The following guide is intended to help readers answer the most important questions in this context for themselves and their own situation individually and independently. The lime problem and the question of the sense or nonsense of a solution to it is a controversial topic, and not only in Switzerland.
The controversy lies in the fact that the question cannot be answered with a simple answer.
Lime is eliminated from water for various reasons: Pressure differences, temperature differences, different flow rates, different pH values, different compositions are among the most common causes and lead to calcium no longer being soluble in water and being deposited as visible white deposits (limescale) on appliances or pipes.
These deposits can affect household appliances and impair their performance.
Sanitary companies often try to promote descaling systems (salt-based ion exchangers) as the only solution for water treatment and promise limescale-free and soft water, which is supposed to save energy and costs. You can find out why expensive annual maintenance and servicing is necessary for descaling systems with salt in this blog post. However, we will show you below why in 80% of situations it makes more sense to choose a physical limescale protection device over a salt ion exchanger.
We will guide you step by step to the best solution with the 5 most important questions.
According to the Swiss Gas and Water Industry Association (SVGW), the optimum water hardness is approx. 15°fH (8.5°dH).
Furthermore, the SVGW does not recommend softening with salt in residential areas for drinking water up to 32°fH.
The costs and benefits of this method for medium-hard or soft water are disproportionate to the result.
This leads to the first question:
Question 1: What is the water hardness of your drinking water?
You can find out your water hardness from your water supplier.
From 15°fH (8.4°dH), water in Switzerland is described as medium-hard.
It generally makes sense to prevent limescale deposits, even below 15°fH, but the method of limescale prevention is very important.
A salt-based descaling system is of no use in a private household below a water hardness of 15°fH and the SVGW also recommends that drinking water up to 32°fH should not be softened with salt at all. However, alternative technologies without salt can also be used without problems and sensibly below 32°fH. A limescale protection device, on the other hand, leaves 100% of the calcium in the water so that the value remains at the aforementioned optimum.
Nevertheless, your household appliances are protected from limescale deposits and existing limescale deposits in the water pipes are reduced without any detriment to your health or the environment.
Especially in vacation properties, water often stands in the water pipes for weeks or months.
Only limescale protection devices from Tratson generate a standing signal that prevents further limescale deposits from the main connection to the furthest water outlet, even in standing water. Conclusion: Up to a water hardness of 32°fH, only a physical limescale protection device is a sensible investment to protect against limescale deposits. If your water hardness is higher than 32°fH, please answer the next relevant question.
Question 2: Do you often drink your tap water?
As we nowadays consume too much salt = sodium chloride in our food, doctors generally recommend a low-sodium diet.
Excess sodium can be a risk factor for cardiovascular and kidney disease.
The World Health Organization (WHO) therefore recommends a maximum salt consumption of 5 g per person per day (around 1 teaspoon) – this corresponds to approx. 2 g of sodium.
In 2018, the WHO also stated that around 10 to 30% (depending on the country) of cardiovascular deaths in countries in the European region among 20 to 69-year-olds can be attributed to an increased sodium intake (over 2 g per day).
Based on current scientific knowledge, it is recognized that a diet permanently high in salt has the effect of increasing blood pressure and can therefore increase the risk of cardiovascular and kidney disease.
How healthy is softened water?
With conventional descaling systems that work with sodium (salt), it is often claimed that the limescale is removed from the water.
This statement is not wrong, but it is only half the truth.
In fact, calcium is removed from the water but replaced with sodium.
This means that you consume additional sodium with every glass of water, when cooking or brushing your teeth.
This sodium not only pollutes the environment in waste water, but also your body.
This is why the Drinking Water Ordinance specifies the maximum sodium content in drinking water.
This upper limit is 200 mg/L for adults.
For children and adolescents under 18 and adults over 60, however, the guideline value is significantly lower, at just 20 mg/L.
This illustrates how harmful excess sodium in the body can be.
In this context, please note that drinking water in many places already contains approx. 20 mg/L sodium.
Here too, you can ask your water supplier for the exact value.
The following formula will help you to easily calculate the expected sodium content in your drinking water: 1°fH = 4.6mg/L [Natrium] or 1°dH = 8.2mg/L [Natrium] A decalcification system replaces 100% of the calcium with sodium.
This sodium-enriched drinking water flows through the pipe system and can cause the pipes to begin to corrode (rust) internally.
To prevent this from happening and to ensure that the above-mentioned health limit of 200 mg/L is not exceeded, it is essential that untreated fresh water is added to the sodium-enriched drinking water via a bypass to dilute it again and make it usable. Example: If you live in a place with hard water of approx. 40°fH and now want to reduce this to 15°fH, your drinking water will be contaminated with an additional 115 mg/L [Natrium] with a conventional decalcification system with salt [(40-15) * 4.6mg/L].
In addition, there are approx. 20 mg/L that may already be contained in the drinking water.
With a total of 135 mg/L, the guideline value for children and the over 60s is clearly exceeded.
This drinking water is therefore unsuitable for infant formula and in most cases for a low-sodium diet.
Apart from the health disadvantages, sodium also changes the familiar taste of water.
Where chlorine is added to drinking water for disinfection, the taste can even be salty.
This is because the chlorine contained in the water combines with the sodium to form sodium chloride = salt.
The World Health Organization states that an increased sodium intake can be attributed to cardiovascular deaths.
Due to the altered composition of drinking water, considerable differences in taste can also be observed.
With a limescale protection device, the composition of the drinking water is not changed.
Accordingly, the familiar, natural taste of the drinking water is retained.
Only the structure of the calcium is temporarily changed in such a way that the hard, crystalline deposits are greatly reduced. Conclusion: Descaling systems require a regular supply of salt for regeneration.
This replaces calcium with sodium, which impairs the quality of your drinking water.
