Talk:Water softening

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[edit] initial remarks

I'm no chemist, but I think the ions stick together because of cohesion; however, there is no chemistry-related article for cohesion. Please change this article if I am wrong. Thanks. --Urbster1 23:47, 26 Mar 2005 (UTC)

I will try to clear up the chemistry a bit, without (I hope) making it too technical. Steve 23:17, 24 December 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Requested move

Water softener → Water softening – Articles are usually named for the process, rather than the equipment used to carry out the process. For example, air conditioner is a redirect to air conditioning. Note: water softening currently redirects to water purification, which I think is less appropriate than redirecting to water softener, as water softening is a very small section in the water purification article. I didn't want to change it before a decision is made. -- Kjkolb 02:32, 12 May 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Survey

Add *Support or *Oppose followed by an optional one-sentence explanation, then sign your opinion with ~~~~

Support ~ trialsanderrors 20:54, 14 May 2006 (UTC)

Done. —Nightstallion (?) 07:08, 16 May 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Vague, broad statement regarding suitability for regular consumption

I'm questioning the following statement in the text: "However because of the increase in sodium concentration, some people believe water softened in this way is not suitable for regular consumption."

I've never heard anyone say this. Has anyone else? Do we have any sources?

I heard some people who are on a sodium restricted diet might be concerned about drinking softened water. I also heard that softened water should not be used for some sensitive house plants. Alas, no sources. There are also comparisons of the amount of sodium in softened water to that in a slice of bread. Alas, no sources. 206.53.197.12 03:49, 15 October 2006 (UTC)

Also, a common alternative to sodium in water softening is to use potassium chloride. The KCl is said to be less harmful (or even beneficial) and does not harm plants. Some discussion of KCl vs. NaCl would be beneficial.

[edit] Junk Science vs. Magnetic Water Softener

Revert to: 20:31, 16 July 2006 24.209.24.98 (Talk) (→Problems with hard water)

[edit] Sodium health effects

The amount of sodium added to the water is directly proportional to their hardness. The source says: "much of the groundwater in Kansas is hard or extremely hard, softening can add significant amounts of sodium.", "If the liquids you drink each day have less than 100 mg/L of sodium, it probably adds less than 5 percent of the sodium content of the average adult’s diet.", plus the example they give is for very hard water, which results in 480mg/L of sodium in the water, while the recommended limit is 500mg/L per day. It's mostly a problem when dealing with very hard water. okedem 07:39, 4 April 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Alternatives to Salt

I've heard of "saltless" water softeners and a quick google search does yield results, but I am still trying to determine the validity of such systems. I came here originally to see if there was any mention of them... and since there isn't I'm becoming skeptical already. One system purports to use magnets, another electricity, and other systems seem to purely attempt to filter out the ions... which to me doesn't sound quite right. Anyways, good or bad I'll write something about what I find over the next few days or whatever. Blissfulpain 22:10, 30 August 2007 (UTC)

There are potassium-based water softening systems now. It would be useful to include a comparison of the effects and side effects, costs, etc., of sodium and potassium-based systems. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Evolvemind (talk • contribs) 01:45, 28 January 2008 (UTC)

[edit] I think this article needs to cite some sources...

Correct me if I am wrong, but I think some of this entry is duplicated from:http://www.chem1.com/CQ/hardwater.html and should be properly cited. I did add one citation in the introduction, but I have not had a chance to finish reviewing this entry.

I found the above mentioned site while doing some personal research on water softening.

Thanks, -Pix

[edit] Health and hard water

Peple with eczema often find hard water a bit problem, this is not mentioned in the problems of hard water listed here. The National Eczema Society in the UK is running a longitudinal study on the effects of water softeners on eczema but I can't find any results so far. 86.137.208.145 (talk) 19:56, 12 February 2008 (UTC)

Can you cite a source concerning hard water and eczema - I mean an academic source (or something by a well known hospital, for instance)? okedem (talk) 21:49, 12 February 2008 (UTC)