Facts and Myths about Water Softeners

The short answer is no. Sodium is used when descaling tap water. This is because sodium is a component of the salt (NaCl = sodium chloride) used to rinse the resin. It is often said colloquially that someone is on a low-salt diet, but in fact it is a low-sodium diet. The fact is, therefore, that softened water contains more sodium than unsoftened water. When softening water with an average hardness of 8dH to 0dH, 68 milligrams of sodium per litre of water are added. This is negligible compared with the 4,000 mg of sodium we consume each day.

To live healthily, we need around 2 litres of fluid a day, which we get from the various drinks we consume throughout the day. Of those 2 litres, perhaps 1 litre comes in the form of tea, coffee or simply tap water. The rest we consume in the form of soft drinks, dairy products, and so on. In short, Around 98% of sodium intake comes from other foods. So yes, we do add some sodium, but this has a negligible effect.

Yes, soft water can help to alleviate skin conditions such as eczema and psoriasis. As the limescale is removed from the water, it does not have an abrasive effect on the skin. Unfortunately, this does not mean that everyone with skin conditions such as eczema or psoriasis will benefit from it. The skin conditions mentioned are caused by the patient’s predisposition, and environmental factors also play a role. Soft water is It’s not a medicine, but it can help. Many users have noticed a clear difference in the level of irritation caused by their skin condition before and after purchasing a water softener. This is confirmed by Menno Gaastra, dermatologist at the Oosterwal Skin Clinic in an interesting article in *De Volkskrant* on Saturday 16 June 2018, which you here can be found.

No. In fact, the opposite is true. Water softeners prevent limescale build-up in your water pipes and household appliances. Limescale, on the other hand, is a perfect breeding ground for bacterial growth, such as Legionella bacteria. A water softener therefore actually prevents bacterial growth!

But what happens if you’re away from home for a long time? As you know, water that stands for a long time always leads to increased bacterial growth and therefore increases the risk of Legionella. Normally, water only remains stagnant for a long time if you are away from home for a considerable period, for example whilst on holiday. It is therefore advisable to flush out all the pipes thoroughly when you return home. This flushing also applies to most water softeners, such as the non-electric types. However, it does not apply to water softeners that beautiful water delivers! All our models feature what is known as a “Hygiene/Holiday Mode”. The hygiene/holiday mode is activated at the touch of a button (Comfort series) or fully automatically (Excellent series). This ensures that, whilst you are away, the resin is regularly rinsed with clean water, just as if you were at home. Water consumption remains very low; just a few litres a week are enough for the rinsing cycle.

Some suppliers use a system as standard whereby the resin beads are subjected to additional treatment involving the production of chlorine, known as the disinfection module. That sounds impressive, but it’s unnecessary because This chlorine treatment only takes place during the regeneration cycle, by which time you might already have been back from your holiday for a week! Furthermore, whilst this method does “clean” the water softener, it does not clean the pipes in your home! Our system, combined with a thorough flushing of your pipes, does deliver the desired result. Should you nevertheless wish to have a disinfection module, we can supply this as an option. But to be honest, We would rather prevent bacterial growth in the pipes than have to remove it afterwards.

It is true that minerals are removed from drinking water. However, this has no impact on health. The two minerals removed from the water during the water-softening process are calcium and magnesium. This is very beneficial because the average household in the Netherlands consumes around 150,000 litres of water per year, and this amount contains (in Dronten) approximately 20kg of lime (Calcium carbonate). So a water softener is very useful.

But isn’t that harmful to your health? Fortunately not. Whilst both minerals are important for humans, they are present only in very small amounts in tap water that has not been softened. And because you only consume a maximum of 1–2 litres of tap water a day in the form of tap water, coffee, tea, etc., the amount of calcium and magnesium is also very limited. For example, the tap water in our area contains 35.5 mg/litre of calcium and 2.64 mg/litre of magnesium.

On its website, the Nutrition Centre recommends a daily intake of 1,000–1,200 mg of calcium and 280–350 mg of magnesium for adults. So, if you want to meet your RDA (Recommended Daily Allowance) from water, you need to drink at least 28 litres of water to get the calcium and at least 106 litres of water to get the magnesium. We wouldn’t recommend it, as it could lead to a whole host of other health problems……

This is confirmed by Jasper de Vries, spokesperson for the Netherlands Nutrition Centre, in an interesting article in *De Volkskrant* on Saturday 16 June 2018, which you here can be found.

