Understanding Home Water,
and Why Water Softeners in UK are Needed

In most cases, humans receive their fresh water mostly from nature’s rainfalls, fresh water lakes and ground water sources. Rainwater is nature’s soft water and best suited for home use. However, as soon as the rainwater comes into contact with the earth surface or soil, the water will dissolve some of earth’s natural minerals and become mineral rich, in many cases becoming hardwater. 

This is when a home water softener system becomes essential. This type of domestic water softener system can have a few names, but is often called a Point-of-Entry (POE) water softener for homes, or perhaps more simply – a water softener system in UK.

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Where are the Hardwater Regions,
and Home Water Softeners in UK are more needed?

In England, the southeast and east Anglia areas are considered hardwater regions due to its geological bedrock formation being limestones, compared to the west and the north that are more granite formations. 

The homes having hard and very hard water in this region find it a necessity to install a whole house, domestic water softeners, or at least at certain locations in their home, such as water softener for bathrooms, or more specifically like a water softener for shower.   

In the UK, there are about 65% of homes that are receiving hardwater, located mainly in the southern and eastern regions of England. The home water in these areas is often considered hard water with a level of hardness found between 200-300ppm (11.7 to 17.5GPG) and very hard, for water hardness higher than 300ppm (17.5GPG). Except in the softer water areas of northwestern England, it is recommended to install a POE, home water softener in UK to cope with the high to very high home water hardness. In normal residential homes, the issues caused by hard water are multiples in areas of bathroom, kitchen, mini-bar, water heater or boiler, so quite typically such as a water softener for shower will be installed.

What Substances Can be Found in My Home Water?

The residential home water impurities are made up of, in general, by mainly two groups of substances – organics and inorganics, as well as chemicals from treatment plants: 

1. Organic Matters:

The organic matter may include the impurities of biological origins, such as the remains or decay of animals, insects, plant remains by nature. In general, they tend to appear in the forms of humic acid and fulvic acid, of which a water softener system is designed to filter out.

2. Inorganic Matters:

For the inorganics, they are the dissolved minerals resulting from water coming into contact with ground and soil. The hardness causing ions such as calcium and magnesium are leached into water sources for home use. To cope with this, a domestic water softener in UK can be installed to reduce the incoming water hardness.

3. Chemicals from Treatment Plants:

The city’s water plants typically add chemicals such as chlorine into water to inhibit bacterial growth and fluoride to reduce tooth cavity. These are good practices according to the World Health Organization (WHO). 

However, the free chlorine when coming into contact with natural organic matter in water will form the THMs (trihalomethanes), while the most common ones are chloroform and bromoform. As a side effect, high THMs are hazardous to human health potentially causing cancer and other negative health impacts.

To drastically reduce these harmful organics, chemical residues, a point-of-entry (POE) water purifier is required to safeguard the home. It is often installed in combination with a whole house water softener to reduce the household water hardness.

Testing Your Water Hardness:

All xSOFT water softener’s optional accessory pack of stainless-steel flexi pipes includes a free water hardness test strip upon purchase. Simply dip the test strip in your home water sample for 5 seconds, remove and hold for further 10 sections in the air, do not shake, read the color code matching the hardness level on the package.

Xepure’s water hardness strips are designed to indicate the approximate hardness level in your home water. Each test strip that comes with our domestic water softener is for one-time use only and should be used within 24 hours of opening, as the air moistures can affect its accuracy. For more hardness test strips, in addition to the home water softener system, they are sold in 10 strips per pack via our e-store.

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Why Are Domestic Water Softeners in UK a Good Investment?

A home equipped with point-of-entry (POE) water softener is a good investment to the current and future home owners. After installing a water softener in UK, the household water will feel silkier to the touch, less coarse, and bathroom water scaling issues will greatly improve.

After installing a water softener for home, the sink and shower components will not continue to build up hardness deposits. The faucets will return to being shiny after a water softener is installed. Also, softened home water will improve the cleaning process, making it easier for cleaning and require less effort. Perhaps equally important, a water softener for bathroom enables cleaning with less detergents, with no more calcium deposits on taps and glass!

