Water hardness is a term or value describing how much calcium is dissolved in water. Hard water is not a health problem. On the contrary, the human body needs minerals to stay healthy.
However, for pipes, motors and machinery, it may be necessary to soften the water to prevent scale. Ion exchangers are used to reduce water hardness. They exchange calcium and magnesium ions in hard water for sodium. This substance does not settle in the pipe and therefore cannot damage the system. Salt (NaCl) and water must be added for the chemical reaction: around 1 kg of salt and 40 L of water for one cubic meter of water at a German hardness of 20 dH.
In some cases, completely salt-free water is required; in these cases, water softening is the only solution. In many cases, such as private homes or industrial water, calcium itself is not the problem. It is the settling of limescale that causes problems.
A Merus Ring is not a water softener
With the Merus Ring, calcium remains dissolved in the water instead of settling in pipes and systems. This means that it stays in the water and the water hardness remains unchanged, while the effect is similar to that of water softeners.
The advantage is that installing a Merus Ring is easier and less expensive than installing an ion exchanger. It also has lower maintenance costs because no salt needs to be added.
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