7/5/2022
If you have a whole house water softener and you want to be able to use a water ionizer with your water softener you have a couple of different options to make this setup work. Read below to learn more about hard water, city water, well water, softened water, and using an ionizer with a whole house water softener.
What is hard water?
When rainwater falls it is soft water and completely void of minerals. When it is absorbed and flows into the ground the rainwater absorbs minerals like calcium and magnesium. Water that has a lot of minerals in it is considered hard water. Hard water is not harmful to your health, but it is not the best for your home. When hard ground water combined with heat flows through your pipes mineral scale buildup is left behind that can damage your appliances, pipes, and fixtures. The white buildup in the images below is mineral scale buildup, and it’s very hard to remove it without the use of acidic chemicals.
How is well water different from city water?
Some people who live in rural areas away from major cities may have a private well rather than water supplied and treated by a city municipality. Well water does not taste the same as city water, and it may even look and smell different and cause stains. City water is filtered and treated with disinfectants such as chlorine and chloramine. Fluoride and additional minerals (e.g. potassium and calcium) are also added. Well water is not treated with disinfectants, and it comes straight out of the ground. When you own a home with a private well, the safety and quality of the well water is the homeowner’s responsibility.
Well water is typically much harder water (e.g. more minerals) than city water since it comes straight from a well drilled into an underground aquifer. It may contain high amounts of iron which changes the taste of the water and causes hard to remove stains. Well water may contain naturally occurring Volatile Organic Compound (VOC) contaminants such as uranium, radon, and arsenic, which are dissolved in groundwater as it moves through soil and rock into underground aquifers. Irrigation water can carry nitrates down through the soil into groundwater, and nitrates pose a health risk to pregnant mothers and young children. Septic tanks located too close to a private well are another source of possible contamination. These are some of the reasons why testing well water yearly for contamination is important and why proper pre-filtration matters so much.
Typically to treat well water most rural homeowners will often use a water softener + reverse osmosis to remove hard water minerals - calcium, magnesium and iron, and remove VOC contaminants to make the water safe for drinking.
What does a water softener do?
A water softener removes calcium and and magnesium through a process called ion exchange. Calcium and magnesium ions are substituted with sodium ions. The calcium and magnesium stick to the water softener resin beads and are back flushed from the system with each water softener regeneration cycle which cleans the resin beads. Softened water prevents scale or mineral buildup in your pipes, water lines in kitchen appliances and washer, bathtubs, showers and sinks, fixtures and extends the life of your water heater. Other benefits are cleaner hair and softer skin, brighter and softer clothes, cleaner dishes and less time cleaning. Cold soft water also penetrates and dissolves better with soap which means more suds and a deeper lather for your body, clothes, and dishes. Softened water also helps prevent the loss of natural oils in your skin and hair.
As mentioned above water softeners remove mineral ions, but they do not remove contaminants such as bacteria or heavy metals like lead, mercury, or even iron. An excellent prefiltration system is also needed to reduce sodium and remove contaminants so you can drink the water.
Can I drink softened water?
Drinking softened water is not advised because of the high sodium (e.g. salt) content. Important minerals have been removed and substituted for sodium, and you already get more than enough daily salt intake from the food you eat. Americans consume on average about 3,400 milligrams (mg) of sodium per day. However, the dietary guidelines for Americans recommends adults limit sodium intake to less than 2,300 mg per day—that's equal to about 1 teaspoon of table salt!
Other considerations for how much salt is in your softened water completely depends on the hardness of your city or well water. The harder your water, the more sodium that is substituted for the minerals during the water softener ion exchange process.
How do I reduce the Sodium from a water softener?
There are different ways to get sodium out of your water. Some of the most popular ways are by using reverse osmosis system, by substituting potassium chloride for sodium chloride in your water softener, or by using simple distillation. Read more below to learn about each of these processes.
Reverse Osmosis (RO) is a mechanical process that drives a solvent across a semi-permeable membrane transferring it from a higher concentration of solute, to a lower concentration. This process will filter out unwanted molecules and large particles such as contaminants and sediments like chlorine, salt, and dirt from drinking water. You can use an RO system with remineralization to reduce the sodium (e.g. salt) of the softened water, and the remineralization step adds essential ionic minerals back in the RO water so this water can be used for pure drinking water or to make alkaline ionized water.
