste.

Increased Peace of Mind

If you live in an area that’s plagued with issues in the water, getting a reverse osmosis water system will make you feel better about the water you drink. It can make a lot of sense and is a great option for removing trace minerals in your water.

Decreases Sodium in Your Water

If your home has a water softener, a reverse osmosis water filtration system will reduce sodium in softened water. This way you enjoy the benefits of both soft water and purified water.

No Need for Bottled Water

When your water is filtered with a reverse osmosis water system, you no longer have to spend money on bottled water since your water is cleaner. This will also reduce plastic waste while also saving you money in the long run.

Better Tasting Food

The impurities in the water you have at home can affect the taste of the food you make, but that won’t happen when your home has its own reverse osmosis water filtration system.

Clearer Ice

Have you ever wondered why your ice cubes look cloudy? That’s because of all the impurities in the water. Having a reverse osmosis water filtration system in place will give you crystal clear ice cubes, which is an indication of cleaner water.

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Troubleshooting Your Homes Water Supply

No matter where your homes water comes from, a well, a spring, or the city, problems can exist. Individual water quality issues are fixed with distinct water treatment solutions. It is our job to help determine what solution will work best in treating and eliminating your homes water issue. From hardness to foul smells, we have a solution to bring you high quality water throughout your home. There are several issues that are commonly found in water throughout Michigan homes.

Common issues with your waters quality:

Hardness
Foul Odors and Taste
Mineral Buildup
Acidic
Arsenic

Hard Water:

Most often homeowners don’t know that they have hard water. What they do know is that there are spots on their glassware, laundry appears dingy, increased usage of soap, change in the texture of hair and skin, increased energy costs, and scale build up on faucets and such. Homes affected by a hard water supply have plumbing that tends to age quicker than those who seek to soften the water. The most common way to treat hard water in your homes water supply is with the installation of a high-quality water softener.

Foul Odors and Taste:

Foul odors and strange tasting water is something extremely noticeable to homeowners. Water can taste unpleasant metallic, chlorine, or can smell awful like rotten eggs, when this occurs one of the most common treatment options that is suggested is using an activated carbon filtration system. Backwashing carbon filtration systems are a combination of a large filter filled with activated carbon media. This removes foul tastes and odors from your whole house water supply leaving you with high quality water throughout the home.

Mineral Buildup:

Homeowners may not notice that they have an accumulation of minerals taking place within their water supply. The most common symptoms of a build up of iron and magnesium include unpleasant metal taste, staining, reddish tinted water, odors, and rust particles in the water. The treatment for a mineral buildup is the installation and usage of an iron filter system.

Acidic:

When the porcelain surfaces start to turn from white and ivory to green and blue green there is an issue with acidic water, low ph within the water. What this means is that your water supply has acid in it which is causing a corrosion of your pipes and plumbing fixtures. The fix for the issue of acidic water is with an acid neutralizer using Calcite.

Arsenic:

Arsenic is an element found naturally within ground water. Arsenic within your homes water supply can cause adverse health effects even in low concentrations as it is a carcinogen at high concentrations. In order to remove arsenic from your water supply homeowners should install an arsenic reduction system.

All water supplies need to be treated on an individual basis as symptoms can also be masked by other occurrences within the water supply. Free water analysis is done to diagnosis the issues that are found within your homes water to ensure that the treatment options is specific for your water needs.

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Water Treatment Systems Improve Water Quality

There are a variety of water purification systems that can be used to improve the quality of the drinking water throughout your home. To determine what type of water treatment system your home needs it is important to understand the qualities that each system offers in increasing water quality. Professional water analysis can be done on your homes water to provide you with a more accurate look into the actual issues plaguing your water supply, from rust to arsenic, your drinking water could be affected.

Using the right system to purify the water in your home can help to keep your family healthy. It is common knowledge that we need eight glasses of water or more each day to maintain personal health; purer, cleaner water dispensed from the faucets in your home help to increase the water that is consumed by your family daily.

