What Is Hard Water & How Do I Stop It?

Have you ever noticed that the dishes you take out of the dishwasher have strange, stubborn white spots on them? Does your showerhead or faucet have a crusty white residue on it that’s extremely difficult to remove? Does your food taste strange when you’re done cooking or your laundry feel stiff, rough, and scratchy when you’re done washing it? These are all potential signals that you have a hard water problem.

What Is Hard Water?

Hard water is the name used to describe water that has elevated levels of mineral inclusions, particularly calcium and magnesium. These minerals are what form that white residue that your water seems to leave everywhere as well as cause some of the effects that you experience throughout your home. It’s important to note that these minerals are not bad for you, and in fact some studies have shown that the minerals in water actually provide an important source of calcium that we need in our diets as humans. However, too high of a mineral content will degrade your water quality and potentially create some serious issues for your plumbing system as well. Naturally, it’s best to try and get rid of this problem to the best of your ability.

Water Softener Systems

One way to deal with hard water is to counteract it with an appropriately-named water softener system. Water softeners add additional substances to your water supply that react with the minerals in your water, preventing them from exhibiting some of those annoying behaviors. Water softeners come in a few different varieties, however they’re decreasing in popularity for a few different reasons. For one, salt tank water softeners are actually against the law to install and create a ton of potentially harmful waste that is then dumped into our sewers.

One of the most popular water softening options is a regular monthly water softener tank delivery service. Every month, a service provider delivers a water softener tank in your home and removes your old tank that has emptied out over the course of the month. Your tank is usually located in your garage on your main water line, and tank replacement generally takes no more than 3 to 4 minutes to complete. Inside the tank is a mixture of different substances designed to soften your water, improve its taste, and much more.

The upsides to these systems are that they are both extremely effective and eco-friendly. Likewise, these tanks are generally easy to install and have a far lower initial investment than most other types of water quality solutions. However, they do involve having to pay a monthly subscription fee to the service in order to keep the new tanks coming.

Water Filtration Solutions

Water softener systems get rid of hard water by adding additional substances to your water. This doesn’t make your water any less healthy for you, but the truth is this type of water isn’t truly pure. If you want clean and clear water, you’ll want to invest in a water filtration system. Water filtration physically removes the debris and other substances through your water using a variety of different filtration media. On the plus side, this does remove inclusions from your water and leaves it truly tasting clean, fresh, and pure. However, this comes at a much higher initial investment cost, and could require additional investment in the future in the form of media changes, depending on the system you buy.

However, these systems don’t have to be super-expensive. If your goal is to simply do away with buying water bottles constantly and get clean drinking water in your home, then a reverse osmosis filter may be the perfect solution to your needs. These systems generally cost no more than a few hundred dollars to buy, use no additional energy, and require no media changes in order to produce clean and clear water. However, the downside is that they generally only produce enough water to feed one very small tap. Thus, your dishwashers, showers, toilets, and other fixtures will all still be using the same hard water you had before.

Learn more about the other great water quality improvement systems available to you from the pros at Rooter Guard Plumbing Services! Dial (818) 572-9743  today to request more information.

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