Talk:Water softening

message: 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)
thread_title: initial remarks

message: 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)
replies: text: Add *Support or *Oppose followed by an optional one-sentence explanation, then sign your opinion with ~~~~
Support ~ trialsanderrors 20:54, 14 May 2006 (UTC)

text: Done. —Nightstallion (?) 07:08, 16 May 2006 (UTC)
thread_title: Requested move

message: :Add *Support or *Oppose followed by an optional one-sentence explanation, then sign your opinion with ~~~~
Support ~ trialsanderrors 20:54, 14 May 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: Done. —Nightstallion (?) 07:08, 16 May 2006 (UTC)
thread_title: Survey

message: 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)
thread_title:  Vague, broad statement regarding suitability for regular consumption 

message: 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)
replies: text: Yes, this article should also mention the fact that there are scores of worthless "no salt 'water softener'" devices out there that are fraudulent scams. To soften water one must use ion exchange or reverse osmosis; there is at least one patent for a fraudulent device that claims to use magnetism as a "water softening" device, but it does nothing at all to water. These devices either clip on to the cold water pipe leading to a water heater, or they have a wire that is wrapped around the water pipe leading to the water heater. NONE OF THESE DEVICES SOFTEN WATER. A few of these devices have stopped claiming they use an electromagnetic field to "soften water" because consumer advocates have started explaining that is impossible: instead they have started claiming their devices emit some sort of "shaped field" or "pulse" that effects the water---- and those claims are also false. Please, someone add to the main article a mention of these frauds. Thank you. --Desertphile (talk) 01:01, 20 September 2009 (UTC)
replies: text: I have added a section on "Physical conditioners". You might also like to look at Electrically converted water (ec-H2O). Biscuittin (talk) 18:20, 15 January 2010 (UTC)

text: Excellent! If you would kindly provide the evidence in the form of peer reviewed scientific papers that demonstrate this, that would be great. I am sure that no reputable company would make claims for a product without the support of clear and unambiguous evidence of efficacy. I can't find any such references myself but I am sure that as an ardent proponent of the system you will be able to oblige. Thanks.  Velela  Velela Talk   19:24, 10 August 2010 (UTC)
thread_title:  Junk Science vs. Magnetic Water Softener 

message: 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)
thread_title:  Sodium health effects 

message: 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)
thread_title:  Alternatives to Salt 

message: 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)
replies: text: 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)
thread_title:  Health and hard water 

message: Can someone remove the eratic capitalisations of [sic.] "Calcium" and "Magnesium" etc in this article? Element names should be in normal case, not capitalised. 137.205.26.238 (talk) 23:19, 1 January 2009 (UTC)
thread_title:  Cleanup: Capitalisation 

message: I was considering if the article [Suavizador de agua] and this content content ought to be imported/merged/harmonized somehow? Your comments would be helpful Timpo (talk)  —Preceding undated comment added 06:20, 8 June 2009 (UTC)
thread_title:  English article inferior to Spanish version? 

message: The article states "A common water softener is sodium carbonate" but there is no explanation of how it works. I believe the reactions are:
CaHCO3 + Na2CO3 -> CaCO3 (precipitated) + Na2HCO3
MgHCO3 + Na2CO3 -> MgCO3 (precipitated) + Na2HCO3
Can somebody please confirm this before I put it in the article? Biscuittin (talk) 15:44, 6 September 2010 (UTC)
replies: text: In the case of Magnesium, I think the carbonate is unstable so the final precipitate is either the basic carbonate or the hydroxide. Biscuittin (talk) 15:51, 6 September 2010 (UTC)
thread_title:  Sodium carbonate 

message: Please see Talk:Hard_water#Merge with Water softening - the discussion here has been (merged) moved there. 
<snip>
Widefox (talk) 00:16, 27 February 2012 (UTC)
replies: text: (Closed as no merge). --Stfg (talk) 12:18, 5 November 2012 (UTC)
thread_title:  Merge with Hard water 

message: The photo at the top of the page is not an image of a water softener.  It appears to be an image of the connection manifold for a tank-type water softener with a pre-filter attached.  — Preceding unsigned comment added by 98.151.237.108 (talk) 01:58, 14 February 2012 (UTC)
replies: text: You are correct, this is definitely not a water softener. It is a standard filter housing with plumbing that could be attached to a softener.  — Preceding unsigned comment added by 68.42.182.200 (talk) 17:52, 5 February 2013 (UTC)
replies: text: Nope. There are salt-free water softeners like this. Just google and you'll see.TMCk (talk) 18:32, 5 February 2013 (UTC)
replies: text: Yes there are lot of alternatives, but they are minor importance for the casual reader.  We could also show a distillation column or RO membrane for that matter.  The point of the image is to be correct but it is impractical and impossible to cover all technologies with one image. --Smokefoot (talk) 18:45, 5 February 2013 (UTC)
thread_title:  Photo 

message: On Magnetic water treatment section Related Devices there is a statement, "Whilst some are effective, such as electrolytic devices". However, on this page there is a contradicting statement,  "Devices that claim to use magnetism or electricity as a "water softening" technique are fraudulent and often utilize pseudoscience." So either the former should not be on the magnetic water treatment page because it is not magnetic based or the latter is incorrect since electrolysis, allegedly, is not fraudulent. I am unable to verify the sources for the electrolysis working, however, as they don't have links although I've yet to try search for them manually. Driskell86 (talk) 19:11, 9 September 2013 (UTC)
thread_title:  Possible contradiction with Magnetic water treatment page 

message: Hello fellow Wikipedians,
I have just modified  on Water softening. Please take a moment to review my edit. If you have any questions, or need the bot to ignore the links, or the page altogether, please visit this simple FaQ for additional information. I made the following changes:
*Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20110817234037/http://www.elmhurst.edu:80/~chm/vchembook/554soap.html to http://www.elmhurst.edu/~chm/vchembook/554soap.html
When you have finished reviewing my changes, please set the checked parameter below to true or failed to let others know (documentation at ).
Cheers.—InternetArchiveBot (Report bug) 04:58, 12 November 2016 (UTC)
thread_title:  External links modified 

message: In the French Wikipedia fr:Adoucissement_de_l%27eau#Adoucisseur_au_CO2, they speak about a CO2 method.  
I don't see any text about this in the English article.
--AXRL (talk) 17:47, 25 December 2018 (UTC)
thread_title:  CO2 

message: The article makes repeated references to a commercial water softening company (Culligan). I suggest these should be removed. Dkthomps (talk) 11:28, 6 October 2022 (UTC)
replies: text: - Thanks for picking that up. Now sorted.  Velella  Velella Talk   12:28, 6 October 2022 (UTC)
thread_title:  Reads like an advertisement 

message: Apparently I got confused about something since I got reverted. Which of the water softening processes is the one that uses salt? Here's a bunch of soft water softener salt for sale at an American hardware store. –Novem Linguae (talk) 22:49, 7 April 2023 (UTC)
replies: text: Yes, but what that does is to regenerate the ion exchange resins. Over time the ion exchange resins in water softeners become saturated with Calcium ions and the softener ceases to function. The Calcium ions can then be eluted with a salt solution replacing the Calcium ions with Sodium ions . This restores the softener to use again. Very commonly used in dishwashers and in point-of-use filters. Regards — Preceding unsigned comment added by Velella (talk • contribs) 07:32, 8 April 2023 (UTC)
thread_title:  Salt