The table below shows the calcium content of two dairy products and water.

Semi-skimmed milk (250 ml): 300 mg
Cheese (per slice): 160 mg
Water in Dronten (250ml): 9mg

The table below shows the magnesium content of two products and of water.

Dark chocolate (100 grams): 210 mg
Avocado (per piece): 58mg
Water in Dronten (250ml): 0.66mg

Spring water is no healthier than tap water. In the Netherlands, tap water is of excellent quality from a health perspective. In fact, our tap water is subject to much stricter quality standards than bottled spring water. Bottled mineral or spring water therefore does not always meet drinking water standards. In accordance with statutory requirements, our drinking water is tested for 65 substances. The quality requirements for bottled water are set out in the Packaged Waters Decree under the Commodities Act. This decree specifies the maximum or minimum permitted levels for only 15 substances in the water.

What’s more, tap water costs just a fraction of the price of spring water. Tap water costs around 0.1 cents per litre. Spring water is therefore at least 500 times more expensive than tap water. Furthermore, spring water varies greatly in composition, so you can never claim that it is healthier – after all, what constitutes ‘healthy’? For example: Spa Rood contains 5 mg of sodium per litre, whilst Vichy Célestin contains 1,172 mg of sodium per litre. For a sodium-restricted diet, the Recommended Daily Intake is 2,000 mg of sodium per day. Given that we drink an average of about one and a half litres of water a day, if you were to drink only Vichy, you would already be close to the maximum. How is that healthy?

Furthermore, much tap water is extracted from the ground and is therefore, strictly speaking, also spring water. For example, the tap water in Utrecht is drawn from the same source as the spring water from Bar-le-Duc and Sourcy (Quest, July 2016)

That is indeed allowed. It does, however, warrant an explanation. The key point is that water must not be left standing for too long, due to the risk of bacterial growth. If water stands still for a long time – in the shower head, the Quooker, the water softener, etc. – this can lead to bacterial growth. So when you return from holiday, you should always flush out your pipes to resolve this potential problem. Incidentally, this is precisely the case for ‘mooiwater’ water softeners not necessary is because all our models feature a (automatic) hygiene/holiday mode have!

If you are at home but, for whatever reason, use very little water and/or have a large water softener that requires very little flushing anyway, it may take a long time before your water softener starts to regenerate. There could easily be a gap of two weeks between two flushes. However, this is not a cause for concern. As long as there is daily water consumption, your pipes and your water softener remain free from the risk of contamination. Only if no water is used for more than about six days should you flush your pipes and activate the holiday mode on your Mooiwater water softener.

Yes, that’s true. Read on. To help them sleep better, people with sleep apnoea therefore use a CPAP machine. The CPAP machine blows air under pressure into the throat and/or nose. This keeps the throat open, so the patient no longer snores and the breathing pauses no longer occur.

CPAP machines need to be cleaned regularly because, amongst other things, limescale builds up inside them. If you use a water softener, this won’t be a problem for you. This also means that dirt no longer sticks to the limescale. As a result, the CPAP machine is much easier to clean thanks to the descaled water.

Customers of Mooiwater who also suffer from sleep apnoea report that, thanks to descaled water, they need to clean their CPAP machine less often and that it works more effectively.

‘A brilliant product that every sleep apnoea patient who uses a CPAP at night should have. The air humidification works much better because there’s no limescale in the water, and the device, the tube and the mask stay clean.’

T. van Duinen, a customer of Mooiwater.

Click here For more information on water softeners and sleep apnoea

Most people prefer soft water to hard water. This claim seems difficult to substantiate, given that tastes vary. Nevertheless, we were keen to find out what most people actually prefer: water containing limescale or limescale-free water. That is why we investigated what people really think of the taste of softened water.

We asked more than 300 people what they thought of the taste of lime-free water. And what did we find? The vast majority prefer soft water to hard water (62%). Only 11% found it less palatable, whilst 27% could not taste any difference.

Click here for the study ‘Taste of water from a water softener’

The water softeners from beautiful water are highly efficient. In fact, they are the most energy-efficient water softeners in the Netherlands. We’d be happy to explain how our advanced water softeners achieve this.

