You’ve surely heard the phrase hard water, and probably know that it’s not ideal. But how much do you actually know about it? Learning about what hard water is, how it affects your plumbing, and what can be done about it might help you with some surprising things around your home.
What Causes Hard Water
Pure water is comprised of just two elements: hydrogen and oxygen. But it is extremely good at dissolving things. This means that water often picks up other substances. Hard water is water with a higher-than-normal amount of dissolved minerals in it. The most common minerals in hard water are calcium and magnesium. These are not harmful to consume—in fact, they’re necessary in small amounts—so you don’t need to worry that drinking hard water will be damaging to your health. But it can cause other problems.
The Effects of Hard Water
Washing anything with hard water is a challenge, because it doesn’t allow soap to lather as well. This means you might have limp and stringy hair, laundry that doesn’t get clean enough and comes out of the dryer feeling stiff and starched, or dishes with white streaks of mineral deposits on them.
Those things might be a bit frustrating, but hard water can also cause considerable bother and expense. When that water passes through the same places continuously, some of those minerals will settle out. Over time, that builds up as mineral scaling. It can narrow your drains, making clogs more likely. It can narrow the piping coming from your water heater, causing pressure problems and not letting enough hot water through to keep your shower warm. And it can build up inside appliances that use water, such as your washing machine and dishwasher, leading to frequent repair needs.
How to Resolve Hard Water Problems
Once you’ve got a lot of mineral scaling built up, you may need to treat the existing problem as well as consider how to avoid ending up in the same position in the future. Water heaters can be flushed with a safe, acidic solution that will dissolve the scaling inside the tank and/or piping of the system. And hydro jetting can blast the scaling out of your home’s drain pipes with just pressurized water.
But you don’t want that mineral scaling to build up again. How can you avoid that? With a water softening system. This passes all the water that comes into your home through sodium beads, and the calcium and magnesium are attracted to the sodium and stay there. The softened water continues through your home’s plumbing, no longer leaving any mineral scaling behind.
If you think you might need a water softener in Doylestown, PA, we’d love to hear from you. Our team can check on your plumbing, make recommendations to best suit your home and your needs, and get your water soft and your soap sudsing properly so you’ll be free of your bothersome hard water problems.
Contact Platinum Plumbing & Heating, Inc. today to schedule an appointment with our pros.