There is a major difference between water softeners, conditioners, filtration systems and purification. It is important to understand that water purification solutions leave valuable minerals in your water supply while eliminating harmful elements that may not be seen or smelt. Hard water and smelly water issues are not solved with the installation of a purification system however common contaminants such as chlorine, cryptosporidium spores, giardia cysts, viruses, and pharmaceuticals are eliminated.

Not all water needs to be purified so it is crucial to understand the issues with your homes water before purchasing a water treatment system. Water purification systems go a long way in removing common contaminates that may alter your health. They can be installed so that they treat the entire supply of water throughout your home or specific areas where water is supplied.

Water softeners unlike water purification systems bring homeowners high quality drinking water by removing iron, rust, odor, sediment, and smells. Softeners remove the minerals that make the water hard. Some of the symptoms that your home could benefit from the use of a water softener is dry skins, smelly water, staining, and clogged plumbing. Water softeners are installed treating the homes entire water supply. Water softeners can use salt or potassium chloride using a process of ion exchange.

The water treatment option that is used to bring you quality water will be determined by your water analysis. There are times when a homes water supply will need more than one treatment solution to bring families quality water. Hard water can contain contaminants that a water softener will not remove thus a water purification or filtration system needs to be installed either at the point of entry (whole house) or point of use (faucet).

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3 Signs You May Need a Water Softener

Are you noticing stains in your kitchen sink? Is your skin dry and itchy? These are both signs that you might have an issue with hard water. The fix for hard water is most often the installation of a whole house water softener. The installation of a water softening system will improve the natural life of the plumbing within the home, your appliances, your clothing and more.

A water softening system are designed to take out an increase in calcium and magnesium ions be means of an exchange with either sodium or potassium ions. After this occurs the softening unit will regenerate and cleanse the systems of excess ions until they have been rejuvenated with new sodium or potassium ions. It is important to know the level of your waters hardness when setting up the rate at which your family uses water. It is important that the water you use every day is replenished in order to keep the build up of scale within your plumbing at a minimum while helping to improve your water heaters lifespan.

Here are some signs to help you determine if you need a new water softener installed or an older water softener replaced:

There is build up on appliances:

Can you see mineral deposits forming on coffee pot, the dishwasher, or other appliances? If you can visually see this scale occurring, then image what is happening inside the pipes where you cannot see. This scale will clog your homes plumbing and make it so that the water is not passing through the pipes as intended. Hard water brings on a buildup of scale, eventually creating inefficient plumbing. The hard, chalky substance, scale, is created from a build up of calcium and magnesium bicarbonate. The technology within water softener systems helps reduce the scale build up with ions exchange technology.

Dry skin and hair:

Extra calcium and magnesium salts within your homes water causes itchy, dry skin and hair. This is not something that can be overcome with soap and shampoo. When the build up is too much the water will no longer bring nourishment to your skin and instead it dries it out. The extra minerals found in the unsoftened water create an environment that doesn’t allow soap to be completely removed from the skin.

Clothing, sheets and blankets:

Are the fabrics within your home looking faded and feeling scratchy on your skin? This can be do to hard water which contains an excess amount of mineral substances. It will not matter what kind of laundry soap, softener, or fabric sheets are used while doing laundry, if you are doing your wash in untreated, unsoftened water. The installation of the right water softener for your home and water can change this.

If you sense an issue with your homes water, it is probably time to have the water tested. A professional water conditioning company will do a detailed analysis of the water coming into your home and prepare a report offering water treatment solutions to fix the issues with the water in your home.

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What Is the Best Filtration System for me?

Quality water throughout your home is immensely beneficial from a health perspective and therefore should be free of harmful containment’s before consumption or use. One way that this can be done is through the use of a whole house water filtration system. In order to be sure that you install the proper filtration device for the water coming into your home it is important to hire a professional water company to analyze your current water supply. The experts will then assist you in determining the system that is the most effective, most durable, and most affordable.

There are a number of factors to consider when looking to choose the right filtration system for your home. The primary factors that experts will be looking into are:

How effectively the filter system removes contaminants?
How advanced the contamination removal technology is?
How affordable the filtration system is?