In every water softener available on the market, the softening process takes place through a simple chemical reaction (calcium and magnesium ions are exchanged for sodium ions). This process is the same for all water softeners! Once the resin is “saturated” with calcium and magnesium, it must be cleaned and then rinsed with brine (sodium). So far, there is no difference between the various water softeners available on the market.

It is only when you rinse it that it becomes clear whether this efficient takes place (using as little salt as possible), or whether this inefficient happens (increased salt consumption than necessary). On our page Compared with… we explain exactly how the differences in salt consumption – and therefore efficiency – arise.

Only the volume-controlled units (such as our Duplex) and the proportional time + volume-controlled units (Comfort and Excellent series) operate at 100% efficiency, making them the most efficient available. It couldn’t be any more efficient!

When making a purchase, it is therefore wise to consider both the purchase price and efficiency. Only the combination of a competitive purchase price and 100% efficiency will give you the best starting point for your decision-making. Our appliances are affordable to buy and economical to run.

Our Mooiwater water softeners are often compared to flow-through water softeners with just one resin cylinder. Below, we explain why you’re actually better off choosing a Mooiwater water softener.

Electricity-free water softeners are usually supplied with two resin cylinders. This makes sense because the resin cylinders are rinsed as soon as they have softened a preset number of litres of water. This can therefore happen at any time of the day, even when you’re having a shower or your dishwasher’s running! At that moment, you’ll have hard water, and you don’t want that. As the resin cylinders are usually very small as well, this flushing takes place approximately every 1 metre³ water consumption. So if you use 150m³ How much water have you used? No soft water 150 times a year!

If you purchase a power-free water softener with two cylinders, the other small cylinder will still be available whilst one saturated cylinder is being flushed. However, you will have to pay a hefty price. If you were to purchase the much more attractively priced single-cylinder flow-free water softener, you would need to bear in mind that you very often no soft water has.

That is why we almost always supply programmable water softeners. These only flush when there is no water consumption (usually at night) and, even then, only once every two weeks. One of the many benefits electric water softeners.

Yes, all Mooiwater water softeners have a dry salt reservoir. All our water softeners use salt 100% efficiently, resulting in the lowest possible running costs. The system achieves this by calculating on a daily basis whether regeneration (rinsing) of the system is required, or whether this can be postponed for another day because the resin can still absorb sufficient limescale.

If a flush is required, the system will calculate exactly how many litres of brine need to be prepared a few hours before regeneration. Never too much (which would result in high salt consumption) and never too little (so that the resin is not rinsed properly). An additional advantage is that there is a dry salt flat, the salt tablets are not submerged in water for days or weeks; instead, water is only added at the very last moment to create the brine. This means that clumps and a thick layer of salt cannot form, which prevents blockages and contamination.

All the water softeners from beautiful water can be fitted, as an option, with a so-called disinfection module, but we’d rather not do that. That might sound a bit strange, so we’d like to explain it below.

If the resin in your water softener is saturated with limescale, it needs to be rinsed clean. This is done using brine. The brine causes the limescale to detach from the resin, after which it is flushed away through the drains.

The salt used to make the brine consists of sodium and chloride ions. The sodium ions cause the limescale to detach from the resin, whilst the chloride ions serve no purpose and are discharged into the sewer system with the waste water.

However, if we install a disinfection module for you, chlorine is produced from the chlorine ions by means of a process known as electrolysis. In addition to sodium, chlorine is therefore also passed through the resin during the rinsing process. Just as in a swimming pool, this has a disinfecting effect and thus prevents the potential growth of bacteria. Naturally, all the chlorine is subsequently flushed out of the resin tank during the rest of the backwash process. You cannot smell it or taste it, just as you cannot taste the salt once the resin has been regenerated with it. Furthermore, any contamination of the salt supply will have absolutely no chance of contaminating your resin.

Nevertheless, all our water softeners are supplied as standard without a disinfection module. We have a good reason for this. On the one hand, bacterial growth is in itself quite unlikely because during each regeneration cycle the resin is rinsed with a 100% salt solution, which bacteria cannot survive. On the other hand, the risk of bacterial growth (such as the well-known Legionella) mainly arises when water remains stagnant for long periods. This can occur, for example, whilst you are on holiday. However, all our flow-controlled water softeners are equipped with a hygiene/holiday mode! This ensures that a gentle rinse takes place every 4 days, keeping your wax fresh and free from bacteria. So bacteria don’t stand a chance! Finally, and most importantly, the chlorination in a disinfection module only takes place during a rinse cycle, and the first rinse cycle will probably not take place until you’ve been back home for several days! As far as we’re concerned, a disinfection module is therefore the wrong solution to the problem. We’d rather prevent bacteria from forming.

