A water softener is an appliance that uses sodium chloride, also known as salt, to treat hard water. Hard water contains an excess of minerals such as calcium, magnesium, manganese and iron that can be an expensive nuisance for your home. These minerals are taken up in the underground water supply and, as the water is heated in your home, they crystallize and stubbornly stick to household surfaces. Sodium chloride, the effective component of water softener, works to replace these unwanted minerals.

A water softener is a fairly simple appliance that is stocked with salt. The water supply passes through the water softener over resin beds, rows of specialized beads that perform an ion-exchange. The resin beds chemically attract the unwanted 'hard' mineral ions and exchange them with soft, harmless sodium ions.

When the resin beds become saturated with the minerals, the water softener flushes them out with a salt solution called brine and the process begins again. A water softener is easy to operate and maintain. All that needs to be done after installation is to periodically add sodium chloride, and the water softener does the rest.

You can easily tell if you need a water softener simply by bathing. If your water is hard, your soap will not lather well. You will also appreciate a water softener if you find that your bath and sink has a build up of soap scum that is difficult to remove. The soap scum is actually the mineral deposits left by hard water. You may also find build up left on dishes, coffee makers and in dishwashers.

Though they are great indicators of hard water, soap scum and the inability for soap to lather properly are not the sole reasons you might need a water softener. These minerals can cause severe problems with your plumbing and appliances that use water, such as water heaters and dishwashers. Calcium, magnesium, and the other minerals in hard water insidiously build up in your pipes and will begin to interfere with pipe drainage and water pressure. Eventually, this build up can lead to completely blocked pipes.