"I am against Water Softeners...."

I was just out at the Chamber of Commerce "After Hours" -this week it was held at Albert's Restaurant. Unfortunately, due to a check up that took (WAY) too long, I was late for the event and missed most of the attendees (and my MC duties - SORRY Karlee!!!)

I was, however, lucky enough to meet a new member representing a new company operating in Sherwood Park. After the typical exchange of greetings and "What do you do?'s" he made a comment to me, one that I could immediately tell by the look on his face, that he regretted. I'm not one to force issues, but when he told me, "I'm against water softening" I was a bit taken aback. I'm used to the concept of people making comments about not seeing the purpose, or arguing that salt usage for this purpose is an environmental issue, but I felt like finding out what he was wanting to say.

Apparently my tact wasn't quite right as he seemed somewhat apologetic at the possibility of having insulted a perfect stranger. (It takes a lot more than that to insult me, and to be honest, I was intrigued by the comments. In my line of work, dealing with "objections" is just part of the territory.) Anyway, when I pressed a bit, searching for what it was that he was against, he commented that he didn't like the idea of adding things to the water.

At this point, I was captivated - softening removes things (mostly calcium, magnesium and iron) from water. It does, depending on the overall water's hardness, add a bit of sodium (or potassium, if that's the regenerant used) to the water, but the industry has come a long way from the 1950's where you could literally taste the difference. Now, with the Hague "Absolute Brining" technology, you literally would need a TDS meter to determine the change in sodium content.

Unfortunately, my new colleague was already on his way out, and didn't seem too interested in elaborating on his comments, so for now, it remains a mystery. At any rate, I absolutely love to hear new reasons why something won't work or is a bad idea. I'm open-minded enough to have that conversation and if something comes up which is a legitimate concern (as opposed to one of the millions of urban myths out there) then I can change my views and adapt.

In the meantime, my opinion remains that the trace amounts of sodium introduced to the water are well-worth the energy and savings in chemical additives that are required to offset the effects of hard water, not to mention the time, convenience, and "soft" advantages like time saved cleaning, smoother (not itchy) skin, whiter whites, brighter colours, and spotless dishes....

Some interesting facts: (all based on the current levels of "hardness" of Edmonton city water)

-Softened water requires 29% less energy to heat. (21% less if you have electric hot water heating.) All that dissolved rock in the water has to be heated, in additoin to the water. There is also the scaling that builds up on the heating elements in the hot water tank. This in effect coats the elements, causing them to use a LOT more energy to heat the water (picture your stove, then put a brick on the heating element. then place a kettle on the brick and turn on the stove... you get my point.)

-Softened water requires 75% less soap and detergent. It also allows for natural products to work. If you've seen the new Tide commercials, they PROUDLY explain how their "concentrated" product has more detergent in it - now almost half the container is detergent. (the rest being chemical water softeners, acids, dyes and phosphates.) -Did you think they were just adding water to boost their profits???

-Water using appliances last twice as long! Again, back to the build-up mentioned above in reference to saving energy heating water. That accumulation of calcium (dissolved limestone rock in our case) builds up at the bottom of hot water tanks, steam irons, kettles, dishwashers, toilets, refrigerators/icemakers, kettles, etc. The appliances with smaller internal plumbing benefit the most, but the shear volume of water processed by a hot water tank makes that appliance the most noticeable. (Try lifting a new hot water tank - they are very light. Then try lifting your "failed" hot water after all the water has drained out into your basement - with all the dissolved rock in them, they weigh a TON!

There are a lot more advantages, but for now, I feel I've gone on long enough. Stay tuned for more!