Simply put, the minerals in the water supply produce hard water in many households. High concentrations of minerals, especially calcium and magnesium, are what we mean when we talk of hard water. Hard water isn’t dangerous to drink, but it can ruin your appliances and leave a bad taste in your mouth. You may feel like there’s a film still on your skin after using soap and water to wash your hair and body if you live in an area with hard water. You’ll need to take action to treat hard water, regardless of where it comes from—a private well or the public system. A water softener in your house is the finest and easiest way to deal with hard water. Here are how hard water impacts your plumbing and how you can treat it.
In what ways does hard water impact your plumbing?
A plumbing system exposed to hard water will deteriorate. Limescale occurs in persistent contact with hard water, which can clog drains and degrade the water supply. In four different ways, hard water may be bad for your home.
Expensive monthly water bills
Another one of the ways hard water impacts your plumbing is that it can clog pipes. A clogged pipe from an excessive buildup of hard water might cause water or waste to back up in your plumbing system. Eventually, the pipe would crack under the increased pressure within. As a result, water will run out of the pipe and into the rest of your property before it reaches your sink or fixture. Your water or utility costs will go up significantly. That’s because of the wasteful usage of water that’s occurring because of the hard water buildup in your pipes.
It generates excessive buildup
Purely organic substances like calcite, dolomite, gypsum and other minerals are abundant in both ancient seabeds and modern mountain aquifers, making hard water accessible to 85% of the American population. These chemicals may not hurt the quality of drinkable water, but they create a scale that isn’t very nice.
When hard water is used for cooking and watering plants, limescale may build anywhere it touches water, everything from the showerhead to the drip pan of the ice and water dispenser in the fridge. Your sprinklers may cause white, chalky, or rusty staining on your exterior wall covering. Even though CLR or vinegar may remove these deposits, it’s not always straightforward or easy to wash away visible discoloration.
The powdery growth that can collect around the ice and water dispensers in your refrigerator might give the impression that your property isn’t as clean or sanitary as it actually is. The good news is that water softeners may reduce the amount of these trace elements in your water, making it easier to maintain a sanitary environment at home. Many people unknowingly move into homes with hard water problems. Because of that, experts from Worldwide Moving Systems advise you to always check if the property you’re moving to has hard water issues. Household water softeners filter the water supply via stacks of conductive resin beads, making it easier to take care of stains and other problems.
Lose the warranties
Did you know that deposits from hard water can void guarantees on expensive machinery? Typically, when there are issues with the product in common use, the manufacturer will extend a warranty to cover the cost of repairs. Hard water deposits might indicate that the appliance was not used properly or was not maintained. Therefore, the mineral buildup may invalidate your claim even if the manufacturer is at fault.
Faulty water heaters
Some of the more substantial home appliances, like the washing machine, can’t function without access to hot water. Appliances like that can only be provided by a water heater. However, it takes more time and energy to get hard water up to the desired temperature. In addition to shortening the lifespan of the heater, this also increases operating costs. Your costs might be up to 30% higher than they would be if you used soft water instead. A heater’s lifespan can be drastically shortened by corrosion brought on by mineral deposits.
Solution options for hard water
Fortunately, with water filtration systems, there are ways to alleviate hard water, so you don’t have to settle for a subpar supply.
Water softener
As you may expect, this is the most common approach to softening water. As its name suggests, it works to soften water. Ion exchange is the technique that water softeners employ to get rid of calcium and magnesium, the minerals responsible for the hardness of the water. When calcium and magnesium ions in hard water are exchanged for sodium ions using a traditional water softening system, this process is known as “ion exchange.” Calcium and magnesium ions, but not sodium ions, disrupt the action of most home detergents and soaps. A water softener is a device put in a home’s plumbing system to soften water for consumption and domestic usage. Coated with molecules that attract and bind to positive ions dissolved in water, the unit’s many cubic feet of porous plastic resin can effectively remove them.
Reverse osmosis system
Dissolved pollutants in water can’t be seen by the human eye, but a reverse osmosis system filters them out. The kidneys benefit from the use of reverse osmosis because it filters water before it reaches the body. Water minerals like calcium and magnesium are lost in the process of reverse osmosis. However, this does not render the water unsafe to drink.
About 70–80 percent of our bodies are water, which helps keep us hydrated, keeps our joints lubricated, and keeps our organs working properly. The use of minerals for such purposes is unnecessary. You’d have to consume a lot of water to actually benefit from the mineral content. Nutrients can be obtained mostly from food and not from water. Eat more products to increase your mineral intake.
In conclusion
We mentioned the ways hard water impacts your plumbing as well as the options to treat it. If your water is hard, you should consider purchasing a water softener or a reverse osmosis system to prevent hard water from causing harm to your home’s plumbing system.
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