Feed Lot Magazine Online, Water Softeners Ease Problems and Costs of Hard Water Deposits

Volume VII Number 3

May/June 1999

Water Softeners Ease Problems and Costs of Hard Water Deposits

by Jeff Stenberg

Hard water, caused by the presence of calcium and/or magnesium ions, is a problem in over 85 percent of the nation's ground water supplies. The presence of these minerals can cause problems for all types of water users because these minerals have a tendency to react with heat, metallic plumbing, and many chemical agents. These problems can cause increased energy use in the boilers of many feedmills.

One of the major problems of hard water is scale buildup. This is caused when heat is introduced to hard water, causing the soluble bicarbonates to begin to break down into their insoluble form.

Hard water scale has decreased the
carrying capacity of this pipe by more
than half of its original capacity.

They then precipitate out of solution and begin to form scale deposits. These deposits cause pressure and flow problems which causes increased energy use and short life span for the equipment on which the scale is building up on.

The water softener is the primary equipment used to remove hardness. It works on the principal of ion exchange using ordinary salt or liquid brine as a regenerant. A resin tank containing a bead-type resin serves as the exchange site. As hard water flows into the tank, the calcium and magnesium ion are exchanged with inert sodium ions. The softening resin is periodically regenerated with a fresh supply of sodium ions while the hardness ions are flushed down the drain during the back washing cycle.

Before purchasing a water softener several items need to be considered. First, the need for a water softener has to be established. Conduct tests to determine the amount of hardness in the water supply. Next, the size of the water softener has to be determined. The amount of water usage will establish the size of water softener needed.

Third, decide the type of salt media to used. The two major types are pelletized salt and liquid brine. Both have advantages and disadvantages.

Pelletized salt comes in bags that have to be handled and are heavy. Despite this problem pelletized salt is ideal for low volume use water softeners where salt use is minimal, like home use water softeners.

In areas where brine is available, it is the more economical choice for high volume use, over 75 pounds of salt a day. The pay back time on the brine tank is one to two years, according to Russ Hickerson of Panhandle Brine Sales, Inc. The brine is about 2.647 pounds of salt per gallon concentrate or 111.147 pounds per 42 gallon barrel.

The use of pelletized salt has several disadvantages when being used in a high volume, including the repeated moving of the bags of salt in and out of storage, the storage space needed to keep a large amount of bags on hand, the risk of injuries to workers who have to lift the bags, and the disposal of the bags once they have been emptied.

The initial investment of a commercial water softener can be expensive. However, the amount of money saved in reduced energy use, reduced repair costs and reduced maintenance costs will pay for the system in the long run.

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