Potassium Chloride for water softeners is a low-sodium alternative to traditional water softener salts. They are made with with 99.1% pure potassium chloride, and these crystals contain low insoluble content to keep your water softener running smoothly. Potassium Chloride works in water softeners the same way that traditional water softener salt (e.g. sodium chloride) does by replacing hard water minerals through mineral ion exchange. The primary difference is that hard water minerals are replaced with potassium instead of sodium which is an essential ionic mineral in pure drinking water. This potassium chloride substitute will also help to make perfect alkaline ionizer water.
Simple Distillation is a process that involves the conversion of a liquid into vapor that is subsequently condensed back to liquid form. It is exemplified at its simplest when steam from a kettle becomes deposited as drops of distilled water is a on a cold surface. For example, if you distill sea water you can make purified drinking water because distillation will remove the majority of the salt (e.g. sodium) from the sea water. Distillation is also used to remove contaminants in water. When you heat the source water in the beaker the lower density steam rises and higher density particulates and contaminants ultra-concentrate at the bottom of the beaker and do not rise with the steam.
What system should I get with my water ionizer?
SOLUTION 1: If you have a whole house water softener and your GOAL is to have as many minerals in your source water with no additional plumbing and cost is not a problem use potassium chloride as a substitute for the sodium chloride in your water softener. Potassium Chloride is the easier solution but it’s going to be more expensive in the long run because each 40-pound bag is going to cost $30 - $40 each. You can put about 120 - 160 pounds of potassium chloride pellets in the water softener, and if you need 4 bags per month your monthly cost will be $160. Using potassium chloride will ensure your water has no addition salt added except for the salt that is naturally occurring in your source water. You do NOT need a reverse osmosis system, and your water ionizer will produce the best alkaline ionized water with the correct potential hydrogen (pH) levels infused with even more molecular hydrogen due to high mineral content (e.g. potassium, magnesium and calcium).
If you are still concerned about contaminants in your source water, and you do not have a pre-filter at or on top of your sink check out the world-class National Sanitation Foundation (NSF) certified Mutipure Aquaperform that can remove hundreds of contaminants from your source water including pharmaceuticals and microplastics.
SOLUTION 2: If you have a whole house water softener and your GOAL is to reduce the sodium and 1000+ contaminants in your water and use remineralization to add important minerals back in your water cost effectively then use a high-capacity reverse osmosis system with remineralization under your kitchen sink. You will want to use a high-capacity flow tankless RO system so the water pressure is high enough to flow water through your water ionizer quickly. You simply attach a remineralization cartridge / filter to the RO water line coming out from the RO system, and then you attach a water line to the output water line on the remineralization cartridge / filter and connect it to your clean water faucet. Once you have this done its easy to attach your water ionizer water in line to the clean water faucet head (see below).
Using this RO setup will add back in just the right amount of minerals for your water ionizer to work but the potential hydrogen (pH) levels will tend to be higher for alkaline water and lower for acidic water. For example, if you are making alkaline ionized water with the 9.5 pH setting on your water ionizer it will most likely be 10.3 - 10.75 pH. You can still drink this water, and if the higher pH causes any indigestion, it will be better to mix your alkaline ionized water with purified drinking water to reduce the pH to a level your body is used to. If you are making beauty water with the 6.0 pH setting on your water ionizer it will most likely be 3.0 - 3.8 pH. You can still use water for cleansing your face and skin hydration. In our own testing using a reverse osmosis system with remineralization has no effect on the amount of infused molecular hydrogen produced by your water ionizer when compared to source water with original minerals.
If you want to use an RO system setup you do NOT need to use potassium chloride in your water softener because the RO system will remove the potassium that was put into the water by the water softener.
What happens if I use softened water in my water ionizer?
If you use a water ionizer with softened water made with sodium chloride pellets the alkaline ionized water produced from the water ionizer will be ultra-concentrated with salt. You may not be able to taste it, but fair warning you don’t need additional salt in your alkaline ionized water because of the all the salt you get in your daily food intake. If you have high blood pressure you will be more sensitive to salt intake too. Furthermore, sodium chloride when ran through the ionization process can produce chlorine gases that are harmful to breathe and corrosive, and the added levels of sodium can also harm your water ionizer resulting in costly repairs.