Whether people use the term saltless, salt-free, or no-salt, what they're really talking about is a water system that offers some combination of the following advantages:
- prevents water from scaling in pipes
- doesn't add sodium to your home's water
- keeps the beneficial minerals in your water
- is low maintenance
- is eco-friendly (doesn't produce harmful wastewater)
Proponents of salt-free water softeners make all of these claims, and more. On the other hand, those who claim they're a scam typically have two arguments:
- they don't soften the water
- they don't stop scaling
The first argument is really about semantics. Hard water is defined as water that has a certain amount of dissolved minerals in it. The exact amount of "hardness" is quantifiable and can be measured with instruments. Critics contend that because saltless water softeners don't remove any of those dissolved minerals, critics argue that they can't be called water softeners. After all, the instruments read the same amount of hardness before and after the system is installed.
This argument is technically correct, but it distracts from the real issue. Most so-called saltless water softeners don't claim to remove hard water minerals like calcium and magnesium - on the contrary, the fact that they leave those minerals in is advertised as a benefit. What saltless water softeners claim to do is alter the mineral ions in the water so that they don't attach to your pipes or appliances. Whether the water can technically be called "soft" is mostly irrelevant to the customer.
The real issue is whether saltless water softeners do what they claim to do. This is a much harder question to answer because a) saltless water softeners use a variety of technologies, and b) since the standard "hardness" test doesn't apply, we mostly have to rely on anecdotal evidence to tell us whether they're working for the people who use them.
What we can say is that scientific studies do not support the claims of electromagnetic water softeners. That's not to say that they can't work or that every electronic water softener technology should be dismissed out of hand, but so far, none of them has proven its claim in an independent, third party test.
But even if you dismiss electronic water softeners, that still leaves a lot of other saltless water softeners. Some companies claim their systems prevent scaling by filtering the water through one medium or another. So not only do they not require water softener salt, but they don't require electricity. In other words, they're the ultimate eco-friendly water softeners.
But do they work? If history is any guide, we will eventually find out that at least some of these products are, in fact, a scam. The question is how many, and whether there exists a true saltless water softener for all the people out there who really want one.
For further reading on the subject, see SaltlessWater.com.