If you would still like a disinfection module, we can offer you the Premium water softener. This does come with a disinfection module. The choice is yours.

So which is better? A disinfection module or the sort found in water softeners like the Mooiwater: a hygiene/holiday mode?
Many water softeners are fitted with a disinfection module. But is this really necessary? Isn’t it a bit like closing the stable door after the horse has bolted? Wouldn’t it be much better to equip a water softener with a hygiene/holiday mode?

What does a disinfection module do?
A disinfection module ensures that the water softener is flushed not only with salt but also with chlorine. This provides a disinfecting effect and thus prevents the potential growth of bacteria. However, this only occurs during a rinse cycle. And during the rinse cycle, the water softener is already being rinsed with 99.9% pure salt. So the risk of bacterial growth is already negligible at that stage. The risk of bacterial growth is greatest when you are away from home for a few days. But when you get back home, the water softener often doesn’t start flushing again until a few days later. In other words, the damage will already have been done by then. It is therefore better to fit the water softener with a hygiene/holiday mode rather than a disinfection module.

Hygiene/holiday mode for water softener
All Mooiwater water softeners are fitted with a hygiene/holiday mode as standard. This prevents bacteria from forming in the first place. If you don’t use any water for a few days, the water softener will automatically carry out a short rinse cycle, preventing any chance of bacteria forming. In short, prevention is better than cure (once it’s too late).

If you would still like a disinfection module, we can offer you the Premium range. These water softeners do come with a disinfection module. The choice is yours.

Soft water isn’t bad for your pipes. Soft water is gentle on your pipes, just as it is on your skin. It would be rather strange if dermatologists recommended a water softener if you suffer from, say, eczema, but your pipes couldn’t cope with it. So how did this myth come about? It’s very simple soft water is mistaken for acidic water. Acidic water causes corrosion in your pipes, but soft water is not acidic. Soft water is neutral (pH between 7 and 8), just like hard water. The fact that the calcium and magnesium ions in softened water are replaced by sodium ions does not affect the acidity (pH-neutral).

Corrosive water is water that is slightly acidic and is therefore not pH-neutral, but has a pH lower than 7. Corrosive (acidic) water does cause damage to pipes (corrosion). A well-known example of water with a low pH is carbonated sparkling water. This has a pH of 3–4. Fortunately, acidic water and water softening are not related.

This may sound strange, as the competition tends to place a great deal of emphasis on the supposed differences between non-electric (mechanical) and electric (electronic) water softeners, but it is actually true.

If you have a beautiful water If your water softener has one (except for the Duplex, as that one is battery-free) and you unplug it from the socket, it will simply carry on working as normal. The tap water is forced through the water softener by water pressure; the resin beads remove the limescale from the water, and the softened, limescale-free water then flows out of your tap.

The power connection used with our water softeners has nothing to do with the water softening process itself, but serves only two purposes:

1. Once the resin is saturated with limescale, it must be flushed with brine at a certain point. With our water softeners, the control unit determines when this happens, the amount of brine used, and so on. This requires electricity, for the timer, amongst other things. A mechanical water softener does not have a control unit; the rinse cycle is triggered by water pressure rather than electricity. Nothing more and nothing less.
2. As our water softeners are connected to the mains, it is possible to incorporate smart features into the system. A few examples?
   1. The electronic timer allows you to set the system to flush at night, as water is hardly ever used at that time. This is not possible with a water-free water softener. For this reason, these water softeners are usually fitted (at considerable expense) with a second resin cylinder so that you are not suddenly confronted with hard water whilst showering.
   2. beautiful water Water softeners are fitted with a low-salt warning system (except for our battery-free model). This is not possible with a mechanical water softener, so you will always have to check yourself whether salt needs to be topped up. Incidentally, not all electronic water softeners are fitted with this handy feature either.
   3. Our water softeners have what is known as a “Holiday Mode”. When you go on holiday, there is no water consumption.  beautiful water Water softeners will carry out a small service flush every four days, even when no water is being used, to keep the resin fresh and prevent water from standing for long periods. Non-electric water softeners will never flush as long as there is no water usage, resulting in water remaining stagnant for long periods. It is worth noting, however, that almost no electronic water softener is equipped with this useful feature.

