Most of us place a lot of faith in the quality and healthiness of our home’s water, but rarely do we think about water quality in terms of our home’s well being. Hard water, water rich in minerals, can pose long-term risks to your home appliances and plumbing. It can take years off your dishwasher and water heater. There are several methods of hard water treatment with varying degrees of success, varying price points, but predictable consequences. However, there are some promising solutions to hard water without the negative effects of traditional water softeners. Hard water is water that’s rich in minerals, though the two minerals we’re mostly concerned about are calcium and magnesium. When these minerals are heated, like in your water heater, they’re deposited on the surfaces of pipes and appliances. As those deposits build up, they form what’s called scale. Scale can leave your skin and hair feeling dry, and you’ll notice it coating the inside of your bathtub as well as your dishes. Scale can clog up your pipes, but you might also notice your energy bills going up because scale reduces the efficiencies of your hot water appliances. Needless to say, hard water and scaling need to be treated to protect the investment you’ve put into your home as well as your general sense of comfort. That’s why many people use water softeners. Water softeners are an effective hard water treatment for removing minerals from water. You soften water with the help of salt and a tank of polys...
If you’ve been told your home has hard water but you’re not exactly sure what that means, you’re not alone. Water is described as being hard when it has a high content of minerals like calcium and magnesium. This occurs when your water runs through limestone or chalk deposits in pipes or the soil. Certain regions of the United States, such as Southern California, Arizona, West Texas, Greater Chicago and other areas have great incidences of hard water than most of the country. The compounds found in hard water can create expensive problems in your home over time if a solution is not found. What Is Hard Water and How Is It Measured? The hardness of water is measured using instruments and can be expressed in many different ways, including grains of calcium carbonate per gallon, parts per million, Clark degrees and French degrees. None of these particular units are important to you as a homeowner, but the United States Geological Survey uses these units, combined with temperature and pH, to put fresh water into several different categories. The classifications are:
Soft
Moderately hard
Hard
Very hard
According to the USGS, more than half of the homes in the United States have water that is hard or very hard. You can learn about the current conditions of water in your area by visiting the Water Quality Portal, a website jointly run by the USGS, EPA and National Water Quality Monitoring Council. A professional can also visit your home to directly measure the hardness of wat...
Most of us place a lot of faith in the quality and healthiness of our home’s water, but rarely do we think about water quality in terms of our home’s well being. Hard water, water rich in minerals, can pose long-term risks to your home appliances and plumbing. It can take years off your dishwasher and water heater. There are several methods of hard water treatment with varying degrees of success, varying price points, but predictable consequences. However, there are some promising solutions to hard water without the negative effects of traditional water softeners. Hard water is water that’s rich in minerals, though the two minerals we’re mostly concerned about are calcium and magnesium. When these minerals are heated, like in your water heater, they’re deposited on the surfaces of pipes and appliances. As those deposits build up, they form what’s called scale. Scale can leave your skin and hair feeling dry, and you’ll notice it coating the inside of your bathtub as well as your dishes. Scale can clog up your pipes, but you might also notice your energy bills going up because scale reduces the efficiencies of your hot water appliances. Needless to say, hard water and scaling need to be treated to protect the investment you’ve put into your home as well as your general sense of comfort. That’s why many people use water softeners. Water softeners are an effective hard water treatment for removing minerals from water. You soften water with the help of salt and a tank of polys...
If you’ve been told your home has hard water but you’re not exactly sure what that means, you’re not alone. Water is described as being hard when it has a high content of minerals like calcium and magnesium. This occurs when your water runs through limestone or chalk deposits in pipes or the soil. Certain regions of the United States, such as Southern California, Arizona, West Texas, Greater Chicago and other areas have great incidences of hard water than most of the country. The compounds found in hard water can create expensive problems in your home over time if a solution is not found. What Is Hard Water and How Is It Measured? The hardness of water is measured using instruments and can be expressed in many different ways, including grains of calcium carbonate per gallon, parts per million, Clark degrees and French degrees. None of these particular units are important to you as a homeowner, but the United States Geological Survey uses these units, combined with temperature and pH, to put fresh water into several different categories. The classifications are: Soft Moderately hard Hard Very hard According to the USGS, more than half of the homes in the United States have water that is hard or very hard. You can learn about the current conditions of water in your area by visiting the Water Quality Portal, a website jointly run by the USGS, EPA and National Water Quality Monitoring Council. A professional can also visit your home to directly measure the hardness of wat...
