Water softening and purification systems. Softening of water in a cottage and houses, the filter for softening of water. Installation of water softeners - help in the fight against hardness

The problem of hard water is much more serious than it might seem at first glance.

An increased concentration of calcium and magnesium salts in water significantly reduces its organoleptic and taste qualities, poses a certain danger to human health, leads to the rapid failure of plumbing, household appliances, heating systems and a number of other unpleasant consequences.

And to remove hydrogen sulfide - there are several ways, you can learn more and evaluate their effectiveness at the link:

Technologies used for water softening

Thermal water treatment method

Simply put, this is a normal boil.

A good example is the deposition of salts on the inner surface of a constantly used kettle - the dissolved salts turn into a hard fraction, and the water itself softens.

It should be remembered that this method is effective only for the so-called temporary hardness due to the concentration of calcium or magnesium bicarbonates - thermal exposure causes their splitting, and it does not affect sulfides and chlorides (permanent hardness).

This method is usually used on an industrial scale, carrying out the purification of process water for, for example, boiler houses or thermal power plants.

Reagent softening

The name speaks for itself - to soften water, it is added to it or it is passed through special substances that cause a chemical reaction with the precipitation of salts into a solid precipitate.

Usually, slaked lime or soda is used for these purposes. This technology is most often used on a large scale, for example, in urban water treatment plants. Water softened in this way undergoes obligatory settling, filtration, and only then it is supplied to consumers.

By the way, housewives have been using this technology for a long time, adding soda or even stove ash to the water.

Today, a classic example is the addition of special powder or liquid preparations to the washing machine, or the installation of cartridge filters with a special crystalline filling at the entrance to household appliances.

Dialysis Technology

Purification is carried out by separating substances dissolved in water with different molecular weights under the influence of an electromagnetic field. The separation of salt ions from water occurs in the process of its diffusion through special nano-membranes (nitro- or cellulose acetate).

Of all the technologies, dialysis provides the highest quality desalination, water is close to distilled, since not only hardness salts are removed, but almost everything dissolved in it.

The method is not used for domestic purposes, partly because of the high cost and complexity of installations and consumables (membranes), and due to the fact that excessively demineralized water is unsuitable for everyday use.

Magnetic processing method

This state-of-the-art technology significantly reduces scale formation when treated water is heated.

There are several scientific hypotheses that explain this phenomenon, but the fact is that after the liquid passes through a magnetic field, salt crystallization occurs not on the heating elements, but in the water column, and the formed solid substrate is easily removed by simple washing.

A similar method has become widespread in industry and the public utilities sector - devices attached to pipes are quite inexpensive, non-energy intensive, and require practically no operating costs. The production of electromagnetic softeners and household class has been mastered.

Ion exchange technology

The most widely used method at present. The principle of replacing calcium or magnesium atoms with atoms of a more active metal (sodium), whose salts do not cause water hardness, is used. For this, most often, special artificial cation exchangers are used - ion-exchange resins with a high sodium content.

Resins for softening are quickly saturated with magnesium and calcium ions, but the uniqueness of the method is that they can be easily regenerated under the influence of sodium chloride, common salt. In this case, the released magnesium and calcium ions are washed off into the drainage, and the ion-exchange medium restores its functionality.

On industrial and domestic water softening installations, a regeneration device of one or another principle of ion exchange is necessarily provided.

This significantly reduces operating costs - salt filling is incomparably cheaper than ion-exchange components.

Technical implementation of water softening in domestic water supply systems

What softening methods, in addition to banal boiling or manually adding special chemicals to water, are used at the household level.

Magnetic water softeners

Relatively inexpensive and do not require preventive intervention during their operation. A good solution as a water softener filter for a house, cottage or apartment.

The principle is the creation of a powerful magnetic field at the inlet of water into household appliances. They can be equipped with permanent magnets or run on AC power.