In short, there are nothing but advantages to an electrically operated water softener compared to a mechanical (non-electric) one. The claim that non-electric water softeners are better or more advanced is completely unfounded. Reliability is also beyond dispute. That is why we offer a warranty of up to 20 years on our water softeners, as we are confident in their long service life. And what about electricity consumption? It amounts to approximately €2.50 per year in total.

As the water has to pass through the resin, there will be a slight loss of pressure. This happens with every water softener, but fortunately the pressure loss with beautiful water Water softeners have a very limited effect. In other words, if you draw 11 litres of water per minute from the tap without a water softener, this will drop to perhaps 10.5 litres after installing one. In practice, you won’t notice any difference.

It should be noted that if you do NOT have a water softener, over the long term you will actually experience an increasing problem with a slight loss of pressure due to limescale build-up in the pipes.

Example: A shower head that hasn’t been descaled will result in a significant loss of pressure and water flow if you don’t clean it regularly. With a water softener, this will never be necessary again.

When we consider the quality of water in the Netherlands, there is no reason to switch to soft water on health grounds. The Netherlands has excellent water, and we are pleased about that. The reasons for purchasing a water softener lie in a completely different area. A water softener ensures that you need to use less washing powder and cleaning products. A water softener keeps your bathroom looking clean without you having to scrub it. A water softener prevents limescale build-up in your appliances, which would otherwise cause them to break down much sooner, etc. You can read more about this at this page.

In short: a water softener makes life easier, is good for the environment and pays for itself.

See also: When is a water softener needed?

No, a water softener does not alter the pH of the water. Limescale-free water has only had the minerals calcium and magnesium removed, whereas demineralised water has had all minerals and other solid particles removed, leaving simply H₂O, or pure water.

With softening alone, the composition of the water therefore changes only very slightly, and this prevents any change in the Total Dissolved Solids (TDS) and carbonate hardness (KH). If you were to measure both of these values, you would find them to be the same before and after softening.
If these values are affected, the water will have a different acidity level (pH value). Acidic water is corrosive and can corrode copper pipes and other metals such as chromium. Acidic (corrosive) water must therefore never be used.

Lime-free water is actually good for copper pipes. The coarse lime in hard water actually causes the pipes to wear out more quickly than demineralised water, which keeps the pipes clean and smooth. This has been extensively researched and demonstrated by TNO on behalf of Aquacombi. (You can find the report by Googling ‘TNO 2012 r10424’).

So where does this myth come from? It’s quite simple. Soft water (low in calcium) found in nature almost always has a high acidity (pH) and corrodes copper pipes and other metals (causing them to rust). Your tap water, however, is pH-neutral/non-acidic, and a water softener does not alter the acidity. So soft water produced by a water softener is neither demineralised nor acidic, and does not corrode your pipes at all.

The Drinking Water Decree states that water companies must not reduce the hardness of drinking water to below 5.6^odH.

Nevertheless, the Vitens, amongst others, supplies tap water with a much lower hardness level. For example, in Epe. In some places there, the water hardness is 2.7^odH. Click here regarding water hardness in the 8161 BL postcode area. The water hardness there is so low because the pumped groundwater naturally has a very low hardness, and there is absolutely no reason to increase this hardness to, for example, 5.6^odH.

Water Work Sheet 4.6, published by the Association of Drinking Water Companies, states:

The treated water must comply with the quality requirements set out in the
Drinking Water Decree, Annex A.

And Appendix A states that the hardness must be at least 5.6^oIt must be dH. We don’t know why this is the case; we have contacted several water companies but have never received a clear answer. Once again, they supply water with a much lower hardness level without any objection, but do not soften it themselves beyond 5.6.^odH.

Whatever the reason, the criteria applied by water companies do not apply to private individuals. The Waterwerkblad (Worksheet 4.6.4, January 2017) states:

4. Criteria for the softening of drinking water
4.2 Domestic installations
A monitoring programme is not required for domestic installations, nor are there any specific requirements regarding drinking water quality.

You may therefore soften your tap water to 0.0 without any concerns^odH.

Conclusion: According to their own standards, drinking water companies must not soften water beyond 5.6 ^odH, but they are allowed to supply it and they do. We understand that, as there is absolutely no reason to advise against removing limescale from water. Not even for health reasons. Read more about Water softeners and health.

