What is an Electric Water Softener?

A water softener is a device used to soften a property’s water supply. It removes magnesium and calcium from hard water through a process called ion exchange to prevent limescale from building up in household appliances, boilers or pipes. Our How a Water Softener Works guide tells you more.  

A water softener can be electric or non-electric. Harvey systems are non-electric water softeners. Both types can soften water and control limescale build up around your home. However, there’s a big difference in how they operate and how much salt and water they use – or rather, waste.  

Electric water softeners (or electronic water softeners) use an electric timer. At a set time, usually once a day, the timer tells the water softener to flush the resin bed with water and salt, so it can continue softening water. This means that at times the resin bed is cleansed before it’s necessary, therefore wasting both salt and water.  

Some makes of electric water softener come with just a single tank, this works fine until the time comes for it to regenerate. It can take some time to complete the process – during that period there’s no output of softened water, so you will have a proportion of hard water running through your system. The Harvey dual cylinder system maintains the softened water supply 24/7 because when one cylinder is regenerating, the other continues softening.   

Non-electric water softener systems, like Harvey models, work on a geared, throughflow model rather than an electric timer. The water displacement meter in a Harvey water softener has been developed so that it only triggers the cleansing process when enough water has passed through it to make cleaning necessary. This means that the water softener only regenerates when it needs to – avoiding salt and water wastage and thus saving money.   

Harvey is the UK’s number one brand for water softeners. Your Harvey water softener simply connects to your home water supply, slots under the sink, and begins the softening process. You can book a no-obligation demonstration with one of our experts to learn more about our water softeners – get in touch today. Book now