A Guide to Managing Hard Water in Your Home

If you’ve ever taken a shower and had the feeling that your skin was being pulled tight afterwards, or if your hair seems to be getting greasier faster than it used to, you may have hard water.

Hard water is caused by excess minerals like calcium and magnesium in the water, and it can cause a variety of problems in your home. In this guide, we’ll walk you through some ways to manage hard water and keep it from causing havoc in your life!

What is Hard Water and why Should you Care About it?

Hard water is just water that contains a higher-than-normal amount of dissolved minerals.

These can include calcium, magnesium, and other compounds, but the most common are the positively-charged metal ions calcium and magnesium. It’s usually not a problem in water supplies, but it becomes a headache when hard water starts affecting your home’s appliances and fixtures.

The reason hard water can cause all these problems is that soap does not lather as well in it, and the minerals it contains tend to be sticky. Soap binds to these minerals and becomes trapped in your soapy hair, skin, clothes, dishes, even if you rinse immediately after showering.

These trapped soap molecules are very difficult to remove with regular washing, which is why hard water can cause dry skin or hair. Additionally, hard water will leave mineral deposits on your appliances, causing them to wear down much more quickly than they normally would.

This is because hard water leaves behind what are essentially microscopic bits of insoluble rock after it evaporates–that’s why you’ll often see a white film or coating on dishes and other surfaces that have been washed with hard water.

How can you Tell if you Have Hard Water in Your Home, And What are the Symptoms of Hardness?

Hard water is caused by excess mineral content, which usually occurs because of an obstruction in the water system.

Hardness minerals are calcium and magnesium ions. If your water is high in these mineral ions, you have hard water.

These minerals give the water a cloudy appearance and a slippery feeling, which can be easily noticed after showering or bathing. In addition to this slippery feel, harmful effects from excess mineral content can include soap scum on your shower walls and bathroom tiles, mineral buildup on your dishes, and water spots on your glasses.

Another sign of hard water is an increased amount of soapy residue left on clothes after washing them. The harmful effects of minerals are not just aesthetic either- soap does not lather up as well in hard water, increasing the amount needed to clean dishes or get your clothes clean.

The minerals in hard water can decrease the lifespan and efficiency of your appliances (like dishwashers and washing machines).

What are the Health Risks Associated With Drinking Hard Water, And how can you Mitigate Them?

Hard water can cause a variety of health problems.

It increases the amount of calcium in your blood, which can lead to diseases like gout, arthritis, and kidney stones. It also makes it more difficult for you to absorb nutrients from food, so drinking hard water can reduce your intake of iron and other minerals.

To solve this problem, you can use an efficient softening water system in parallel with your water filtration pitcher. This will allow you to enjoy clean, pure drinking water without any of the associated health risks.

Chlorine is often added to municipal tap water in order to keep it safe for drinking. While this keeps your water supply clean and safe, it can also lead to the creation of trihalomethanes (THMs), which are carcinogenic.

THMs are a byproduct of chlorination reactions with organic matter in the water. Using a filtration pitcher is a great way to remove much of this organic material from your water.

This will help reduce the amount of chlorine you consume, which reduces your risk of exposure to THMs.

How do you Treat Hard Water, And What Kind of Maintenance is Required to Keep it Under Control?

Hard water softeners and reverse osmosis units are the two most effective ways to manage hard water.

These methods both remove dissolved minerals from your water, preventing potential problems down the line. Water softeners use a process called ion exchange, where an ion exchanger like potassium chloride is used to “trade” hard ions (especially calcium and magnesium) for more benign particles.

Reverse osmosis units use a process called selective filtration, and they do so at a much faster rate than water softeners. The downside to these methods is that the harmful ions are still in your groundwater, so you must continue to treat them or switch back and forth between hard and soft water sources.

Another method of removing excess minerals is to install a water purifier that uses resin beads or carbon filters. These small, relatively inexpensive units can be found in most department stores and do not require any maintenance beyond occasionally changing the filter.

The downside is that they need frequent replacements, so it’s only worth the investment if you go through several filters per year. If your water isn’t hard, consider installing a whole-house filter to remove chlorine and other chemicals from your tap.

Chemicals like chlorine are not only bad for you if you ingest them during showers, but they can also be absorbed through the skin.

When is a Cctv Drain System Required for Hard Water?

A CCTV drain system is mandatory in most areas of the UK when you are dealing with hard water.

This is because hard water can cause blockages in your pipes that are almost impossible to remove without the assistance of a CCTV drain camera. A CCTV drain camera can be used to identify the location of a blockage and remove it, which prevents wastewater from backing up into your home.

Conclusion

Hard water can cause a number of problems for your home, including the buildup of limescale and rust.

It’s important to know how to tell if you have hard water so that it doesn’t become an issue in the future. If you’re not sure about what hardness level is appropriate for your home or business, contact us now so we can help!

We’ll be happy to provide solutions like CCTV Drain Systems, a smart solution for managing hard water levels without adding chemicals into your plumbing system. Whatever type of service you need, our team is here to serve you with dependable professionalism and the utmost attention paid towards every job at hand.