Salt Institute

Salt Institute

  • Food
    • Food News & Articles
    • Food Videos
    • Food Publications
    • Food Research
    • Food Agricultural Salt
    • Salt and Trace Minerals Newsletter
  • Health
    • Health News & Articles
    • Health Videos
    • Health Publications
    • Health Research
  • Road
    • Snowfighting
    • Road News & Articles
    • Road Videos
    • Road Publications
    • Road Research
  • Water
    • Water News & Articles
    • Water Videos
    • Water Publications
    • Water Research
  • Salt 101
    • Ask the Salt Guru
    • External Resources
    • Just for Kids
    • Physical Properties
    • Production & Industry
  • About
    • Press
    • Member Companies
  • Press
  • Shop
  • Contact Us

June 13, 2013 By The Salt Institute

Battelle Study Documents Anti-scaling Benefits of Water Softeners

Water softeners virtually eliminate energy-wasting, service life-shortening scale accumulation on gas and electric water heaters, according to a new study by Battelle Memorial Institute on “Benefits of removal of water hardness (calcium and magnesium ions) from a water supply.” Testing electric water heaters over an equivalent 15 months of service found 64 times more scaling on unsoftened water than softened water (14 grams/year softened versus 907 g/yr for unsoftened). For gas water heaters, the scale reduction was even more dramatic. Over more than two years’ equivalent service, heaters fed with unsoftened water accumulated 74 time the amount of scaling as those fed softened water (7 g/yr for softened versus 528 for unsoftened). Instantaneous gas heaters fed unsoftened water declined in thermal efficiency from 80 to 72 and, even when delimed, only recovered 62% of the lost efficiency. The thermal efficiency of all water heaters using softened water was unimpaired.

“For gas storage and instantaneous water heaters, the use of a water softener to eliminate or minimize the scale forming compounds in water will result in the efficiency of the water heater remaining constant over the life of the unit. In contrast, gas storage and instantaneous water heaters using unsoftened water had a noticeable decrease in efficiency over the testing period resulting in higher natural gas use.

The increase in total energy consumption (as a result of a reduction in heat transfer efficiency) is related to hardness: higher water hardness will lead to greater energy consumption without the use of water softener, and consequently greater energy costs.”

The report calculates the percentage of lifecycle energy cost savings using softeners ranging from 3.1% for “moderately hard” water with 5 grains hardness per gallon to 6.6% for “hard” water with 10 grains hardness, 14.5% for “very hard” water with 20 grains hardness and 24.2% for water with 30 grains hardness.

Full Study Available Here.

Related

Filed Under: Water Tagged With: Batelle Memorial Institute, calcium, magnesium ions, research, study, water hardness, water heaters, water softener

Tweets by @WithALittleSalt

ABOUT US

Salt

The Salt Institute is a North American based non-profit trade association dedicated to advancing the many benefits of salt, particularly to ensure winter roadway safety, quality water and healthy nutrition.

We are located at:

405 5th Ave. South, Suite 7C
Naples, FL 34102-6515, USA
Phone: 239-231-3305
Fax: 239-330-1492

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
  • RSS

CONTACT US

  • captcha

Copyright © 2019 · Salt Institute. All rights reserved. Privacy Policy | Terms of Use

Antitrust Policy: It is the policy of the Salt Institute (SI), and it is the responsibility of every Association member company, to comply in all respects with federal and State antitrust laws and the Board of Directors has adopted an antitrust policy to that effect. No SI activity is intended to be or shall be used for the purpose of bringing about any understanding or agreement among members to (a) raise, lower, or stabilize prices; (b) regulate production; (c) allocate markets; (d) encourage boycotts; (e) foster unfair trade practices; (f) assist monopolization, or (g) in any way violate federal or State antitrust laws. Any and all meetings, communications, conference calls, shared resources and collaborative workspaces (including, without limitation, the SI website; web or online chats; blogs; social or business networking tools [such as Linkedin, Facebook, myspace, and Twitter]; data sharing; document sharing; forums; instant messaging; Skype; wikis; voice clips broadcast; podcasts and web publishing) conducted under SI’s auspices (collectively referred to as "SI Resources”) are designed solely to provide a forum or means for the expression of various points of view. It is not the intent of SI that, and under no circumstances shall, SI Resources be used as a means for competing companies to reach any understanding, expressed or implied, which tends to restrict competition, or in any way, to impair the ability of members to exercise independent business judgment regarding matters affecting competition. Any questions regarding the meaning or applicability of this policy, as well as any concerns regarding the activities of SI or the content of any SI Resources, should be promptly brought to the attention of the President of SI or its General Counsel.