How Hard Water Affects Your Home
Hard water, you know the taste. A sip of this mineral-rich water leaves your mouth coppery, like you just sucked on a couple of pennies.
Aside from the not-so-great taste, hard water contains minerals like iron or manganese, which can be harmful to your health at high levels. Additionally, hard water can have lasting and drastic effects on your home.
Not sure how? Let’s take a look!
Here’s how hard water affects your home.
What Classifies as Hard Water?
First, let’s take a look at the levels of hard water. When you have a water softener installed in your home, your water will be soft only, containing less than 1 grain per gallon of calcium carbonate.
However, if you draw water from a well or your water softener needs maintenance, your water can range anywhere from 1 to over 10.5 grains per gallon which are classified as slightly hard to hard water, respectively.
Anything over 10.5 grains per gallon is considered very hard water.
How Does Hard Water Affect Your House?
Hard water can impact many facets of your home.
The three most common areas of the house that are affected are your pipes, appliances, and hygiene.
Pipes
The minerals found in hard water make it naturally abrasive.
When hard water runs through your home’s pipes for long enough, it can wear your pipes down much faster than soft water.
This means you may have to shell out for pipe repair or replacement sooner.
Appliances
Appliances like dishwashers and refrigerators are the appliances most affected by hard water’s abrasive nature.
Calcium build-up can occur in your dishwasher’s pipes, leading to poor performance from your appliance.
Additionally, when hard water is used to clean dishes, you will find a layer of soap scum.
Hygiene
When showering or washing your hands, hard water doesn’t react well with soaps and shampoos.
This will leave a layer of soap scum on your skin and scalp, which can cause dryness and itchiness.
HVAC
Hard water can also affect the components of your HVAC systems like your water heater and humidifier.
The build-up of minerals in these components can cause a premature and costly repair.
Wallet
Your wallet and savings are an essential part of your home.
Hard water can pose a threat to your wallet as plumbing or appliance issues may arise, costing thousands of dollars in repairs in some cases.
Benefits of Removing Hard Water From Your Home
There are plenty of ways hard water can negatively impact your home, but let’s take a look at some benefits of removing hard water.
Longer Plumbing & HVAC Lives
A water softener rids the corrosive mineral that makes hard water the way it is.
Softer water running through your plumbing and HVAC systems helps stave off wear and tear for these systems and appliances, keeping more money in your pocket over time.
Healthier Hair & Skin
As you may already know, hard water leaves soap scum that clogs your pores.
As a result, hard water leaves a slim-like residue on your skin and scalp, which will turn into dry skin soon after.
Ridding the hard water takes away this slimy buildup on your skin and scalp when you shower.
Great-Tasting Water
Installing a water softener rids the metallic taste from your tap, giving you clean and great-tasting water instead of a mouthful of pennies.
How to Tell if Your Home Has Hard Water
Of course, if you experience any of the effects of hard water listed above, you may have too many minerals flowing through your plumbing.
However, if you’re unsure how hard your water really is, you should contact a local water treatment expert to have your water tested.
Contact Croix Crystal Water Treatment for MN & WI Water Services
If you’re sick of hard water affecting your home, call on Croix Crystal Water Treatment! We are the most trusted water treatment service in the Hudson and Twin Cities areas.
From water softener installation to water filtration, reverse osmosis, and water delivery, Croix Crystal Water Treatment has you covered!
Request a free quote online or give us a call at 715-386-8667 today!