Question 3: Is this a vacation property?
At first glance, this seems like a strange question.
At second glance, you will understand that there are two important issues behind it, which actually also need to be answered for all other types of property.
1. standing water and limescale deposits
It is statistically proven that in an occupied single-family home, water is in the pipes on average 95% of the time.
There are times of day, such as the morning, when more water tends to be used, in contrast to very long phases, such as at night, when very little or no water is used.
It is precisely during long periods of standstill that limescale begins to build up on the inside walls of the pipes.
It is therefore important to generate a signal with the limescale protection device that reduces the deposits in the entire water pipe network or, in the best case, dissolves existing deposits and thus ensures limescale protection over longer periods in standing water.
In this context, we would also like to point out that products such as magnets, crystals, metal alloys and all turbulence devices can only have a very localized effect and only when the water is flowing(more in our technology comparison).
In other words, only for 5% of a day.
This is a scientific fact and the result can be expected accordingly.
The findings are even more extreme for properties that are only used during the vacations.
If we assume that the vacation property is used for approx. 6 weeks per year, the water is standing for 99% of the time.
Needless to say, this further exacerbates the above problem.
2. germ and bacteria formation in drinking water
In the case of a conventional descaling system with salt, there are other points that need to be taken into account in a vacation property.
The first point to address is the formation of germs in the salt tank.
The water pipe must be opened to install a descaling system.
The salt tank, which needs to be topped up regularly, provides direct access to the drinking water.
This access is the gateway for impurities such as dust, dirt and the breeding ground for microorganisms in the tank that contaminate the drinking water.
In its leaflet W10 027 on descaling systems and ion exchangers, the SVGW points out that the system must be installed in a cool and temperature-constant location.
Ideally, it should not be in the same room as a heater, washing machine or tumble dryer.
The increased temperature and high humidity can greatly promote microbiological germ formation.
The ideal range for the proliferation of legionella is 25°C – 45°C, which is why a drinking water temperature of 25°C should not be exceeded.
Particularly in older decalcification systems without forced regeneration, the drinking water sometimes remains stagnant for weeks or months.
In these systems, the formation of germs and bacteria reaches an alarming level.
In modern descaling systems, a forced regeneration is therefore triggered every 3 days, regardless of water consumption, which then leads to increased costs for the fresh water required and costs for the process water discharged into the waste water.
It must also be ensured that the salt is topped up at regular intervals and that the corresponding service and maintenance work is carried out in order to contain the formation of germs. Conclusion: Descaling systems with salt always cause germs and bacteria in your drinking water because the water comes into direct contact with the ambient air.
Contamination by harmful microorganisms is exacerbated if a descaling system is installed in a room with increased humidity or temperature (e.g. laundry room or boiler room). With a limescale protection device, the water pipe does not need to be opened because the coils for the electromagnetic field are wound from the outside.
This keeps your drinking water free from germs and effectively protects your household from limescale.
Question 4: What are the running costs of a descaling system?
The salt costs calculated using the example of question 2: 115 mg/L [Natrium] On average, a person consumes 200 liters of water per day.
The daily sodium consumption per person would therefore be approx. 23,000 mg/day = 23 grams of sodium per person per day.
For a 4-person household, this would be 4 * 23 grams per day = 92 grams of sodium = approx. 230 grams of salt/day.
1 year = 365 days * 0.368kg = approx. 84 kg salt/year.
Depending on where you buy it, whether it is delivered or collected, the salt required in our example costs CHF 40 to CHF 80 per year.
The total costs incl.
The total costs, including new purchase costs, are around CHF 500 per year.
In comparison, the total costs for a limescale protection device are less than CHF 100 per year.
Conclusion: It is up to you to decide whether it makes sense to purchase a descaling system whose maintenance and service costs after 10 years are far higher than the price of a new purchase. Alternatively, with a limescale protection appliance, there are no service or maintenance costs and the household appliances are effectively protected against limescale deposits.
Question 5: Are environmental protection, sustainability and climate change relevant to you?
Descaling systems require salt for their function, which must be topped up regularly.
In question 4, we have calculated a salt consumption of approx. 84 kg per year or approx. 230 g of salt per day for a detached house with 4 people.
Perhaps you have already asked yourself: “Where does this salt go?” One thing is certain, it doesn’t stay in the descaling system, otherwise it wouldn’t have to be added endlessly.
In chemical terms, salt is sodium chloride [NaCl] and has a crystalline form.
In water, the salt dissolves into sodium and chloride.
The sodium is used to replace the calcium in the water and the chloride is discharged into the waste water with the excess sodium.
Chlorides are highly soluble in water and do not degrade in the environment.
Many manufacturers of descaling systems are now talking about “economy salting” in order to adjust salt consumption to the amount of water used.
This is also only half the truth, as descaling systems with salt are subject to forced regeneration due to germ formation and this is triggered after 72 hours at the latest, regardless of water consumption. Studies in California U.S.A. show that 1/3 of the chlorides in treated wastewater after a sewage treatment plant originate from decalcification systems in private households.
Due to these harmful levels for the environment and the increased consumption of valuable drinking water, these systems have been completely banned in certain places. [LINK]
Conclusion: Descaling systems with salt are not sustainable, pollute the environment and cause high costs for wastewater treatment. Limescale protection devices are timely, sustainable and have no negative impact on health or the environment.
Limescale protection devices – In harmony with nature
All Tratson limescale protection devices have been developed to achieve the best possible, most environmentally friendly and sustainable result in terms of limescale protection.
A central part of this is the unique limescale protection technology developed by Tratson.
Consumables such as salt or expensive service and maintenance work are unnecessary.
The water retains its original structure and natural taste.
All minerals that are important for the human body, such as calcium and magnesium, remain in the drinking water.
