How Salt-Free Water Softener Systems Are Eco-Friendly

As an eco-minded homeowner, you may find yourself feeling a bit concerned about using a traditional salt-based water softener in your home.
After all, there are several potential problems associated with traditional water softeners that can leave a negative impact on the environment.
Therefore, if you are looking for a more environmentally safe option, you might want to consider installing a salt-free water conditioner in your home.
To that end, here is a look at how salt-free water systems are eco-friendly.
Reason #1: Eliminate Discharge Traditional water softeners typically discharge up to four gallons of salty water for every gallon of water that is treated.
Not only does this result in wastewater issues, but many cities are actually banning the use of salt in water conditioners due to their harmful effects on septic tanks, sewer systems and water treatment systems.
Reason #2: Keep Salt Out of Your Water While the salt in traditional water conditioners is not supposed to get in the water, the reality is that it does.
In fact, experts estimate that about 8 mg of sodium is released into water for every grain of hardness that is removed.
Not only can this salt kill lawns, gardens and houseplants, but it can be bad for your health as well.
It can also cause a problem with certain appliances, such as steam irons and evaporative coolers, which are not supposed to be supplied with softened water.
When you use a citrus-based system on the other hand, none of these problems are an issue.
Reason #3: Never Replace Your Water Softener System Again Due to the sophisticated electronics and many moveable parts found in traditional water softeners, on average, they only last about 10 years.
After this time period, you will find yourself needing to replace the system and disposing of the old system.
Disposal of these old systems only leads to more environmental waste, while the process of building new water softeners to replace those that have broken down only further leads to pollution of our planet.
Saltless water softener systems have no electronics or moving parts and the softeners are usually backed by a lifetime warranty.
Reason #4: Stop Wasting Salt Traditional water conditioners need to have their brine tanks filled on a regular basis.
In fact, most homeowners find that they need to pour a whole bag of salt into the tank each month.
This is certainly a waste of salt that could potentially be used for other purposes.
Furthermore, this replacement salt can cost anywhere from $4 - $40 per month to replace.
The cartridges used with salt-free water softeners, on the other hand, generally need to be replaced only every 3-6 months depending on the size of the cartridge and the level of water usage.
Reason #5: Keep Beneficial Minerals Where They Belong One of the unfortunate side effects of using a traditional softener is that it takes out the healthy minerals along with the bad ones.
Citrus-based softeners, on the other hand, soften the water without removing the minerals that are beneficial to your health.