Structurally, they can be a cylinder with threaded connections at both ends. It simply cuts into the pipe as close as possible to the point of water consumption. A simpler option is two half-cylinders fastened on the pipe body in the right place.

Electromagnetic softeners have a power supply and control unit and a working part, which is also fixed on the body of the water pipe like a clamp or coil. Their electricity consumption is minimal, within 5–15 W, and the working life declared by the manufacturer is 10 years or more.

On the Internet, you can find an advertisement for the Magnolia softener-calciner, which is a plastic ribbed ball with powerful magnets inside. According to the instructions, it is simply placed in the washing drum or on the dishwasher rack for the duration of the work.

Softeners-filters cartridge type

Such filters are produced, most often, in a standard size, have a transparent flask into which a replaceable cartridge is installed.

Commonly used resin cartridges with high ion exchange capacity.

The resulting purified water is applicable both for technical needs (laundry, washing dishes, taking water procedures) and for food purposes.

The disadvantage of such a system is a rather small resource of the cartridge without the possibility of its recovery.

Thus, a water softening cartridge for a standard 10″ filter is designed for either 4000 liters or six months of operation (whichever comes first), and then must be replaced unconditionally.

The second option is compact filters with a large crystalline filling of a partially soluble reagent.

Usually sodium polyphosphate is used for this purpose. It should be noted that the action of the reagent is aimed, rather, not at actually softening the water, but at preventing the appearance of scale buildup. Polyphosphate crystals, dissolving in water, create a thin protective film on the heating elements and tank walls, which does not allow scale to harden on them.

As the backfill is consumed, it is simply added to the filter.

The main disadvantage is that water that has undergone such treatment is unsuitable for food consumption.

Such devices are installed directly in front of the cold water inlet to washing machines, boilers, showers, etc.

Ion exchange plants

They are also called ion exchange columns because of their characteristic vertical layout. Structurally, they are a polymeric, fiberglass-reinforced tank with an ion-exchange resin through which the treated water is passed.

For regeneration, there is a special container into which consumables are poured - tableted salt for water softening. This is a common high-purity edible salt with a characteristic shape given to it to prevent caking and increase the area of ​​active dissolution.

Periodically, the filtration mode switches to the regeneration mode, during which the brine is passed through the main filter tank by reverse current. The liberated magnesium and calcium ions are removed into the drainage drain.

Most modern installations have multiprocessor control of operating modes. The activation of regeneration can occur both by time, for example, at night hours set by the user, and by water consumption.

The electronic system records and analyzes water consumption, and independently decides whether to turn on the recovery mode. Human intervention is limited to the timely replenishment of the salt backfill.

Some expensive installations may have two filtration circuits - when one is in regeneration, it is possible to use the other.

Ion-exchange columns can vary significantly both structurally and in size, performance, degree of process automation, and other parameters.

Even the largest model is able to provide the average family with purified water for any need - the productivity is about 1-1.5 m³ / h. The active service life of the resin filler, subject to the rules of operation, can be from 3 to 10 years.

The cost of installations and filters for water softening

Prices for water softeners can not be called low, and for ion exchange columns, they can generally seem intimidating.

However, if we take into account all the risks of using hard water, financial losses from its daily use and from the failure of household appliances, then the acquisition of a high-quality installation becomes quite understandable.

Salts of calcium and magnesium, present in excess in running water, create many problems. Peeling of the skin, dandruff, itching are some of the few unpleasant consequences of contact with hard water.

This is due to the reaction of water with gel or soap and other detergents, as a result of which a thin indelible crust forms on the skin, leading to drying and peeling of the skin. Water softeners will help to cope with these problems.

Negative effects of hard water

In addition to skin problems, hard water poses a risk to human health and the fact that salts cause overgrowth of the inner surface of pipes. Why not only taste changes, but also has a negative effect on the digestive organs. Long-term use of liquids with a high salt content leads to problems of the cardiovascular system, the formation of kidney stones, and joint diseases.