Incidentally, if desired, our water softeners can be set to a residual hardness of 1, 2 or 3^oThe dH can be set up without any problems. All our devices are fitted with what is known as a mixing valve. However, we advise against this because you’ll still end up with a bit of limescale, and there’s absolutely no reason for it.

Yes, soft water also removes limescale that is already present. That is why soft water is also referred to as “aggressive water” in trade journals. That may not sound very positive, but it actually is! Because all the limescale has been removed from the water, softened water can absorb the limescale already present in pipes, kettles, washing machines and so on, and make everything limescale-free. The term ‘aggressive’ is used to describe this property because limescale-free water, just like ‘aggressive’ cleaning products, has this cleansing effect. Unlike aggressive cleaning products, however, limescale-free water is actually good for the environment. You no longer need to use these cleaning products and you achieve the same result. As well as ‘aggressive’ water, there is also ‘corrosive’ water. This is water with a high acidity level. This water does corrode copper pipes. For further explanation about corrosive water, see the myth: ‘Soft water corrodes copper pipes.’

Residual hardness

All our water softeners come fitted with a mixing valve as standard, which allows us to set the residual hardness level very precisely. So if you wish, we can do that. The question, then, is not whether it’s possible, but why you would want to. It is sometimes claimed that you need at least a residual hardness of 2dH and sometimes even a residual hardness of 5.6dH. Well, to put it simply, you don’t have to do anything at all; it’s your water, and whether you want to make lemonade out of it or soften it to 0dH is entirely up to you.

A frequently asked question about water softeners is: Can a water softener be installed in the meter cupboard? The answer to this is yes. Of course, you do need to meet a number of conditions, but that’s only to be expected. For example, the water softener must not obstruct other equipment, and the installations in the meter cupboard must be easily accessible.

Our professional fitters naturally take this into account, and in doing so, our water softeners Designed in terms of size and safety to be ideal for installation in the meter cupboard.

Guidelines for the meter cupboard

The Building Regulations contain a number of guidelines. As described above, the relevant authorities must be able to access the installations in the meter cupboard easily. However, once the property has been handed over, the layout of the meter cupboard is the responsibility of the occupier. You are therefore responsible for this yourself and are free to decide on the layout. Because the Mooiwater compact water softeners As they are compact and a practical size, they can be installed easily and safely in most meter cupboards.

Mr Frank Visser on the water softener in the meter cupboard

It is sometimes claimed that the network operator prohibits the installation of a water softener in the meter cupboard. On the TV programme ‘Mr Frank Visser: Are You Being Helped?‘ on SBS6, it was suggested that the network operator prohibits the installation of a water softener in the meter cupboard. This is incorrect. The network operator in question, Westland Infra, therefore issued a correction following the broadcast. You can read the correction here.

Is it dangerous to have a water softener in the meter cupboard?

We can be brief on this point too. A water softener in the meter cupboard is not dangerous, provided it is installed correctly. The likelihood of a water softener leaking is not very high. Furthermore, our water softeners are fitted with an overflow. This has reduced the risk of leakage even further. We now have thousands of them in the Netherlands water softeners in the meter cupboard stand, and this is actually never a problem.

No, soft water is not bad for your central heating boiler or water heater. We are regularly told that suppliers of central heating boilers and water heaters advise against using softened water, claiming that doing so could even invalidate the warranty. The crux of this discussion is whether softened water can have a negative impact on water heaters and central heating boilers. The short and simple answer to that is: no.

For a detailed (and technical) answer, see Is softened water bad for your central heating boiler or water heater?

The water softeners from beautiful water have a very long service life. That is why we also offer guarantees of trouble-free operation for up to 20 years. It is, however, essential that very pure salt is used to flush the system.

That is why the use of high-quality vacuum salt tablets is essential. beautiful water supplies refined vacuum salt tablets with a salt content (NaCl content) of at least 99.9%. Less pure salts contain more impurities and therefore affect the service life of the resin and cause blockages in your water softener.

The salt tablets we supply are very hard and dissolve extremely evenly. Lower-quality salt tablets not only contain more impurities, but will also disintegrate over time, forming a salt crust at the bottom of the salt container, which carries the risk of blockages in the salt reservoir.

In short, to maintain your water softener and prevent contamination and blockages, it is very important to use high-quality salt that contains no powdered salt or anti-caking agents. Only salt that complies with the European standard EN 973 Type A meets these requirements and can be used in the food industry and for domestic water softening.

