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Originally Posted by Salt My understanding is water softeners that use table salt (sodium chloride) exchange calcium and magnesium ions with sodium ions. I don't like them because they don't actually remove ions, just exchange them, so they produce water very rich in sodium. |
Actually this is not true. Technically the tap water enters the water softner and passes through a bed of resin. The resin absorbs minerals, or whatever else they design the resin to absorb. It actually removes them from the water. The NaCl comes from the fact that the resin cannot just absorb the minerals with out some sort of cleansing. They use the NaCl to perform 2 jobs, to flush the resin out, and to recharge or revive the resin itself. Similar to those softner pillow people can put in there filter. They recharge the same way, with salt of some kind. Sorry I am being technical, but I work with these daily. Also, a potassium based softner system would be a better choice.
Also, I do not think a RO system would remove the NaCl from the softner if you plan to use it after the softning system. I havent tested this but either way I think the added NaCl would be rough on the membrane. Just trying to help! Sorry if I stepped on some toes.