Water enters the prefilter where particulates larger than 5 microns in size will be reduced. This filter is placed before (prefilter) or after (postfilter) the conditioning process.

The media contains nucleation sites that initiate formation of calcium and magnesium crystals on the media reducing the dissolved “hard” minerals which reduces the hardness from the water and, as a result, the scaling potential. The movement of water and friction among the media granules rubbing against each other cause fragments of the newly grown crystal structures to be fragmented off the media and released into the passing water.

Those free flowing calcium carbonate crystals continue to travel through the plumbing system as suspended particles which buffer the effects of hard water scaling. This effect is most beneficial when you get to your water heater. When heated the water’s scale potential increases and the seed crystals absorb the additional calcium that would otherwise form scale.