Fortunately, softened water doesn’t taste salty.

To soften tap water, the minerals calcium and magnesium are removed from the water and replaced by the mineral sodium. It is only when sodium combines with chlorine that it forms salt (NaCl) and therefore tastes salty. Because we only add sodium to the water and no chlorine, softened water does not taste salty. Nevertheless, some people do claim to taste a difference between soft and hard water. And that may well be true; after all, we do remove the calcium and magnesium and add sodium. Whether the difference can be tasted – and whether the water is therefore more or less palatable – we leave to the user’s own judgement. For example, spring waters contain sodium, calcium and magnesium in varying amounts and therefore always taste slightly different.

Our water softening salt is, in fact, very pure salt, free from all possible impurities and therefore perfectly suitable for consumption. It is salt in its purest form. It has been specially purified to ensure that your water softener can operate trouble-free for years without the salt leaving any impurities in your equipment or clumping together. This could lead to malfunctions, which we would like to prevent. Table salt is less pure and will therefore, over time, contaminate the water softener, inevitably leading to malfunctions. That is why you should use specially purified water softening salt.

We know exactly how our salt is produced and purified; we don’t know this about other types of water-softening salt. That’s why we’d like you to use our salt – only then can we be sure it’s top quality.

There may be times when you run out of salt. Usually, the system will still be able to supply several cubic metres of softened water, but eventually you’ll run out of soft water. You’ll notice this straight away, as soft water really does feel different from hard water.

Fortunately, this has no negative effect whatsoever on your water softener. The only thing is that you won’t have soft water until the salt has been topped up again – that’s all.

Once you have topped up the salt, it is, of course, important to carry out a forced rinse. You can find instructions on how to do this in the information booklet provided. After the rinse, your water softener will immediately start supplying soft water again, and you can enjoy it without any worries.

A water softener is good for the environment, as it significantly reduces the use of detergents, cleaning products and personal care products, and even cuts the need for descaling agents down to zero! In addition, using a water softener improves the efficiency of heating elements in Qookers, kettles, boilers, etc.

It is true, however, that the use of a water softener is associated with the use of salt. Salt itself is not harmful to the environment. In the winter of 2014–2015, for example, around 100 million kilograms of road salt ended up on the streets, and even such quantities do not cause environmental problems. Nevertheless, we want to minimise salt consumption as much as possible; this is good for your wallet and for the environment. After all, whatever is added to the water must also be removed by the water company. That is why our MooiWater water softeners are the most economical available. An average family uses between 50 and 75 kilos of salt per year.

A water softener is good for the environment, because a water softener significantly reduces the amount of washing powder, cleaning products and personal care products needed, and even cuts the need for descaling agents to zero! In addition, using a water softener improves the efficiency of heating elements in Quokers, kettles, boilers and so on. However, it is true that using a water softener involves the use of salt. Salt itself is not harmful to the environment. In the winter of 2014–2015, for example, around 100 million kilograms of road salt ended up on the streets, and even such quantities do not cause environmental problems. Nevertheless, we want to minimise salt consumption as much as possible; this is good for your wallet and for the environment. After all, whatever is added to the water has to be removed again by the water company. That is why our MooiWater water softeners are the most economical on the market. An average family uses between 50 and 75 kilos of salt per year.

A Mooiwater water softener is very economical with salt.

Over time, the resin in the water softener becomes saturated and needs to be rinsed. Salt is used for this purpose. Because our water softeners are so incredibly efficient, they use salt very sparingly. Our water softeners use approximately 1 kg of salt per 2 m³. An average household uses around 150 m³ of water and will therefore only use around 75 kg of salt. We also offer our salt at a competitive price. So we’re both efficient and cost-effective. Good for your wallet and good for the environment. The cost of the salt, combined with the purchase price, makes a system attractive – do bear this in mind when you decide to buy one.

Water hardness in the Netherlands is average and contains enough limescale to cause problems.

In the Netherlands, water hardness is expressed in dH (German hardness). If the hardness is 1dH, the water contains 17.8 grams of calcium carbonate per cubic metre (1 m³ = 1,000 litres)*.

The average hardness in the Netherlands is approximately 8dH. At 8dH, tap water therefore contains 8 × 17.8 = 142.4 grams of calcium carbonate per cubic metre.

