Water Neutralizers & Water Softeners

Water neutralizers seek to balance high levels of acidity (low pH) in water.
Water softeners reduce levels of hardness (concentrations of dissolved minerals above 18 parts per million) by removing or replacing dissolved minerals.

Water Neutralizers

• Any water system where incoming water has a pH of 6.6 of less should have a water neutralizer to bring the pH to above 7.0. Low pH will lead to the acidic water "eating" at your plumbing.

  Water neutralizers often use calcium carbonate (Calcite or Lime are common terms) exposed to the incoming water to raise the pH to the desired level.

Water Softeners

• The most common water softeners use an ionic exchange process to "trade" salt ions for calcium, iron and magnesium ions. While this does not change the level of dissolved minerals in the water, the salt ions do not give the typical hard water problems of clogged pipes, poor soap lathering or stains on porcelain.

System Costs

• Because the most common neutralizers and softeners use a chemical process that consumes a balancing agent, this agent must be replenished. For best operation, regular maintenance should be performed by a trained technician.

  In each case, monthly maintenance and refilling schedules are the most common.
  The cost for your system will be driven by the volume of water demand and the condition of your source water.

Overlaps

• There are few water sources that will have both a high level of dissolved calcium and a low pH.

  In those cases, the water should first be neutralized and then softened since most water softeners work best on pH 6.8 to pH 8.0 source water.

Suppliers

• Your local water treatment services will have a good idea of local water conditions.
  Hard water is a much more common problem than low-pH water in the United States. If your region has low pH issues, the same suppliers of water neutralization systems will likely be able to deal with any water softening concerns.