Are you considering having a water softener installed in your home? Since you’re spending so much time at home due to lockdown you might have noticed how bad your water supply is. It can also leave limescale on all of your taps. The answer is a water softener. 

But how do you go about picking water softeners to include in your home? And which ones work best? 

Thankfully there are some greater water softener features out there that make buying softeners online an Aladdin’s Cave in terms of choice and design.

Here’s everything you need to know.

1. Soft Water vs Hard Water

One of your first questions might well be what is the point in buying a water softener or having water treatment at all? 

Most Americans have hard water. This is where there are leftover minerals or residue left in the water. This means the water leaves limescale all around the taps which look akin to rust. 

When you go for a shower and use shampoo it may not lather up as quickly. And in general, the water is more acidic than it should be. Some beautify experts have suggested washing your hair with bottled mineral water to resolve this issue.

To resolve these issues you have your water softened or purified of all the added minerals that you find in hard water. 

2. Reverse Osmosis: Under the Sink and Out of Sight

One day, sooner than you think, we’ll all be able to purify water using sunlight. Until then reverse osmosis is the next best thing. It’s a system that many Asian countries use to purify their water as water is often not regulated or filtered by the government. These come as standalone appliances with their own tap, separate from the tap you’d use for your washing up. 

Or they can be attached under the sink or to your shower to filter the water before you use it. 

Attaching a reverse osmosis machine to under your sink is easy. All it requires is for you to attach the taps to your sink. 

This is a much better solution than having a complicated water softener installed which might require you to hire a plumber to install it. 

3. Resin 

One of the issues with a traditional water softener is that it collects the additional minerals that build up in hot water. These minerals have to be stored somewhere. And they generally end up in a resin bed.

To get rid of this, you need to clean your traditional water softener regularly with a special water softener salt that will regenerate your water supply when you are not using it. If this sounds like a lot of effort then you might want to consider a reverse osmosis machine instead.

Picking Water Softeners: Depends On Your Needs

Picking water softeners is not an easy task, it depends on your need as a household. Questions you need to consider are whether you are happy having a plumber install a new system in your home or you want to use a reverse osmosis machine that you can install yourself.

If you have a young family then you might also be worried about the impact of hard water on their skill and general well-being.

If you are interested in reading more about picking water softeners or how you should go about comparing water softners then be sure to check out our site for more information.