In addition to health problems, hard water adds trouble at the household level. It clogs the working bodies of appliances that are inextricably linked with the use of water, for example, a washing machine, dishwasher, kettle, boiler. Magnesium and calcium salts settle on the heating elements of the equipment, forming scale, which disables the equipment in a short time.

Ways to reduce stiffness

Modern technologies allow softening stiffness in different ways. By type of work, water softeners can be divided into chemical, physical and ion-exchange. Currently, chemical softening filters are rarely used, due to the high costs of reagents and disposal of waste material to the sewer. Such devices are in demand in many industries.

Physical, or, as they are also called, nanofiltering, hardness reduction devices create a magnetic field, due to which calcium and magnesium salt ions are charged with another charge. In this case, the salt concentration remains unchanged, but the possibility of scale formation decreases for a while. Such filters are quite popular in everyday life, but they are significantly inferior in technical characteristics to ion-exchange ones.

Filtration by ion exchange

The most preferred and affordable are ion-exchange water softeners, as they have an excellent ratio of price to high quality cleaning. The principle of operation lies in the reaction of the ion exchange resin with salts, after which the dissolved calcium and magnesium ions are replaced by sodium ions, which do not create solid deposits, scale, or health problems.

Ion exchange softeners have gained wide popularity in the home due to their low cost and ease of installation. One filling of resin, which is responsible for the reactions, is enough for many years, but over time it loses its effectiveness, because sodium ions are lost. How to fix this depends on the design of the filter device.

Regeneration of cartridges for ion exchange filters

In most cases, a new cartridge will be required to replace an already ineffective resin, but some water softeners allow the solution to be regenerated. In this case, the spent cartridge must be removed, disassembled, washed and filled with a mixture that can be easily prepared at home. The restorative composition is made from salt, soda and citric acid, which are mixed in certain proportions. The regeneration process itself takes about 10-12 hours, and during this time it is better to have a spare cartridge so as not to be left without high-quality water.

Water softeners

There are several main types of water softeners, which differ in volumes and filtration methods:

• The cheapest, but having many technical inconveniences, are pitcher filters. They have a high quality ion exchange resin cartridge that needs frequent replacement or regeneration.
• Reverse osmosis filters that soften and purify the liquid to a distilled state.

Automatic water softeners are installed permanently on the main line and can be used for large volumes. Such devices can save an apartment or a country house from problems with salts.

Before purchasing a softening device, it is important to analyze the liquid, which will help to develop a not very expensive, but effective system.

Device Categories

Depending on the mode of operation, electronic water softeners are divided into the following categories:

Also softening installations can differ in the type of construction. Cabinet-type filters are the most compact, but have a small capacity. The brine tank is located inside the housing. The filter, in which the salt tank is located separately from the cylinder, they can purify a larger amount of water.

Installation of water softeners - help in the fight against hardness

Water is a vital resource for any person; not only good mood and cheerfulness, but also health depend on its quality. Modern technologies provide many opportunities to improve the quality of drinking water through the installation of softening systems. Before you buy one or another system, you should carefully understand the classification of devices and the principles of their operation. This will make it possible to choose the best option that will work with the highest performance.

It should be remembered that the softener requires costs not only during purchase and installation, but also during operation. This does not mean that you should refuse to purchase it, just that you need to study all the necessary information before making a decision.

Today, the market offers a variety of water softeners, reviews of which are positive from many users. So, buyers note that after purchasing an ion exchange column, the problem with a metallic taste of water disappears. In addition, the skin after bathing stops peeling and itching. Many users like the ease of installation of the device and the fact that it does not take up much space. Some say that you can place a column under the sink in the kitchen, there will be enough space for it there.

In a private house, the consumption of water resources is much higher than in an ordinary, standard apartment. Moreover, the number of people can live the same here and there, but water consumption will still be higher in a private house. And such a large area requires water with higher quality. This is important, because potential objects will have more water consumption. And a cleaner like cottage water softener will become a reliable assistant in the household.

