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Does a water softener without drawbacks exist?
Many of you have water that is too hard and suffer from inconveniences in your environment: limescale deposits on taps, bathtubs, showers, a (too) short lifespan of water heaters, as well as on your household appliances such as kettles or coffee makers.
Of course, this is a good sign; your water contains a lot of calcium ions, which are essential for our health.
But too much is too much, and you have decided to do something to improve your daily life; perhaps you have already invested in a water softener, which replaces calcium ions with… table salt!
Thus, you have shifted the problem: you indeed have less hard water, but it is saltier, which you will discharge into the environment, not to mention the maintenance cycles of the machine and the need to add salt regularly, as well as to check its settings.
Also read: Water hardness: What is hard water and how to measure it at home?
The installation is not very simple either and often requires the intervention of a professional, not to mention that this device takes up space in your home.
Thus, the water output, although considered potable, loses much of its health benefits: no calcium and a lot of sodium (table salt) is not advisable for humans, quite the opposite.
These systems also remove a good part (if not all) of the chlorine that protects you against bacteria, and which is the main consumable of our water purifier LaVie.
Preserve the trace elements of tap water thanks to LaVie
The UV-A water purifiers LaVie® operate without filters or maintenance and allow you to purify your tap water in 15 minutes.
They use an innovative, patented technology exclusive to LaVie®: the photolysis of chlorine by UV-A radiation.
This treatment allows for the reduction of chlorine and its derivatives, chemical compounds such as certain pesticides or traces of medications, and tastes and odors that can be found in tap water, while preserving 100% of the trace elements.
The result, of very high quality, allows for a definitive end to the consumption of bottled plastic water.
The carbon footprint associated with the production of the aluminum tube of the UV water purifier is neutralized within a few days of use compared to the equivalent consumption of water in plastic bottles.
But there are other solutions!
Our partner Ethic Process distributes in France Sialex rings, which act differently. Their action is contactless (just like that of LaVie) and does not consume electricity thanks to a thermodynamic process. They help maintain the liquid form of calcium and thus prevent the formation of incrusting limescale, and even clean the limescale accumulated in your pipes and water heater for years.
Micro-vibrations are generated by this ring, which can be installed on your water supply in 5 minutes, between the water meter and your home. They are caused by differences in expansion between several materials, quartz and silicon, which react to minute temperature variations. Thus, no electricity consumption is generated.
No maintenance is required, nor any adjustments or upkeep. Our partner, a true water professional for years, can allow you to test the product for 30 days to verify its effectiveness.
This product costs about the same as a water softener, but you will save on salt purchases and maintenance, which is about 70% savings over approximately 10 years! The icing on the cake is that the outgoing water retains all its trace elements and cannot be contaminated with bacteria or salt; it is completely assimilable by the body.
Thus, treated with LaVie, we obtain very high-quality water that can easily compete with bottled water; this is the solution we recommend in the case of excessively hard water.
More information on our partner Ethic Process's website
There are also CO2 water softeners that prevent drinking salty water. They work quite well, but you will need to replace the heavy CO2 bottles several times a year.
Some excerpts from articles on water softeners
Source Wikipedia
Issues, interest, and limitations
Moderately hard waters, unlike other highly mineralized waters, are not toxic, but they pose problems of biofilms, clogging of water pipes, plumbing, and household appliances (boilers, washing machines, irons, etc.) and clean textiles slightly less effectively (because they foam less).
Water that is too demineralized can conversely pose toxicological and ecotoxicological problems induced by the solubilization of toxic metals (for example, in the presence of old lead pipes or lead-containing solder that causes lead poisoning) and accelerated corrosion of certain pipes or containers.
The presence in water of certain additives (even in low doses) can inhibit certain physico-chemical purification processes for treating and purifying water, including decarbonization (in the case of washing additives, for example).
A persistent legend is propagated, mainly by installers, indicating that the consumption of hard drinking water, also called hard water, would be harmful to health. This claim is false, as demonstrated by research from the CNRS which indicates that, for a healthy person, the consumption of this type of drinking water is safe.
In March 2017, the Thurgau cantonal laboratory (Switzerland) examined 23 sodium softener systems randomly chosen from private homes and schools. The drinking water was studied for its bacteriological purity and chemical composition before and after the salt softener. For 87% of the softeners (20 out of 23), the detectable number of microorganisms (bacteria and fungi) in the drinking water at least doubled! And in the case of six softeners (26%), the maximum legal value of germs in drinking water was even exceeded by 3 to 600 times! 90% of the softeners were also poorly adjusted, with a residual hardness of less than 15 °fH, half of which were even below 7 °fH, thus posing a risk of corrosion of pipes and household appliances.