Suppose you use a very average amount of 150 m³ of water per year. That amounts to over 21 kg of limescale per year! You can well imagine the effect this has on your pipes, kettle, washing machine, coffee machine, etc. For more information, please visit Water hardness | How hard is the water in your local area? | Mooiwater

Yes, with soft water, you need less soap, shampoo and cleaning products.

One of the properties of limescale is that it binds with soap, shampoo and cleaning products. This means that the limescale present in the water must, as it were, first be neutralised by these products. Only then can they get on with their actual purpose, such as washing your hair, cleaning your dishwasher or washing your clothes. This allows the products to do exactly what they’re meant to do straight away, and you need far less of them. So, in most cases, you’ll only use half – or even less – of what you’re used to. That’s good for the environment and your wallet – we call it sustainable comfort. This is confirmed by Menno Gaastra, a dermatologist at the Oosterwal Skin Medical Centre, in an interesting article in *De Volkskrant* on Saturday 16 June 2018, which you here can be found.

No, you no longer need harsh cleaning products if you have a water softener.

Strong cleaning products are needed to remove limescale from your coffee machine, shower cubicle, kettle or taps. Softened water no longer contains limescale, so there’s never any need to remove limescale (or limescale build-up) again. It’s as simple as that. As the saying goes: prevention is better than cure. We call it sustainable comfort.

If, despite all this, your appliance still indicates that it needs descaling, this is because the appliance in question is factory-set to descale regularly. You can specify in the appliance whether you have softer or harder water, but a hardness level of 0 cannot usually be set. You have two options: either ignore the message completely, or carry out a descaling cycle without adding any descaling agent. The appliance will then still think that it has been descaled and will leave you in peace for the time being.

Yes, cold water also leaves limescale deposits. Cold water contains just as much calcium and magnesium as hot water. It is true, however, that most of the actual limescale formation (calcium carbonate) only occurs once the water is heated above a certain temperature. However, your cold tap water is not usually used for drinking, for example, but is very often heated anyway, for instance in a coffee machine or a dishwasher.

What’s more, cold water does indeed leave limescale marks over time – just think of your toilet bowl. This happens because cold water evaporates, causing the limescale dissolved in the water to precipitate. The cleaning products used for the toilet and your taps are specifically designed to remove that limescale.

In the wild, plants, shrubs and trees usually obtain their water solely from rainwater, which they draw up from the soil through their roots. If the vegetation is situated near a stream, a spring or, for example, the sea, it can also obtain its water in other ways.

As most vegetation depends on rainwater, it stands to reason that this is the best water a tree, shrub or plant can receive. It is not without reason that it is recommended to water your pot plants with rainwater wherever possible, for example by collecting it in a rain barrel. In principle, rainwater contains no salts or minerals, as these are left behind during evaporation. Its hardness is close to a dH value of 0. You might now think that this means softened water is also perfect for your garden, but softened water is actually quite different from rainwater.

During water softening, the minerals magnesium and calcium are removed from the water and the mineral sodium is added. One mineral is therefore replaced by another, and the composition of softened water is thus fundamentally different from that of rainwater. Watering with softened water therefore requires softening salt; whilst this does no harm, it also offers no benefit. If you do not have rainwater available and you feel it’s a shame to use the water softener, it’s no trouble at all.

With Mooiwater water softeners, you can simply just rotate the bypass a quarter turn and you’ll have your old (unsoftened) tap water available straight away. After watering, turn the bypass valve back a quarter turn. It’s a piece of cake.

If your tap water is softened using an ion-exchange water softener (such as the ‘mooiwater’ system), the calcium and magnesium ions are replaced by sodium ions. This reduces the German hardness (dH) to 0dH. However, this value is actually never mentioned on the various websites about the quality of aquarium or pond water. When it comes to aquarium or pond water, the focus is always on KH (Karbonat Härte, German for carbonate hardness) and GH (Gesamt Härte, German for total hardness). Both of these values change when using a water softener. Although the correct values for KH and GH may vary depending on the species of fish you keep, it is always a safe choice not to alter the water composition. If your fish are thriving in the water you’ve always used, then when filling your aquarium or pond, you can Just turn the bypass a quarter turn. You’ll then have your (unsoftened) tap water available again straight away. It’s a piece of cake, and perhaps you and your fish will feel more comfortable that way. Don’t forget to put the bypass back in place after filling the tank!