Packaged Water Softeners

Basically, these are chemicals which help to control water hardness. There are two types, precipitating and non-precipitating.

Precipitating water softeners include washing soda and borax, see image below...

These products form an insoluble precipitate with calcium and magnesium ions. The mineral ions then cannot interfere with cleaning efficiency, but the precipitate makes water cloudy and can build up on surfaces. Precipitating water softeners increase alkalinity of the cleaning solution and this may damage skin and other materials being cleaned. Washing soda is great for cleaning clothes in hard water areas but it's not used for drinking water, as explained above, the water becomes cloudy from the minerals precipitating out of the water. It would certainly not be a good idea to drink!


Non-precipitating water softeners use complex phosphates to sequester calcium and magnesium ions. There is no precipitate to form deposits and does not cause hard water stains on surfaces and alkalinity is not increased. If used in enough quantity, non-precipitating water softeners will help dissolve soap curd for a period of time.