Overall, the use of home water softeners will improve the lifespan of household appliances and plumbing. A domestic water softener system will improve the heat exchange efficiency of home water boilers, reduce the energy consumption and save costs in the long term as well.

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How Would I Know if a Domestic Water Softener System is Needed?

In recent years, point-of-entry (POE) water softeners in UK have gained wide spread popularity among households for solving the problems of hard water. The household water’s hardness can vary depending on the ground bed rock types. It is usually hard water if it is limestone, which tends to release high calcium and magnesium into natural water sources, with the likelihood of a water softener system rising as well.

In the UK, several millions of people are impacted by hardwater issues, and it is more serious in the south east of England and east Anglia regions where hardness is highest. To cope with the issues, we recommend residents in these regions to install a water softener for homes.

Signs that You Have Hardwater at Your Home:

Prior to installing a domestic water softener in UK, these could include:

• Buildup of limescale on shower, taps, kitchen sink and kettles, etc.
• Breakdown of appliances due to limescale on heating parts
• Increased problems of water pipe and plumbing
• Laundry that is stiff or hardened

On the other hand, and before installing a home water softener system, some issues may arise from household items that come into contact with hard water in the long term. For the home occupants, their skin and hair may be affected (hardwater minerals could cause dry hair, brittle and less soft; and it could cause eczema and block skin pores). For those facing the above issues, we have good news – our point-of-entry (POE), whole house water softeners are here to alleviate such problems.

What You Need: xSOFT Series of Home Water Softeners

When one has experienced hard water, and knows that the effects it has on the body, skin and hair, and the same will be faced by household appliances each day, installing a domestic water softener in UK is a great solution.

By installing and using whole house water softeners, the best ones can not only prevent the problems mentioned above (like giving you back healthier, smoother skin and hair), water softener for showers or whole homes can also save you money on heating bills and reduce your usage of expensive washing powder or detergents.

xSOFT’s solutions are premium, smart water softeners in UK that allow customers to experience smooth, soft silky water. Our water softener system product lineup comes in varying usage specifications, for example for 1-6 people or 1-10 people, catering to different needs in UK homes.

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How Do Domestic Water Softeners Actually Work?

A household water softener works by the process that is called “ions exchange method”. Within a home water softener system, the incoming hard water containing multi-valent calcium and magnesium ions are exchanged with mono-valent sodium ions, which are higher in concentration in the form of resin beads. When enough hardness ions of calcium and magnesium are accumulated on the resins, it will need a regeneration process where a brine solution will displace the hardness ions on the resin beads. This process in the domestic water softener is done automatically by both volume and a timer-based computer controller. The exact steps are as follows,

• Hardwater enters the water softener resin tank and gets attached to resins. The sodium ions on the resins are displaced due to calcium and magnesium ions are higher in affinity and attached to resins instead. Softened water is then available for household use, free of hardness causing calcium and magnesium ions.
• When the resins in the water softener for bathrooms or whole homes are at saturation, fully attached by calcium and magnesium ions, it will then carry out a regeneration cycle (short for regen). The default regen time for water softener systems is usually set at 2am to minimize inconvenience of water disruption. This is done usually on a weekly basis or as per user specified at a time suitable for the household.
• During regeneration, brine is used inside the tank by the dissolved salt, sodium chloride, to displace the hardness ions calcium and magnesium. After the whole house water softener will perform a quick rinse called brine rinse to get rid of residue hard minerals on the resin beads and drain the rest of brine solution.
• The domestic water softener’s resin is refreshed now, fully covered with sodium ions and ready to start a new cycle of softening.

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xSOFT – Your Go-To Water Softener for Bathrooms, Showers & Whole Houses

About Xepure

Xepure was founded in 2012, with a professional background in global water treatment companies for 25 years. We specialize in process membranes applications MF, UF, NF and RO. In recent years, the point-of-entry (POE) whole house water softeners – xSOFT series, and PureJoy products are the latest additions to serve our customers. We set the standards on premium materials used on all our home water softener systems and products, that everyday households can enjoy and afford. We serve our customers in major continents, such as home water softeners for UK, Europe, Japan and USA. 

