Adele ring. In mathematics, the adele ring (also adelic ring or ring of adeles) is defined in class field theory, a branch of algebraic number theory. It allows one to elegantly describe the Artin reciprocity law. The adele ring is a self-dual topological ring, which is built on a global field.
Real softeners generally last 20+ years EVEN on ludicrously hard water while the service life on a pre-built softener seems to be under 5 years (if you're lucky) on really hard water and lasting longer than that is a rare exception.
If you wash everything in cold water, it can last 8 to 10 years. If you often use hot water, make sure you use a water softening agent if needed for your area, since limescale is death to washing machines. And of course it will wear out faster if you wash more than one load of laundry per day than if you only wash one load a day, or two or three times a week.