Contaminants

Through research on contaminants and how filtration systems work homeowners can see how different filtration products are meant to filter out different types on contaminants. It is helpful for homeowners and water quality experts to identify the contaminants that are existent in the water before they move forward with the decision-making process. The water quality report is helpful in determining what kind of water is currently coming into your home. Once the contaminants inside the water are narrowed down, the filtration system choice will be narrowed down further.

Contamination Removal Technology

Most water filtration systems that are used to improve the quality of water coming into your home use similar technology. It is important that homeowners keep in mind that even though similar not all filtration technologies are created equally. Carbon filter systems, for example, come in different levels of effectiveness and generally remove contaminants like asbestos, Mercury, and chlorine from the water. Mechanical filters can assist in removing different types of sediment however will not influence chemical contaminates. Similarly, water softening units use ion exchange technology in order to lower the magnesium and calcium levels but do not have an effect on most other contaminants.

Affordability

As with any and all home improvements, cost is one of the primary determinants in the decision. Water conditioning companies, like Reynolds Water Conditioning, will present a variety of systems that meet the homeowners needs. The cost of filtration will vary significantly between filtration systems depending on the options the systems offer above and beyond the filtration benefits. Higher end filtration units may offer other benefits such as softening, purification, and conditioning therefore will be more expensive then systems that encompass only the filtration of the water in the home. If a whole house water filtration system proves to be too costly and under the sink water filtration unit is another option for quality drinking water.

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Benefits of Point-Entry and Point-of-Use Water Systems

Safe drinking water is a concern to most homeowners. Even with existing laws and regulations in place that strive to ensure that everyone has access to clean water many homes have water supplies that are lacking in quality. Measures are often put into place, by homeowners, to increase the quality of the water coming into homes with extra attention being given to the filtration and purification of drinking water.

There are multiple water treatment systems that are available to homeowners, each with their own unique abilities to increase the quality of the water supply in your home. Two such systems include point of use and point of entry water treatment systems. Both types of systems are used to soften, condition, purify, or filter that water supply and can be installed for both residential and commercial use.

Using a Point Of Entry Water System

Point of entry water treatment systems connect directly to your homes water line. A water softener is one type of point of entry water treatment system. The water softener acts as a central filtration station for the water that is distributed to your entire home or office. Often a point of entry system is referred to as a whole-house solution for smelly water, hard water, or water with a high mineral count. These systems are used to remove bad tastes, foul odors, and contaminated before the water reaches your kitchen, bathroom, laundry, or irrigation systems.

Point Of Use System Differnces

On the other hand, a point of use system is installed directly at the source of water retrieval such as out door spickets, kitchen faucets, bathroom sinks, and showers. Most homeowners choose a point of use system in addition to a point of entry system. For instance, if your homes water has been found to have high levels of arsenic in it a point of use system arsenic removal system can be installed to prevent arsenic from entering your drinking water where as the water in your showers is fine to use even with low levels of arsenic. Point of use water treatment systems are often cheaper than point of entry systems as they are only being used to provide filtration to one source.

Benefits of Using Either Option For Water Treatment

There are multiple benefits that homeowners receive from using point of entry and point of use water treatment systems.

Point of use and point of entry filtration systems help keep your home safe from contaminants and chemicals that are found at the water source. Installing both systems will help ensure the water is free of contamination both from the source and just before it’s expelled from your tap.
A point of use filtration system can work well in isolation and it is an economical filtration system which can only be installed at a single water outlet.
When used together, point of use and point of entry systems can help ensure that you and your family have maximum protection from water contaminants which can cause illnesses. Adding a water softener into the system guarantees that your water is not just safe for consumptions but adequate for other use such as bathing and cleaning.

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Water Softener vs Water Filtration

When it comes to treating the water that comes into your home we know that you have a lot of questions and concerns. With the number of options available in treating residential water quality it can become quite difficult to differentiate between the products available and their purpose. The question we get most often is regarding the difference between water filtration and water softening. In this installment we will look at the differences and how you know what the best option for your home is. Of course, as always FREE water analysis is available through Reynolds Water Conditioning Co; our experts will better be able to evaluate your need in person.