Our goal is to be the best online water softener company that provides exceptional value to our customers in the products we design and provide. The premium xSOFT line of water softeners are made of world class manufacturing (ISO 9001, ISO 14001) and product qualifications (NSF, UKCA, WRAS, CE, RoHS). We use premium materials in all our water softener for bathroom, shower, kitchen and homes. We design all our water softener systems and solutions to enrich life, joyful and pure.

xSOFT Water Softener’s Smart Design Lets You Set and Forget:

Our water softener for homes is equipped with smart design water monitoring that optimizes most efficient water usage. Customers, depending on their preferred schedule, can set the electronic control system of the water softener to choose the desired water hardness level and regeneration time.

All water softeners need to go through a regeneration process periodically. How often depends on the water hardness and how much water flows through the water softener system every day. The electronic control system on our home water softeners is automatically set to do this at 2am but you can change to anytime.

WRAS Approved Domestic Water Softeners:

WRAS stands for Water Regulations Advisory Scheme, which means that our domestic water softener systems and products have passed a series of tests to certify that it fully complies with the UK Water Supply (Water Fittings) Regulations and Scottish Bylaws. That means that our water softener for bathrooms and homes is suitable for carrying or receiving water from the UK mains’ water supply.

WRAS is the standard that prevents the contamination, over-consumption, waste, misuse of water supply. Other than domestic water softener systems, products like showers, valves and boilers, for example, go through this product approval process to confirm that they are mechanically suitable, and also produce sufficient water quality.

Commitment to Simplicity & DIY:

At Xepure, we recognise everyone deserves clean, purified water, and it should be easily within one’s reach. We also make it easy for our customers to perform DIY installations with our water softener for showers or homes. The simplistic designs in our domestic water softeners reflect our brand philosophy – “Service Free, Plug and Play”. We provide reliable home water softener UK solutions for DIY enthusiasts seeking products that are premium and very affordable.

Quality, Value & Support:

We are committed to providing premier water softener UK products at affordable prices to all customers. We relentlessly pursue product quality with each generation of updates in our water softener for bathroom, kitchens or whole homes, to bring value-added to the market. Customer satisfaction has always been our top priority.

The number of recurring customers and referrals to us attest to our core value of customer satisfaction. We also continuously bring thoughtful support to our customers through professional installation, guides, videos and manuals to create new, easy to understand content to support our DIY home water softener UK customers. We regularly refine all details of our operation, warehousing, as well as payment process, to make sure fast, free delivery and no-hassle returns with all our domestic water softener systems and solutions.

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The 5 Key Benefits of Our Home Water Softeners

The xSOFT series of water softener for showers and domestic homes are your best bet for completely removing the harmful effects of hardwater. Specifically, there are several benefits our home water softeners in UK can provide:

1. Rejuvenating Your Plumbing System & Appliances:

The softness and quality of the water produced by our water softeners in UK gradually dissolves any limescale that has built up over time. So, our domestic water softener doesn’t just prevent any future buildup of scum, it’s also able to remove any pre-existing scum.

A whole house water softener in UK removes the hardness causing minerals calcium and magnesium that prevents limescale buildup in appliances such as dishwashers, kettles, taps and shower heads. Soft water produced by a domestic water softener will prolong appliances, lifespan and keep them looking new over time. 

2. Keeping Your Appliances Limescale-Free & Longer-Lasting:

The soft water that our water softener system can reliably and consistently produce, means you will no longer have that nasty stuff on your appliances.

Hard water minerals tend to form scale deposits as soon as coming into contact with the surface of pipes and coils on home appliances like washing machines, dishwashers, and boilers. A point-of-entry (POE) whole house water softener protects all home water contacted appliances.

