More than 80% of homes throughout the U.S. have hard water. The Department of Energy (DOE) warns that it can significantly increase your home maintenance costs over the years. Let’s look at what causes hard water, the ramifications, and what you can do about it.
What’s Hard Water?
The hardness of water refers to the levels of dissolved calcium, magnesium, and other minerals. Distilled water has no hardness at all, as the distillation process removes nearly all dissolved minerals. Drinking water, on the other hand, can range from soft to extremely hard. While there’s no standard, the U.S. Geological Survey uses the following classification.
- 0-60 milligrams per liter (mg/L) is soft.
- 61-120 mg/L is moderately hard.
- 121-180 mg/L is hard.
- Beyond 180 mg/L is very hard.
You may also see hard water measured as parts per million (PPM), and in this context, PPM and mg/L are equivalent. Grains per gallon (GPG) is another measurement. PPM and mg/L are equivalent to GPG multiplied by 17.1.
What Causes Hard Water?
Water becomes hard through natural processes, such as mineral absorption as rainwater percolates through soil and rock. Local geography dictates how common hard water is in an area. Still, your property can have soft water even in a region known for water hardness. It’s also important to know that you can have hardness whether you use well or municipal water.
The Problems Hard Water Causes
When hard water is still or heated, it can leave behind limescale. That scale can be an annoyance, as it builds up on bathroom fixtures and leaves stains on glassware. Scale can even impact the health of your hair and skin, including encouraging various skin conditions.
Scale also builds up in appliances, such as your water heater. That accumulation can make the appliances less efficient, increasing your energy bills and your household’s carbon footprint. It can increase the maintenance an appliance needs and the frequency of repairs as well. Water heaters in areas with hard water, for instance, need regular tank flushing and more frequent anode rod replacement. Scale also shortens appliance lifespans, as much as 50% in the case of water heaters.
The other issue with scale is that it builds up in your pipes and fixtures. Homes with hard water need drain cleaning more often due to scale and the excess soap scum it causes. The buildup in pipes decreases water pressure, and over time, it promotes corrosion. It also wears out O-rings and other parts in fixtures that make them more prone to leaks and failures.
Solution: Anti-Scale Device
If you have moderately hard water, the impact may not warrant a whole-house solution. Yet, that hardness can still have an impact on various appliances, including:
- Boilers
- Dishwashers
- Refrigerators
- Water heaters
- Washing machines
An option to protect these appliances individually is an anti-scale device, which uses template-assisted crystallization (TAC). TAC alters the chemical structure of the minerals so that they can’t as easily form scale.
Solution: Whole-House Water Softener
If you have hard water, the DOE recommends investing in a point-of-entry (POE) water softener. It bases this recommendation on the fact that a whole-house water softener will pay for itself over the equipment’s lifespan. POE systems function between the main water line and the rest of the house’s plumbing system. All the water that comes into the home is soft, which protects your pipes, fixtures, and water-using appliances.
The most common type of water softener used for residential applications is salt-based. This means it softens the water by exchanging the calcium and magnesium with either sodium or potassium chloride. The industry measures water softeners based on the gallons provided. Professional sizing will ensure your unit exceeds your peak demand.
You must also consider whether you want a system with a single tank or two. The tank is what houses the salt-saturated resin beads and where the magic happens. Single-tank systems have to go offline to regenerate. They’ll generally do that overnight for a period between one and two hours. Dual-tank systems never go offline because the system can regenerate one tank while using the other.
Local Hard Water Solutions on Long Island
Fix-A-Leak Plumbing & Heating is a local plumbing company based in Bohemia, NY. Our team has decades of experience testing water quality and implementing tailored hard water solutions. Those include POE water softeners that can protect your entire home. Call us today to schedule an in-home consultation.
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