Let’s start by looking at what each system is and what it offers to the quality of water that you will end up with using each specific water treatment option.

Water Softeners

Water softeners are installed to soften the water within your home. They are designed to remove only that materials and containments within the water that create hard water including magnesium and calcium. Two general types of water softening units exist: water softeners that use salt to chemically modify the water and those that use potassium, otherwise known as salt-free water softeners.

Water Filtration

Water filtration is a general term used to describe many different options in removing contaminants from water including rust, iron, arsenic, copper, sediment, pesticides, and even hormones that enter water supplies through industrial or pharmaceutical waste. There are two types of systems to consider in water filtration: whole house filtration and point-of-use water filtration systems.

Although similar in nature you can see how each uses specific technology to improve the quality of water. What option(s) you choose will depend on your specific water quality. Some homeowners may find that even after they have installed a water filtration unit they are still left with hard water. The water quality may be better but still hard affecting their skin, appliances, clothing, and so forth. In this case the best option may be to install a whole house water softener with a point-of-use water filtration system to maximize your homes water quality.

Do You Have Issues With Your Water?

If you suspect issues with your homes water quality, does it smell bad, stain, or create residue build up, or have recently found out through a home inspection that the quality of the water entering your home is sub-par it is imperative that you reach out to the water quality experts at Reynolds Water Conditioning Company.

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What Type of Water Treatment System Does Your Home Need?

In today’s world where we are surrounded by all sorts of impurities, filtered water is becoming a necessity. Our health is largely based on the amount of high quality drinking water we take in every day. It is crucial that the water we are drinking does not contain harmful chemicals, pollutants, parasites, organic waste, and other imperfections. There are several ways that one can go about procuring drinking water such as buying bottled water, but a better long run solution is to treat the water that is entering your home. It is also crucial that water treatment systems are maintained and running efficiently to ensure the quality of your families drinking water.

How Water Softeners Work

A water softener is a water treatment device that uses chemical methods to reduce the level of hardness of water. Depending on the type of water flows into your home you may need to use a water softener to ensure that your family’s water is free of excess minerals and elements that cause damage. A professionally installed water softener can drastically remove the hardness factor of the water entering your home and can transform it into soft, safe, usable water.

Hard water is not only harmful to ingest it can give you a tough time with cleaning, washing, soap removal, and maintaining health. If the hardness is removed from the water sufficiently then the soft water that is produced in the process will be as good as any other natural soft water.

Using Additional Iron Filters

A whole house water softener with an additional iron filter can be effective in purifying your water and improving your health. When your home or business has extremely hard water, a water softener with an iron filter can most often take care of the problem. These units are unlike regular activated carbon filters. They are specifically designed to remove iron and when the filter is full it flushes the iron deposits down the drain and begins the process over again. This seems to be a more common occurrence with drilled wells than municipal water sources.

Iron deposits in the water table often find their way into wells. The amount in water can vary a great deal from different areas. Some areas only have a trace amount of iron while neighboring wells could be producing orange-tinted water that leaves stains on fixtures with in the home. Water softeners that use additional iron filters remove toxic, heavy metals from drinking water. These systems are highly recommended for their ability to effectively block iron, Sulphur, manganese, sediment, and turbidity from water. Before choosing a system, it is crucial to have your homes water tested by a professional water treatment company.

Using Reverse Osmosis to Treat Water

Another option to treat water is reverse osmosis. A reverse osmosis water softening system uses hydraulic pressure is put on the water to act against the osmotic pressure naturally occurring in water. Purified water is then collected on the lower part of the membrane. This three-stage process purifies water, renders it clean, softens water, and then adds necessary minerals that add an amicable taste to the water.

Reverse osmosis water softener produces purified water containing no salts, sugars, ions or molecules that have been dissolved before filtration. With this method water will not have the same pleasant taste of other types of filtration. Over 97% of the hardness in water passed through reverse osmosis water softener is removed by the process. The most vital function of this filtration system is that it kills the bacteria and germs in the water.

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