Having a whole home water softener makes appliances last longer, by reducing the need for repairs or break downs caused by hardwater. The estimated annual savings on repairs and maintenance could be upward of £200 after using a domestic water softener in UK.

3. Fresher, Softer Clothes after Laundering:

The softness of the water produced by our home water softener system lets the soap drain more completely, and the fibres are softer and nicer to the touch.

Without a proper domestic water softener system, the hard water causes laundry items such as clothes and towels harder to clean. As a result, extra detergents are required, costing more to household expenses. A home water softener system removes most of the hardness forming minerals, such as calcium and magnesium. A whole home water softener is a luxury treat to the laundry quality that one definitely can feel, a worthy investment or upgrade to any home sizes.

4. Spotless Glassware:

High minerals in hard water are more abrasive to linens and clothes, resulting in a higher rate of wear and tear damaging the fabrics. A domestic water softener can extend the life of your favourite clothes and regular outfits. What’s more, xSOFT water softener systems can provide customers with clean, spot-free utensils, glassware and dishes.

5. Protect the Environment:

We design our Premium xSOFT series of domestic water softeners with Simple DIY in mind for hardness-free home water experience. Overall, our home water softener systems save water, and reduce plastic bottled water purchases which amount to landfill waste. Together, we can look after the environment for our next generations.

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Save on Household Costs with Our Home Water Softeners in UK

Our premium product lineup of water softener for showers, bathrooms and homes allows households to save on daily costs in more ways than one.

Overall, water softeners for homes mean much less cleaners are required, such as detergent or soap to keep things clean, reducing repetitive purchases of cleaning items. Also, water softeners can save the appliances’ energy consumption by substantially improving the heat exchange efficiency of 10-30% of boilers and water heaters, which bring nice monthly savings. As a result, the household appliances and water pipes fed with soft water are best protected to minimize limescale damage saving repair costs.

In detail, here are a few areas where our water softener systems can help you save costs:

1. Less Cleaning Expenses:

Inflation in prices is common among household cleaning products. A whole home, water softener system eliminates the need for de-scalers, limescale removers, reducing the purchase frequency of soaps and detergents.

For a family of four, a domestic water softener in UK could lead to savings of up to £500 per year on cleaning supplies and toiletries. A home water softener in UK means monthly expenses saved, and soft water that one could feel.

2. Lower Energy Bills:

Limescale buildup in heating systems will reduce heat exchange efficiency. A point-of-entry (POE), xSOFT whole home water softener system removes the water hardness causing minerals. Specifically, our water softener for bathrooms and showers enables the optimum heat exchange efficiency of water contact appliances such as boilers and water heaters. 

Depending on water hardness level and frequency of use, the xSOFT water softener in UK produces soft water that leads to lower monthly energy consumption and reduces boiler gas and electricity bills by £116-£200 per year, depending on the hardness level and usage.

To sum up, a point-of-entry (POE) domestic water softener system can greatly improve appliances efficiency and lower annual electric consumption, so it is an economical saving that every home will benefit from.

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Comparison of Xepure’s Water Softener System with Others:

Features & Certifications	xSOFT Home Water Softeners		Other Major EU Brands
Among smallest size foot print	+		–
Auto holiday	+		–
Flexible soft water level	+		–
Saves water & salt (up-flow Regen)	+		–
Protects & extends life of appliances	+		+
Protects hairs and skins	+		+
Water softener specific certification NSF 42/58	+		–
WRAS (UK)	+		–
UKCA (UK)	+		–
RoHS (EU)	+		+
CE (EU)	+		+
Industry leader in quality management systems ISO 9001 & ISO 14001	+		+
Service free, plug & play	+		–

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Shipping, Returns, Warranty & Installation Guide for Xepure’s Water Softeners

Shipping Policy:

Express DPD courier service is free on orders over £99 for water softener for homes, or it is a flat rate of £9.99.

