All ion-exchange, salt-based softeners work on the same principle. They have a resin tank that removes the limescale from the water, a resin tank that needs to be recharged every once in a while.
This recharging uses a salt solution, with which the resin beads are refreshed so they can create softened water once more. Therefore, the running costs of a water softener are the salt and water used during the recharge process.
Mechanical, block salt softeners only have the ability to reach capacity and recharge. EcoWater electronic water softeners, on the other hand, use smart technology to control the recharge process.
An EcoWater softener will not use up all its capacity before recharging, because that’s very inefficient - a bit like an automatic gear box for a car going up to maximum revs before changing gears.
An EcoWater softener uses an algorithm which maps your water usage pattern. Based on this information, the time of recharge and the capacity to recharge is set, for optimal efficiency.
The recharge salt and water usage will be very specific to each household, so it can be very hard to predict an exact running cost. Typically, your softener will recharge once or twice a week and will need a salt top up once every three months, for a total running cost of around £6.50 a month.
EcoWater softeners use tablet salt. Besides advantages in use, tablet salt is more widely available and much cheaper than block salt.
The information below shows running costs between EcoWater softeners and basic twin tank softeners. This information is a guide only, water usage and water hardness will affect your running costs. Total running costs include salt and water used for the self cleaning process (regeneration), plus estimated electricity.
We'll first consider a family of three, with a 3 bedroom house and 1 bathroom. We compare annual salt usage, with as suggested softener the eVOLUTION Compact 100.
Salt used by a basic block salt system: 15 packs of 8 kg block salt
Salt used by EcoWater Compact 100: 4 bags of 25 kg tablet salt
Estimated monthly running costs for the EcoWater softener: £4.90
Then, we'll consider annual salt usage for a family of four, in a 4 bedroom house with 2 bathrooms. Suggested softener: the eVOLUTION Compact 200.
Salt used by a basic block salt system: 21 packs of 8 kg block salt
Salt used by EcoWater Compact 200: 5 bags of 25 kg tablet salt
Estimated monthly running costs for the EcoWater softener: £5.40
Finally, we look at a family of six, living in a 5 bedroom house with 3 bathrooms. Suggested softener: the eVOLUTION Boost 300.
Salt used by a basic block salt system: 31 packs of 8 kg block salt
Salt used by EcoWater Boost 300: 6 bags of 25 kg tablet salt
Estimated monthly running costs for the EcoWater softener: £7.25
Compared to a block salt softener, EcoWater softeners use less salt and water, and use cheaper salt to boot. These two effects combined make for up to 50% less running costs.
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