Hard water in your home can become problematic over time. It can cause internal damage to pipes, fixtures and appliances. Prolonged overexposure to hard water can lead to skin irritation and may aggravate existing conditions like eczema or dermatitis. Luckily, there are many water softening systems available to help eliminate hard water in your home.
What is hard water?
Hard water is simply water that carries higher than normal levels of minerals, particularly calcium and magnesium. The actual hardness is determined by the milligrams per liter (mg/L) of calcium carbonate in the water supply. It is common in well water systems because of water’s tendency to dissolve minerals within the ground and carry them into your home.
Do I have hard water?
Having your water tested for minerals is the best way to determine if it would be considered hard water. But there are some simple signs that you can look for.
If you’ve noticed a film on your clean dishes when you empty the dishwasher or you feel like you need to use extra shampoo to get your hair clean, then you may have hard water.
How do I treat hard water?
Luckily, there are specially designed water softening systems that can remove minerals from the water. This helps to reduce the level of hardness in your water supply.
The most common type of system involves passing water over resin beads within a treatment tank. This uses ion exchange to replace the heavy minerals in the water for sodium chloride. The beads are recharged using a salt brine solution that is stored in an additional tank.
Not all water softening systems use salt. Some use potassium chloride instead of sodium. This can be helpful for people who have to be careful about their salt intake. Because these systems do not actually remove the minerals from your water but instead prevent it from forming a film on dishes and scale on appliances, they are actually considered descalers.
You should notice less limescale on coffee pots and other small appliances soon after its installation. You may also notice that you need much less soap to wash or do laundry with. No matter what type of water softening system you choose, your dishes and appliances will thank you.