After you place the order, and before the home water softener in UK is shipped out, the courier DPD will first send an SMS or email to you on the estimated time of delivery along with a tracking number. The SMS will ask you to select your preferred parcel drop-off location – front porch, side door, backyard or neighbor. If you do not reply to the SMS, the courier will opt for you and deliver to your neighbor. If a neighbor is not available, a card will be left to you for self-pickup at a nearby pick-up point. Our domestic water softener customers can also visit the DPD website to track your parcel in real time. Here are few more important points to note when ordering your home water softener from Xepure:

• Delivery normally takes 2-3 working days after placing your order.
• The delivery company does not collect or deliver on the weekends or holidays.
• If you have questions about your domestic water softener UK order, or regarding delivery, please contact DPD directly online first with your tracking number or email support@xepure.co.uk. Please include your order number and full name when emailing us.

Returns & Refunds:

For water softeners in UK, enjoy risk-free EASY shopping with Xepure, with FREE delivery and FREE returns:

• We offer the simplest way possible to buy a home water softener system, with a very easy return procedure.
• We offer you FREE return, for any reason, up to 30 days from the purchase date of your water softener for shower, bathroom or whole home.
• If you decide you don’t want the domestic water softener, whether it came in the wrong size, or not it simply was not what you were looking for, then simply send us a message and ask for a return.
• Please let us know the reason for your return of the domestic water softener system, as it really helps us out.
• If you wish to return your home water softener, just send us an SMS or email, please include your order number from the invoice in the package. Please also make sure KEEP YOUR INVOICE FOR WARRANTY.
• Please package up the water softener system in its original packaging, sign and return the return slip you received on the bottom of the invoice.
• We will arrange a courier to collect the home water softener in UK from you at your specified location (home or office). Collections are between 9am to 5pm, Monday through Friday. Weekend and public holidays are OFF.
• Return after 30 days – your warranty covers your return costs if there is a defect with your domestic water softener. Please see the full warranty details online. At this moment we don’t offer free returns after 30 days if the domestic water softener system is not defective.

Product Warranty:

The xSOFT domestic water softener series are covered with industry leading 7 year warranty for parts and electronics. We provide free parts replacement under a 7 year warranty, if the water softeners have been using our premier designed specification of resin refresher, and xSOFT resins from our online store. Labor is included in the first year.

In most cases of malfunctions, it is most likely that parts in the home water softener system are blocked or plugged by foreign objects causing the issues. Customers can clear it up or re-set the domestic water softener themselves easily. In other cases, the customer will receive replacement parts for their water softener in UK via courier freight, only free replacement parts are provided, the labor is not included from the second year onwards. We will however, do our very best to diagnose the issue affecting the home water softener and send you the solution by SMS, WhatsApp call or by phone. All warranty is pro-rata based when applicable. Our domestic water softener systems and products are covered with industry leading 7 year warranty on parts, so please kindly check the operation manual.

Quick DIY Installation Guide, or by PRO SERVE Technician:

Customers should always read the xSOFT water softener system’s Quick Installation Guide and User Manual BEFORE starting the installation. 

Normally during installation of a domestic water softener in UK, it is typical to choose a point-of-entry (POE) location that is under-sink and kitchen, or the garage, when the water main enters the house, and before the boiler. 

Here below is a quick step by step guide to install your water softener for home, and get it up and running (refer also to p. 24 of user manual):

1.   Start-up your xSOFT water softener – Add 2L of water into the cabinet during first installation, this is for the home water softener system to achieve proper capacity during the first time of regeneration. Then plug the power transformer into an approved wall plug, connect the power plug to the valve. When the power is supplied to the control, the screen will display “INITIALIZING WAIT PLEASE” while it finds the service position. Follow the steps on manual p.22-23 to initialize the domestic water softener.

2. Choose to use our premier xSOFT Resin Refresher for optimum 7 year warranty on domestic water softener systems. You can buy direct from us with a subscription and enjoy year round member special pricing support. We recommend xSOFT premier Resin Refresher that is ultra optimized for the xSOFT home water softener UK product lines.