Softener consumption objects and their water requests

In an apartment, counting consumer devices is not difficult. Yes, and the scale will be significantly different. After all, the apartment can accommodate a maximum of several guests with an overnight stay. In a private house, people can spend the night with families, staff can spend the night. And so, the house has more territory, more consumers and more various decorations that also consume water. For comparison, the objects of water consumption in an apartment and a house in the form of a list.

A private house is often built for this, bought in order to afford what was not available in the apartment. Own bathhouse, pool - these are also significant items of expenditure and water consumption. And hardness spoils not only the heating elements of expensive household appliances when boiled. She leaves her extremely negative mark both in the pool and on the wooden boards of the bath. If you buy a water softener for a cottage, this is the only way to solve this problem cheaply.

Water poisoned with lime has many flaws, and they will all appear at the most inopportune moment. In addition to the fact that lime under the influence of temperature easily turns into plaque, at first, loosely lying, and then so dense that it resembles a stone. This coating does not transmit heat well and does not interact well with any soap lye.

Which water softener filters do not use chemicals, reagents and salt in their work? These are magnetic and electromagnetic water softeners. Their use is expedient because of the price, profitability and environmental safety.

1. Magnetic softener (water changer)

2. Electromagnetic water softener AquaShield

Moreover, deposits appear on the surfaces of any and even without heating the water. They just come together a little slower than with stimulating heat. And the tanks of heating boilers and tiles in the pool will suffer from such an influence. It's no wonder pool cleaning gets so much attention. And there are several reasons for this:

• Water may be swallowed in the pool;
• A fungus can earn in the pool;
• May trigger allergies.

The determining factors of such problems are not only the quality of the water itself, but also the quality of its purification. A simple example can be given. Water can be taken from a primary above-ground source. Most likely, disinfection will become a big cleaning problem. The easiest way to clean water from bacteria is with the help of commonplace chemicals. Much is not required for this, just a chloride solution. You don't need to prepare anything special. The concentration is calculated, added to the water and after a few minutes you can already swim in the water.

Chlorine, once dissolved in water, can continue to fight bacteria. For another half an hour, he regularly works as a disinfectant. But at the same time, it is worth putting a little more chlorine solution, and a person who constantly bathes in such water may develop an allergy. If it is already there, then chloride water easily activates it. Eyes will be irritated, in general, a lot of unpleasant moments. Only healthy people do not really react to chlorine water, because. nothing threatens health.

Poor quality water will begin to corrode the wooden surfaces in the bath and sauna. From this, fungus can easily develop. Such a coating also needs to be carefully looked after. But the worst thing will be without those household appliances that heat water. It can even be a small barrel on the lid of the iron, but lime water can easily spoil it as a result. Scale builds up on surfaces very quickly. In the thermal power industry, scale thicker than 0.1 mm is prohibited. Moreover, the entire water supply system is stopped and maintenance work on flushing is started, or the system is completely disconnected from the water supply and a massive major cleaning is launched. After such treatments, the surfaces came into such a deplorable state that it could not be tolerated any longer. And humanity has been diligently looking for a way around, to solve this problem. So the prototypes of water softeners for the cottage began to appear. Only some wanted to just buy them, others tried to make them with their own hands. They were able to purify quickly and efficiently large volumes of water.

There are a lot of questions in private households regarding the quality of irrigation water. It is possible that it is not necessary to strongly purify such water, but it will be necessary to check. Any cleaning system begins with determining what exactly will have to be removed from the water column. You can’t save on the assessment, the price is not the most important thing here, it will provide the consumer with too much important information. How else can he know exactly how much iron salts are in the water? And such accuracy greatly affects the composition of the cleaning system. Yes, and the power of the devices will help determine only the analysis. An approximate selection of counterfeits is not suitable here. It will cost too much for the owner of the house!

The right choice of a water softener for a cottage is the key to success!

