3
2. INTRODUCTION
The DENVER softeners equipments will avoid you all kind of
problems caused by the hardness of the water and will reduce
a lot the maintance requested by your electronical devices.
They will have a longer life.
DENVER equipments will produce softened water of high qua-
lity and they also incorporate a system of residual hardness
that allows you to choose the ideal hardness for your home.
Its simple electronical timer can start-up the equipment
in an easy and quick way.
2.1 What is hardness?
By hardness we understand the quantity of the encrusted
salts present in the water, formed mainly by sales of low solu-
bility in calcium and magnesium. Salts causing the hardness
are mainly:
Calcium bicarbonate: Ca(CO3H)2
Calcium chloride:
CaCl2
Calcium sulfate:
CaSO4
Magnesium bicarbonate:
Mg(CO3H)2
Magnesium chloride: MgCl2
Magnesium sulfate:
MgSO4
These sales, because of their chemical features, tend to
precipitate getting hard in pipes and blocking them becau-
se of accumulation. At the same time the hardness has a
high tendence to be encrusted in the electrical resistance
of heaters and to precipitate inside the heaters because the
temperature rises. The combination of tough minerals and
soap produces a soap curd or cutted soap. This curd soap
reduces the cleaning action of the soap. The mineral preci-
pitation of tough minerals form a crust on cooking utensils,
connections and plumbing fixtures. They even affect the tas-
te of the food.
MAINLY PROBLEMS PROBLEMÁTICAS
Precipitation in pipes, accessories and equipments.
Precipitation in electrical resistances, increase of
energetic consumption because of isolation.
More use of soap and chemical products.
Reduction of life time of the electronical devices and
More need of maintenance.
2.
Introduction
2
UNITS
1 ppm of Calcium
1 ppm ofMagnesium
1 ppm de CaCO3
1º French (ºHF)
1º German (ºd)
1º Englisch (ºe)
1 mmol/L
1 mval/L=eq/L
ppm of CaCO3
2,5
4,13
1
10
17,8
14,3
100
50
º French
0,25
0,413
0,1
1
1,78
1,43
10
5
All these problems are solved when using a softener DEN-
VER range, because the water obtained after being treated
with the system is absolutely free of encrusted salts.
In the most part of Europe the hardness is being expressed
in hydrometric French grades, but there are other measure-
ment units depending on the zone where we are located.
Please see above the equivalents more usual
2.2 How is your system working
The water softening in your system is being done with an
ionic exchange process. To do this we use ionic exchange
resins that have the chemical capacity to capture the Cal-
cium ions (Ca) and Magnesium (Mg), removing them from
the water.
At the same time that the ions of calcium and magnesium
are captured by the resin they liberate Sodium ions (Na), that
with their chemical features create sales with a much higher
solubility ,avoiding the problems related to hardness.
Moreover when we soften the water we increase the sodium
level of the same. You can find a wider explanation of this
aspect in point 2.8.
IONIC EXCHANGE RESINS:
They are synthetic components, normally spheric and
they have the capacity to capturate the chemical par-
ticles present in the water, exchanging them by others.
In the case of the softening we use hard cationic resins,
made of styrene copolymers and divinylbenzene in sul-
fonated basis.
The exchange resin charge is located inside the vessel of
the softener, attending an important part of volume of the
same (between 60 and 75% depending on the model). It
is compulsory that one part of the vessel remains free to
allow a correct regeneration of the resin bed.
