Most ’soft’ water is way too ’soft’ -

it’s almost IMPOSSIBLE to rinse soap off oneself…

Water softners are not useful if you get lake water, such as those living along cities of Lake Erie, Lake Michigan as an example.

Water softeners are for the purpose of removal of Calcium from well water. Your city might have a water supply which is from BOTH the wells and the lake. The lake being naturaly “soft water” or the result of rain water.

The process of removal of calcium uses Zeolite as a medium to hold sodium in the water softner tank. When a molecule of water containing calcium reaches the tank, it is replaced by sodium. Thus you have sodium in your softened water. This process is a REPLACEMENT PROCESS , replacing sodium for the calcium ion. Thus, salty water in a sense. How much is dependent on the initial calcium content of your water. IE well water, verses lake water.

One of the responses on here is incorrect in describing the process in that the entire brine is flushed out of the softener’s zeolite——-NOT SO The salt or brine stays loaded onto the Zeolite wating for a water molecule that has a calcium ion hanging onto it.

Detergents are Unaffected by hard water. It is a fallacy that is believed by many that softened water will save detergents. Simply not true. The invention of detergents was a breakthru over ordinary soaps used for centuries in cleaning clothes in that it did not for the “scum” which soap did in hard water and detergents became the norm for the laundry cleaners of today.

You may have lake water source that is high in organics. Those are filtered out with carbon filters and not water softeners.

I like the liquid kind. Easy to us, convenient , etc.
Below is a short dissertation………

The solution to hard water is either to filter the water by distillation or reverse osmosis to remove the calcium and magnesium, or to use a water softener. Filtration would be extremely expensive to use for all the water in a house, so a water softener is usually a less costly solution.
The idea behind a water softener is simple. The calcium and magnesium ions in the water are replaced with sodium ions. Since sodium does not precipitate out in pipes or react badly with soap, both of the problems of hard water are eliminated. To do the ion replacement, the water in the house runs through a bed of small plastic beads or through a chemical matrix called zeolite. The beads or zeolite are covered with sodium ions. As the water flows past the sodium ions, they swap places with the calcium and magnesium ions. Eventually, the beads or zeolite contain nothing but calcium and magnesium and no sodium, and at this point they stop softening the water. It is then time to regenerate the beads or zeolite.

Regeneration involves soaking the beads or zeolite in a stream of sodium ions. Salt is sodium chloride, so the water softener mixes up a very strong brine solution and flushes it through the zeolite or beads (this is why you load up a water softener with salt). The strong brine displaces all of the calcium and magnesium that has built up in the zeolite or beads and replaces it again with sodium. The remaining brine plus all of the calcium and magnesium is flushed out through a drain pipe. Regeneration can create a lot of salty water, by the way — something like 25 gallons (95 liters).

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some people have no clue.I have a water filtration system in my house.They are the bomb.You feel the difference when you wash.I don’t get the winter rash anymore.the hard water stains are gone.You use much less soaps to wash with.I was a doubter at first but you will feel the change soon enough.If it is affordable for you than you will be happy you got the system.And I’m sure they are much cheaper and smaller than when i bought my system.

I love mine. Theres a lot of calcium and limestone where I live and it helps so much. I don’t get very much buildup in my shower either. I wouldn’t have a home without one.. but it also depends where you live. I’m in Central Texas.

Edit:
Trying to find some links for ya..

Go here for some info on different types. It gives you the requirements for each as well.

Or you can also go here for more info. This is an article..
The first thing you have to do is to decide whether you actually need a drinking water treatment device. So probably the first question is, is there a problem with your water?

The only way to answer that is to have your water tested. Who you speak to and what it will cost are different across the country.

To use salt to remove salt and minerals from “hard” water, which runs high PPMs (parts per million) of crap in it, puzzles me.

The municipal treatment facilities use chloramines to treat water and kill the germs, so if you want really clean, pure, low PPM water, look into charcoal filter systems that actually remove all contaminants, or check out RO (reverse osmosis systems) too.

I work in the Ag industry and am quite familiar with many water treatment/ purification methods.

I personally have no use for this stuff.

rip[ off