With so many points, places of use and consumption of water resources, softness issues become a stumbling block. If the owner does not pay much attention to the effect of calcareousness on his body, then it is impossible not to notice negative changes in the operation of household appliances. If a private house also has a boiler room, then it will not work without a water softener for the cottage. Too high a price to pay for such carelessness.

When heated, the salts form a precipitate. This coating has good, unlike other blocking insulating characteristics. Practically without passing heat, scale in the bud ruins all the work of heating water. But worst of all, surfaces and heating elements are subjected to massive overloads. Heat enters the water in a very small amount. Everything else, all heating is concentrated in the material of the heated element and or the heated shell. Not a single metal can be constantly heated, it goes into another state. That is, it either breaks, or it flows. This is how expensive household appliances break down. All because of a thin but dense coating.

Cleaning surfaces is too laborious and leaves traces after it, and traces are undesirable. Whether aggressive acid washing is used or whether the owner of the cottage cleans the surfaces with metal cutting tools, marks on the surfaces will remain. And very ugly and deep. It is generally dangerous to clean the heating element in this way. Because you can remove the protective layer and a short circuit will occur.

If you buy a water softener for a cottage, then very quickly and efficiently it solves all the problems stimulated by the poor quality of softening. The task of any such is to eliminate or neutralize lime salts. Actually, on this principle, the principle of dividing all ion-exchange softeners into chemical and physical softeners is built. The former require in their work restoration, replacement of cartridges, chemical stimulated reactions. The latter work without chemicals and on natural processes or by harmless irradiation. But which one to choose in your case and in your cottage?

For a cottage, it is better to select through a specialized company. Independent selection of the softener is possible only if the central water supply is used. If water is taken from your own well, then you will have to buy a softener and still go all the way, from water assessment to launching a full-fledged purification system.

I would like to note right away that choosing the right softener both in appearance and power, only after checking the condition of the water. The device is bought not for a month or two, this is a serious investment of money. And the price for such softeners starts from 30,000 rubles, which is not so little. And you need to invest them so that you do not regret later. Therefore, a mandatory item will be a water test. It will give an opportunity to understand what is contained in the water, in what volume. Of course, it is easier to make a water softener for a cottage with your own hands, it is cheaper than buying one. The composition and capacity of the future water treatment system will depend on this. But it also happens that water requires only the installation of a softener.

Video. How to make a magnetic water softener for your home and cottage with your own hands

Moreover, for such a large processing area, as in a private house, you will have to install more than one device. And the question is not even in the volumes of water served. The secret is rather in economic feasibility. Filters softeners after all happen for receiving drinking water, and happen and for water for other purposes. Those that give very high quality softening are expensive. And processing large volumes with their help can be costly. Therefore, complex cleaning from lime is most often used. To do this, it is enough to purchase only two water softeners in the cottage, although the device for drinking water may vary.

Video. Water softener recall

Most often, as a drinking purifier, it is better to buy an ion-exchange jug filter purifier. In such a device, a chemical reaction takes place. The inner cartridge is filled with small resin balls, which in turn is supersaturated with sodium ions. They easily come into contact with lime salts. A reaction occurs and sodium gives its place to salts. Thus, the cartridge is gradually contaminated until the sodium is completely washed out of it. Water, on the contrary, becomes useful, saturated with sodium salt. In such a cartridge version, the softener can be priced from 25,000 rubles. and can last 3-4 months, then the cartridge will have to be thrown away.

Electromagnetic softener

An electromagnetic softener works a little differently. It neutralizes water in the course of its work. By creating a powerful magnetic field, the filter converts the salts. Under its action, they only gently clean the clogged surfaces, without being deposited on them and the heating element. The water turns out to be soft, to the extent that is necessary for normal operation, without interruption of any household appliances and even a fuel boiler. An electromagnetic water softener is guaranteed to last 20 years without requiring maintenance manipulations, without replacing any important internal components, working on the strength of magnetic influence alone.

