Water Conditioner Vs Water Softener: Which is Better? [2023]

Last updated on January 2nd, 2023

If you’re familiar with home improvement and plumbing issues, you probably know what a water conditioner and water softener are. But, chances are you’re going to come across a client who just wants the best for their family, but has no idea how the two compare water conditioner vs water softener and which one is better.

Water softeners and conditioners are two of the most popular water treatment systems used in homes and businesses. They both help reduce condensation, scale buildup, and prevent mineral buildup in pipes and appliances.

Water Softeners – The process involves adding salt to your tap water to remove calcium and magnesium ions. These ions can cause hard water by clogging pipes and leaving scale build-up on faucets, appliances and fixtures.

Reverse Osmosis Systems– Reverse osmosis systems use pressure to push liquids through a special membrane that blocks larger particles while allowing smaller ones to pass through. The resulting purified liquid is often referred to as permeate or ultra-pure water.

But what is the difference between a water softener vs water conditioner? Continue reading the article to know the answer of this question. 

Comparison Table: Water Conditioner Vs Water Softener

Does?	Water Softener	Water Conditioner
Require salt?	YES	NO
Scale prevention efficiency?	99+% efficient	41% to 98.9% effective (depending on the method)
Slick, slippery feel of water?	YES	NO
Impact on the skin?	Eliminates calcium and magnesium (bad for dry skin)	Calcium and magnesium remain in the water.
Have an Environmental impact?	Creates waste water	Doesn’t create wastewater

What is a Water Conditioner?

Water conditioners are used to remove chlorine and other chemicals from your water. They also help eliminate odor, sediment and rust from your water supply.

Filtration systems can be used to improve the quality of home water supplies. There are many types of filters available on the market today, each with its own set of benefits and drawbacks. The most common type of filtration system used in homes is reverse osmosis. 

This type of system has two major parts: a membrane filter and an RO unit. The membrane filter removes contaminants from water through a process called osmosis, while the RO unit takes out larger particles like bacteria and cysts.

The most common type of water conditioner is a reverse osmosis system, which uses pressure to push water through a membrane that removes impurities. A water softener is another common type of water conditioner, as it uses salt to remove minerals from the water.

Reverse osmosis treatment plants utilize membranes that allow for high purity water production without using chemicals or adding heat to the process. 

In addition to producing high-purity water at extremely low temperatures, reverse osmosis systems reduce energy costs by up to 80% compared with conventional distillation processes. This makes them ideal for use in remote locations where energy costs are high (such as oil rigs) or where access to electrical power is limited (such as disaster relief efforts).

How Does a Water Conditioner Work?

Water conditioners are installed on the cold water line. They remove calcite deposits and other minerals from the water, which can lead to scaling and clogged pipes.

Water conditioners are installed on the cold water line. They remove calcite deposits and other minerals from the water, which can lead to scaling and clogged pipes.

A water softener also reduces soap scum, dirt, and rust stains in your laundry, giving your clothes a longer life span. If you have hard water in your home or business, consider installing a water softener to improve your quality of life by eliminating one of its most annoying problems.

The process begins when incoming hard water passes through an ion-exchange resin bed inside the unit. Calcium and magnesium ions in hard water exchange with sodium ions creating soft sodium ion rich softened water that flows out of faucets free of scale build-up and soap scum build-up!

What is a Water Softener?

A water softener is a device that removes hard minerals from water by using a chemical process. It does this by replacing the calcium and magnesium ions in the water with sodium ions. This process is called ion exchange, and the resulting softened water has fewer minerals in it.

Water Softeners are typically located on the property where they will be used and are connected to the household plumbing system. The most common types of softeners are made of plastic or metal tanks that hold a solution of salt and water.

The tanks in residential softeners are typically between 10 and 50 gallons in size, depending on how much water is used in your home.

Residential Water Softeners use salt as their primary cleaning agent, while commercial units may use other chemicals such as potassium permanganate or potassium chloride instead of salt.

Ion Exchange

The process of removing these minerals is called “ion exchange” and happens when hard water passes through a bed of resin beads. As the water flows through the beads, they exchange sodium ions for hardness ions. The softened water then flows out of the other side of the bed of beads, leaving behind the trapped hardness ions.

Softened water has been stripped of its hardness ions but still contains chlorine, which can kill bacteria in your home’s plumbing system. This means that your home will have cleaner pipes and less risk for clogs or bacterial growth.

How Does a Water Softener Work?

A typical water softener is a box containing a brine tank, a control system and a resin tank. It’s connected to the plumbing in your home.

