Are you considering a Water Softener for your business? You’re in the right place. Hard water can wreak havoc on commercial appliances and makes even the most menial of processes complicated – think glass washing, industrial cleaning and professional car detailing. Not only does the use of a Water Softener increase the efficiency in which you can work, it can bring huge cost savings when considering long term maintenance, servicing and replacements.

Choosing The Right Water Softener For Your Business

A Water Softener can offer a range of benefits to your business, regardless of what industry you are in. By softening your incoming water or water feeding a certain process, you can improve system efficiency (particularly in heating systems where this has a direct effect on fuel usage), prolong the lifespan of machinery and pipework, ensure a spot-free final rinse in cleaning or manufacturing, reduce chemical or surfactant usage and even increase the lifespan of further water treatment equipment (such as an RO system). But what considerations need to be made before choosing a softener? Let’s dig a bit deeper.

What Is Your Expected Water Usage?
Unlike most domestic applications, commercial use can be complicated. This is due to the vast (and sometimes varying) water consumption of commercial premises. Studies show that the average person uses 250 litres of water per day, with offices using up to 50 litres per day for every employee. Water consumption increases greatly when you consider the addition of industrial appliances, machinery and processes involved in the business operations (such as product manufacturing). All of this means it’s important to understand where the use of softened water is essential (spot free rinsing, washing) and where it can help reduce the ongoing cost of cleaning and maintenance.

What Is Your Water Hardness?
After thinking about your water usage and volume requirements, the next step is to establish your incoming water hardness. If you are unsure of your water hardness then we would recommend ordering one of our Water Hardness Test Kits which are able to give a CACO3 reading in PPM (Parts Per Million). Flow rate requirements and water hardness are the key pieces of information used to establish which Water Softener is best suited to your application and to ensure that regenerations occur at reasonable intervals without disrupting your process.

What Are Your Required Flow Rates And Volume?
The next step after establishing your water hardness is to consider your flow rates and water requirements. You should consider if 24 hour softened water is required – if so then you need to be looking at a Duplex Water Softener which offers continuous water softening using duty/stand-by technology. Flow rates are available on all water softener product pages and should be checked against your hourly or daily water volume requirements, to ensure the flow is sufficient for your application.

If you can’t decide between two sizes of softener we would suggest over-sizing your system to allow for any variation in water-use, as well as preventing disruption to any business operation that may require a consistent supply of softened water. Slightly over-sizing also helps to future proof your investment if your business plans on expanding in the future.

The Water Quality Research Foundation conducted a study on boiler efficiency when fed with soft water and found that softened water operated boilers maintain 100 per cent efficiency over a simulated 15-year lifespan. 

Common Commercial Water Softener Questions

How Can A Business Benefit From Installing A Water Softener?
No matter what sector you are in, you can be sure that installing a Water Softener will rid you of the headaches associated with hard water. Some of the key benefits of having a water softener include improved boiler efficiency and lower running costs, gradual reduction of existing limescale build up, spot free rinses on glassware and tableware, scale-free pipework that can help to prevent waterborne bacteria such as Legionella and Pseudomonas and finally for pre-treatment to other water treatment processes (such as Reverse Osmosis).

Can The System Be Installed On A Private Water Supply?
Yes, many businesses have private water supplies to save on the cost of mains water. Because private water supplies can vary in water quality it is paramount to check the water hardness levels on your most recent water analysis and size your system accordingly. It is also worth noting that a Water Softener will remove small amounts of iron, so this would need to be taken into consideration too.

Should I Install A Water Softener Up Front Of An RO System?
For businesses with hard water, it is always recommended to install a Water Softener as a pre-treatment to an RO system. Although RO is effective at removing hardness forming ions, it can be difficult for the membrane to clean these from its flat sheet which can cause calcification of your membrane and lead to reduced flow rates. Hardness molecules tend to block the pores of your membrane, meaning you wouldn’t see a drop in water quality, but you would see a sharp drop off in permeate flow rate.

Selecting A Commercial Water Softener

Both commercial and industrial water softener applications can be considered indifferent. What is important is that the capacity and volumetric requirements are sufficient for your use. All of our Commercial Water Softeners detail flow rates, resin volumes and capacities under the specification section for each product. Our systems come in a range of shapes and sizes from cabinet, to freestanding simplex and duplex models, see an overview of our offering below.

The Azure Commercial Water Softener (Small Industrial Or Light Commercial Up To 3,700 Litres Per Hour)

• Constructed from WRAS approved materials and uses a WRAS listed Autotrol valve to operate
• Metered Autotrol valve adjusts to your water usage which reduces water waste
• Water efficient system requires less than 4% of capacity to regenerate
• Large resin and salt capacities to reduce ongoing maintenance

Simplex Commercial Water Softener (Medium Industrial Up To 17,000 Litres Per Hour)

• Constructed from WRAS approved materials with WRAS listed Autotrol 225 valve
• Varying models are available to suit a range of flow rates and pipework sizes
• Multi port valve that allows for automatic regeneration
• Separate brine tank for ease of maintenance

Duplex Commercial Water Softener (Large Industrial Up To 17,000 Litres Per Hour With No Down Time)

• Duplex dual vessel system allows for 24 hour softened water with no downtime during regeneration
• Constructed from WRAS approved materials with WRAS listed Autotrol metered 278-764 valve
• High performance system for involved industrial and commercial applications
• Separate brine tank for ease of maintenance

These are just a small handful of our softeners which we have identified as suitable for most commercial and industrial applications based on our years of experience. To view each and every product we recommend for commercial and industrial applications please view our Commercial Water Softeners section. If you need assistance with any of our products please do not hesitate to get in touch with our team over the phone or live chat.