3. Add resin refresher tablets into the brine tank by opening the lid of the home water softener. You should check the current refresher pellet level in the tank, and make sure enough space is available and not overfilling, then gently pour refresher pellets evenly into the brine tank. If cases of need, such as when dirt has contaminated the tank, remove any remaining resin refresher pallets or residue from previous use of water softener for shower or whole home. We recommend fill up to about 2/3 resin refresher.

4. If the water softener system fails to produce soft water, please check that the RED water softener system “IN” and “OUT” valves are set parallel to “IN” and “OUT” stainless steel flexi pipes. If they are in parallel position then the system inlet water is connected, if not, do check if there is another manual valve BEFORE the domestic water softener system. If so, open that to allow water to enter the water softener.

5. Turn OFF both RED IN and OUT valves only to remove the entire domestic water softener or replace internal parts. Both the RED IN and OUT valves are essentially a “bypass” to allow the normal home water while the home water softener system is being worked on replacing parts or changing resins which can last up to 10 years in some cases. It is not necessary to turn off the RED INLET and OUTLET valves when adding resin refresher pellets.

6. Grid and bridging – A hard crust sometimes can form on the top of refresher pallets in the brine tank, causing it not dissolving properly in the water softener for home. To fix this, use a metal spoon or ruler to break up the crust to smaller pieces so that refresher pellets can dissolve.

7. Clogged injector – The purpose of the injector in the water softener system is drawing brine from the tank and sending it to the resin tank. If the injector is clogged, brine won’t be able to flow through, which can prevent the water softener for bathroom or home from regenerating properly. Try cleaning the injector with a small brush to remove any debris.

8. Make sure brine draw line is securely connected, if loose, no water is sucked out of brine tank, the brine tank will then be full and causing overflow during Refill when new water is added into the water softener for shower or whole house. As good practice and peace of mind, it is therefore NECESSARY to connect the OVERFLOW LINE TO DRAIN just in case the brine draw line is loose or blocked by debris.

9. If the brine draw line is tight, check the injector too. If injector is blocked it too will cause same problem in #7. Thus, the drain overflow line of the home water softener must be connected to the drain as in #7. Clear the debris on the injector with a toothbrush or change a new injector.

10. Regeneration process – The water softener uses the Resin Refresher pellets in the brine tank during the regen process to release hardness ions and recharge the resin beads. During regen, brine solution is created by dissolving the Resin Refresher pellets, and it is used to flush out the accumulated minerals from the resin beads in the water softener.

11. Monthly monitor the resin refresher level in the brine tank to make sure the domestic water softener does not run too low or empty. Kindly refill the tank to maintain optimal home water softener system performance. Depending on water usage, refill one 20kg bag of resin refresher approximately every month.

12. Every year one may wish to clean the water softener system’s brine tank if it is dirty. It is easy to do so – Turn off the RED INLET valve to prevent any water flowing into the tank. Remove the remaining refresher residue and dispose per local regulations. Wipe the tank interior with very mild detergent cloth.

If you have any further questions about installing and using your water softener in UK, check our online support videos for further guidance, SMS or email us support@xepure.co.uk, and we will be glad to help you.

Privacy Policy: UK, EU & US

This notice explains the basis on which any personal data you provided to us during the buying process, and that processed by us. Customers are advised to review the following carefully to understand Xepure’s views and practices regarding collection of any personal data and how we will use it. It is important that the personal data we hold about you is accurate and current for the best experience when using our home water softeners in the UK, EU and US. Please do keep us informed if your personal data such as, name or address changes, during your relationship with Xepure, so that we can update the records.

1. Compliance – for the purpose of protecting every customer information, we strictly follow the current data protection laws in the UK, EU and US. All your given data is strictly kept for service of your domestic water softener system and products only, and absolutely at no point they will be used for advertisement or other purposes. Also, at no point will they be shared to a 3^rd party company or become for personal use. All new and current staff of Xepure are trained annually on data protection and must pass relevant compliance updates.

2. EU GENERAL DATA PROTECTION REGULATION (EU)2016/679(GDPR): Regulation also applies to organizations based outside the European Union, if they collect or process personal data of EU residents.