Spotty dishes? Dry skin? There are a number of signs that you are dealing with hard water in your home. Honest Plumbing in Arvada and the Denver metro area can help you before it turns into bigger trouble that could affect your entire system.
Let’s look at everything you need to know about hard water. Basically, it means that the water has a lot of minerals dissolved in it, including magnesium, calcium, iron and possibly aluminum. It’s not a health risk, but it can make your water taste bad. It’s also not good for washing, and it can cause lots of problems for your plumbing. But how do you know if you have hard water?
It’s hard to rinse away soap and detergent. You may find your dishes are spotty because soap and detergent are difficult to rinse off. If you have hard water your dishes may have chalky soap streaks and spots. It will also be hard to rinse the detergent from your laundry. Sometimes your clothes will feel scratchy or stiff and may lose their bright clothes quickly.
Hard water makes soap scum stick to the tub, tile, and shower curtain. Soft water can do this too, but not as quickly or as much as when you’re dealing with hard water in your home.
If you have hard water you will have trouble rinsing off in the shower and perhaps a hard time working up a soapy lather. No, it’s not the new soap you just bought that’s at fault.
You may have dry skin because hard water leaves a soapy film on your skin from the shower.
The minerals in hard water make it taste bad. It often tastes or smells metallic, sulfuric, or sour.
Here’s the bad news for your plumbing, the mineral deposits from hard water ruins appliances, including hot water heaters, refrigerator icemakers, dishwashers, and washing machines, and increases your energy usage. If you have a solar heating system, which is usually used to heat swimming pools, mineral build-up can lead to a loss in energy efficiency.
Hard water also causes limescale build-up, which restricts the water flow in your pipes. Over time the minerals will clog the pipes and can lower your water pressure and cause expensive damage to pipes and plumbing fixtures. Sometimes it will even make your pipes burst.
As the flow in the pipes get more restricted, the mineral build-up increases. You may first notice it on your shower heads, faucets, and valves. You can even see the build-up on sink surfaces from slow dripping faucets and this can also damage the rubber washers.
The valves often found in your various appliances, like icemakers, washing machines and dishwashers can also get scale build-up. Sometimes this causes water leaks.
Mineral deposits from hard water can form on the heating elements of your water heater. This can prevent the water from heating up efficiently and make the burners work overtime. The hard water deposits can clog the pipes, valves, and drains of the water heater, shortening its lifespan.
If you are dealing with hard water in your home, our plumbers at Honest Plumbing in Arvada and the Denver metro area can help you with any plumbing problems it may cause. We can also help prevent hard water problems by installing a water softener. Using a water softener can reduce the damage done by hard water and protect your appliances and plumbing. If you live in an older home with smaller pipes, a water softener may be even more important. Give us a call at Honest Plumbing and we can test for hard water and help you fix your plumbing issues.