Source: Water Information Center
It is strongly advised against connecting it to the cold water supply system. Care must be taken to strictly follow the installation and maintenance instructions at the risk of degrading the sanitary quality of tap water.
Source Veolia water
Using a water softener for your appliances can prevent scaling in your installations if your water is very hard. However, you should not soften water intended for drinking or cooking food. If you have one, we encourage you to follow the maintenance recommendations to avoid compromising the sanitary quality of the water we distribute.
Source UFC Que Choisir
At home, a water softener is installed to combat limescale. However, a good portion of the equipped homes are supplied with drinking water that has a hardness between 18 and 27 French degrees (°f), which means it is soft to moderately hard.
The necessity to soften water is not obvious. Only water that is truly hard, that is, 35 °f or more, can justify the use of a softener. Our analyses focused on eleven homes equipped with a softener.
Hardness and aggressiveness: Corrosion risks
Whether justified or not, the function of a softener is to soften water. All do this (but barely in Arpajon), meaning they remove essential minerals, calcium and magnesium, from drinking water. They fulfill their contract, but this is precisely what poses a problem. Until 2007, drinking water was not to be softened below 15 °f for distribution. The new decree did not retain this requirement but imposes that the water be “in calcium carbonate equilibrium or slightly incrusting,” which is roughly the same because softened water is often aggressive. This is indeed demonstrated by our analyses. Water arrives at homes in equilibrium or slightly incrusting, which meets the requirements of drinking water standards. However, once softened, it becomes aggressive in eight of the eleven equipped homes.
This is problematic because this aggressive softened water presents serious disadvantages. Certainly, it does not scale pipes or appliances unlike hard water. But, conversely, it attacks them. The risks of corrosion are therefore significant: this water can perforate a pipeline or burst a hot water tank. Moreover, it picks up metallic particles when it attacks materials. If it is iron, it is colored and unpleasant but not too serious. When it comes to lead from old pipes or cadmium from soldering, however, it is toxic.
Calcium and sodium: It loads with salt!
Softening water means removing its calcium, and not just its limescale, despite what professionals claim. It is mainly when heated, starting at 60 °C, that limescale forms incrusting deposits. Cold water can leave traces but does not really scale. It contains calcium, which is an excellent thing. Calcium intake is indeed essential for the human body, and water has an incomparable advantage in this regard: it allows for good assimilation without adding any extra calories, unlike all foods recommended for their calcium content. Children and adolescents have an imperative need for it, as it is necessary for bone development. Pregnant women also need it, and calcium is valuable in the fight against osteoporosis.
Additionally, it proves useful against kidney stones contrary to a widely held belief. Therefore, removing calcium from water constitutes heresy, as we already explained last year regarding filtering jugs. Unfortunately for the health of users: the softener replaces this precious calcium with salt! There is no escaping it; this is its principle of operation. Except for one softener that softens little, that of Arpajon, all devices load the water with sodium, and two of them even exceed the drinking water reference set at 200 mg/l. For people on a strict salt-free diet, drinking softened water quickly exceeds the recommended maximum dose of 500 mg of sodium per day. Drinking sodium-laden water is also inappropriate when one is healthy, given the widespread excess of salt intake: 8.5 grams on average per day, while health authorities recommend not exceeding 6 grams. Even if water contributes little to salt intake compared to bread, cold cuts, cheeses, and industrial prepared dishes, adding sodium is a real nonsense from a nutrition and health perspective.
Microbiology: Addition of microbes
Water that passes through a resin is more exposed to the development of bacteria than tap water. The softener can therefore promote the multiplication of microbes, although this is not a general rule. However, the problem concerns several tested devices. And one of them (Arpajon) adds highly discouraged germs to the water.
Conclusion: It’s not beneficial
In conclusion, very softened water becomes aggressive, lacking calcium but containing sodium. Softeners do not improve the quality of drinking water – distributed but degrade it! A home may require a softener if the water is very hard, but the kitchen circuit should always remain outside of the treatment. Furthermore, the device must be set to maintain 15 °f of hardness, in order to reduce the aggressiveness of the softened water.
With these clarifications, you will be able to choose your water softener sensibly, according to your needs and uses.
To your health!
Also read: A water softener, why do it?
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