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5. Product Comparison
5. Product Comparison
5.1 Vulcan vs. Water Softeners
Vulcan is an electronic (capacitive) impulse based,
eco-friendly water treatment system that solves your
problems with scale and rust. However, there are other
units available that are based on other principles.
Salt-based water softeners
(so-called ion-exchangers)
are using salt and chemicals to treat the water. They
are installed into the piping system which should only
be done by a professional plumber. They exchange the
minerals (calcium and magnesium ions) with twice as
much sodium (salt) ions. As calcium and magnesium
gets deleted, the water is softer afterwards. This way
softeners considerably increase the sodium content of the
water which can cause considerable health threats and
certainly is a threat for the environment.
Burning money:
Regular water softeners are not only
expensive to purchase but also you will need a specialist
to do the installation. Once in place you will have to
constantly refill it with salt. Never-ending maintenance:
Maintenance includes the constant refilling with salt, the
washing of the granule and the checking of valves and
measuring station.
Wasting resources:
softeners require large amounts of
salt and huge amounts of additional water of up to 30-80
gallons per wash (~110-300 l) to operate.
Water softeners need a lot of manpower as they constantly
need to be fine-tuned and controlled. Especially season-
related changes of the water quality (summer/ winter ) are
often simply forgotten to consider for the programming.
The human error factor then prevents the unit from
performing correctly.
Health issues:
Babies, children, elderly people, people
with salt restricted diets or anyone who is health-conscious
should consult a physician regarding the sodium intake
increase when using a water softener. The water loses
its natural taste and may even taste salty. Also you may
have to supplement the important minerals calcium and
magnesium in your daily diet.
It is important to note that many of the water softeners
have a bypass feature that will allow you to bypass the
cold water in the kitchen. This will enable you to use
unsoftened water for drinking and cooking. In addition,
bypassing the cold water tap in the kitchen will prevent
minerals from being removed from the water. However,
then only part of your pipes are protected.
Water softeners make your water softer. But
... is that always a good idea?
... is it necessary to have extremely soft water?
The answers are simple:
No and No.
Hard water is a real nightmare as long as the scale builds
deposits. The minerals calcium and magnesium in itself
are good substances. Once you minimize the adhesivenes
sof the scale, it no longer bothers you as deposits but you
can benefit from the healthy minerals. Very soft water is
also not recommended for pipes as is might damage them
(the soft water is too acidic).
Legislation and the Environment
The environment
Water resources are a valuable good. We require large
amounts of fresh water but only 2.5% of the Earth‘s water
is fresh, and over two thirds of that is frozen in glaciers
and ice caps. The use of water softeners contributes to
a decrease in the available fresh water on our planet.
Therefore, it is important to use eco-friendly technologies
and stop harming the environment.
The US government has started to put a ban on
water softeners
For the above mentioned reasons and mainly due to the
great threat to the environment, the US government has
started to ban softeners.