When you use the softener, the resin beads inside the softener exchange sodium ions for calcium and magnesium ions from the water. The sodium ions then bond with the calcium and magnesium ions to create salt, which is flushed out of your home through your drains or into a waste water treatment plant.

The control system monitors water usage and adds sodium ions when necessary to keep up with demand.

When you turn on the faucet, fresh water flows through pipes into the tank at the top of your softener. Water enters through an opening called an inlet valve that leads into a chamber called an accumulator tank. 

The accumulator tank fills up with fresh water until there’s enough pressure to force it into another chamber called a brine supply tank at the bottom of the unit. The brine supply tank contains brine that’s made up of about 40% sodium chloride (table salt). 

When there’s enough pressure from freshwater filling up the accumulator tank, it forces some of this brine back out through an outlet valve and into your home’s plumbing system through.

The Difference between water conditioner vs water softener

The main difference between a water softener vs water conditioner is that a conditioner does not remove minerals from your water like a softener does. Instead, it reduces the negative effects of hard water by adding beneficial minerals such as calcium, magnesium and potassium to soften the water.

A water conditioner uses salt to soften your water. It also reduces the amount of calcium, magnesium and other minerals that are dissolved in the water. That’s because the salt used in a conditioner dissolves into the water and attracts those minerals. When you use a conditioner on your system, you get softer water that has fewer minerals than before.

Water softeners work by removing calcium and magnesium ions from hard water, making it softer and easier to use. Hard water causes problems in the home because it causes scale build-up on faucets, pipes, showers, toilets, sinks and more. 

It also makes cleaning difficult because soap scum doesn’t rinse off easily when there’s a lot of hard water in your home. Softening systems use salt or potassium chloride as part of their process to remove these ions from your water supply so that it becomes softer for use around the house.

Hardness

Hardness is caused by the presence of calcium and magnesium ions in your water supply. They can make it difficult to wash clothes and dishes because they combine with soap molecules and cause soap to foam less effectively. They can also clog pipes and waste water supplies, which can lead to higher bills.

Hardness occurs naturally in some areas but can also result from using soap or detergents in hard water areas. The more soap you use, the more it foams up, so using lots of soap isn’t recommended if you have hard water!

A softener will remove minerals from your tap water using an ion exchange process that uses sodium ions to replace calcium and magnesium ions in the water. This process also removes some beneficial minerals like calcium but it allows those with softened water to enjoy its many benefits without the need for additional supplements or additives once it’s installed on their home’s plumbing system.

Which One Do I Need? Water Conditioner Vs Water Softener

Water conditioners and water softeners are two different things. They both do the same basic thing, but they work in different ways, and are used for different reasons.

Water Conditioner

A water conditioner is a device that removes chlorine and other chemicals from the water. It uses a process called ion exchange to remove the impurities from your water by replacing them with sodium or potassium ions. 

This makes your water softer on your skin and hair, so it feels nicer when you wash with it. If you have hard water, using a water conditioner can also help reduce the amount of lime scale that builds up in your pipes and appliances over time.

Water Softener

A water softener works by filtering out calcium carbonate (which causes hardness) from your water supply. The filter part of a softener contains resin beads which attract calcium particles from the water as it passes through them. 

When enough calcium has been collected on these resin beads, they can be removed from the filter media and replaced with new ones which have not yet accumulated any minerals.

Water Softener Is the Best

Water softener is the best option for households with hard water. They use a process to convert the calcium and magnesium ions in your water into harmless salt.

The process is called ion exchange, and it involves moving the calcium and magnesium ions from your water into a resin bed in the softener unit.

Ion exchange works by exchanging one set of ions (calcium and magnesium) for another (sodium). The sodium ions are what give you that salty taste in your drinking water. Some people prefer this taste because it makes their drinking water taste more like bottled water.

When you install a water softener at home, you’ll need to periodically “exchange” or regenerate it — typically every three months — to keep it working properly. This process uses salt (sodium chloride) to replace the calcium and magnesium ions that were removed during ion exchange.

Conclusion! Water Conditioner Vs Water Softener

They do seem to be similar but there are important reasons why you should chose the water softener.  The first and foremost is because it adds no contaminants to your drinking water, in fact it produces a better quality of water for your family and at the same time saves you money over other water conditioner brands. 

The more important reason is that a water softener aims to remove only the sodium from the hard water, this means that there is no other element that can damage your appliance or electronics. It removes only the damaging elements from your water, which in turn make your skin dry and rough, rather than just soften the hard water it eliminates it too.

If you want to feel and look healthy, it is important to have clean water in your home. The best way to get clean water is by using a Water Softener. A Water Conditioner can be used but the water will tend to be dirty, so you will need to change the filters very often.

Also Read: Springwell Reverse Osmosis