Application of filters and water softeners

Today, there is hardly a person who has not heard about hard water and ways to soften it. Hard drinking water, which comes to almost all apartments and houses through the central water supply and from underground sources used for autonomous water supply, contains a large amount of dissolved salts. Many of them degrade its quality and adversely affect heating appliances, water heaters and plumbing, leading to a noticeable decrease in their service life. In addition, excess hardness salts have a negative effect on the digestive organs and human teeth.

Fortunately, today there are many ways to extract calcium and magnesium salts from water. This procedure is carried out using different technologies, one of which is the use of special water treatment systems. Recently, these devices have become very popular, as this is the most inexpensive and effective cleaning method.

Such devices are used to neutralize the magnesium and calcium ions contained in the water, which are the cause of the well-known hardness. The use in filters - softeners of backfills based on ion-exchange resins makes it possible to eliminate stiffness or, as they say, to produce water softening . The working properties of the resin are restored by treating it with a solution based on table salt.

They are installed, as a rule, together with other cleaning filters, after iron removers and mechanical cleaning filters. Softeners can be designed with automatic and manual control valves to control the flushing process.
Of course, first of all, water softeners should be installed in places of public catering, because not a single visitor will be delighted with tea or coffee with traces of scale or a clear foreign aftertaste. They are also used in medical centers in order to protect the health of patients, and along with expensive instruments.
Filters for water softening, unlike, for example, filters for iron removal, have not a mechanical, but an ionic principle, using ion-exchange resins. The water softener filter useful in that it contains sodium ions. When hard water passes through the resin, it gives it divalent calcium and magnesium ions, and the resin in return gives water monovalent sodium ions. As a result, the amount of salts does not change, only the composition changes. And now, instead of hard salts of calcium and sodium, there will be sodium salts in the water, which are practically harmless due to the fact that they are not deposited anywhere. So there is a procedure called water softening.
There are two types of water softeners:
1. Intermittent filters
They are intended for softening and are used for domestic, household and food purposes, as well as for feeding heating systems.
Data water softeners consist of a fiberglass body laminated with polyethylene on the inside; control valve, filter element, drainage distribution system and regeneration tank.
The action of the softener is based on the exchange of hard magnesium and calcium ions for common salt ions through an ion exchange resin. The regeneration process is carried out by automatic flushing of the system with a solution of common table salt. In general, it is advisable to use special salt in tablets to prepare the solution, but in the absence of such, it is quite possible to use coarsely ground table salt, only without iodine content. The operation of such a system is fully automated, the maintenance consists only in monitoring that there is a sufficient amount of salt in the tank.
2. Continuous filters.
They are used in steam and boiler boiler houses, as well as factories and enterprises where there is a continuous production cycle. The devices consist of two filters with a single control unit and a saline tank. Only one filter is active at a working time. The second is either undergoing regeneration, or simply stands in standby mode. As soon as the built-in counter determines that the specified volume has passed, the control unit automatically switches them and puts the worker into regenerative mode, and the rester switches to work mode. The control unit allows you to fully customize all operating modes: resource volume, regeneration duration, flow power, etc. Cases are made of fiberglass, the inner surface is polyethylene. The softener is a strong acid resin with a high exchange coefficient. In the course of work with the help of Na-cation exchanger, hard cations are exchanged for sodium.
The hardness of tap water today averages 16,000 µg-eq/l. After passing through the filter, this figure decreases to an average of 75-100 mcg-eq/l, but upon repeated contact with the softener, this figure reaches 10-20 mcg-eq/l. Alkalinity after the process of sodium cationization almost does not change, only a slight increase in the dry residue, somewhere by 2-5%.
These performance calculations are based on the optimum filtration rate for each type.
Modern filters for softening water are environmentally friendly and are recommended by sanitary authorities. Thanks to them, it is really possible to soften water at home at an affordable price, moreover, this process does not require physical and time costs, the role of a person is practically reduced to zero. All that is required from the client is to call and place an order, everything else will be done by the employees of the seller.

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