12 April 2018

What is Hard Water?

What is hard water and why do we want to soften it?

When water falls from the sky in the form of rain it’s relatively pure and we call that soft water. But as the water falls and drains through the ground and eventually ends up in rivers and lakes and streams it has the opportunity to dissolve a lot of natural minerals.  Water that contains a high content of natural minerals, particularly calcium and magnesium is called hard water.

These minerals can cause a variety of nuisance effects:  

• Interfere with soap and detergents preventing them from working as well.
• Leave deposits causing staining and spotting on glassware, dishes, sinks and fixtures.
• Cause build up on the pipes inside of your house that over time can restrict water flow.
• Cause scale build up on appliances such as your water heater. Your water heater will work less efficiently and it will be more expensive to heat the water.  The water heater will ultimately have a shorter lifetime as these scale deposits develop.

So there are a variety of advantages to softening water.

Learn more about hard water and why to soften it.