Causes of Hard Water and How to Treat It

Water with a large amount of dissolved material is know as "Hard Water", the mineral content is usually high quantity of Magnesium or Calcium. Hard Water does not usually carry any health related risks to physical well being of people and animals, and thus can be considered potable. However even truth it holds no risk or danger to human or animal consumption, not the same can be said for other things and objects that it comes in contact with on regular day to day bases.

However Hard Water scales and leaves limescale deposits on whatever it comes in contact with on regular bases. This overtime can become extremely difficult to clean up or remove. The limescale deposit overtime clogs up the piping and cements itself therefore becoming rather difficult to remove, rendering the specific system dysfunctional, such as in-home water pipes.

Causes of Hard Water

Water does not exist in a pure form, there will always be some sort of foreign mineral or soluble mixed into it. It is this amount of foreign materials in the water that determines where it stands on Hard or Soft Water scale. Water with low mineral content is called Soft Water, meanwhile water with high amount of mineral content is called Hard Water.

Why do I have Hard Water?

Hard Water is the most common water transported by the local municipality, not to mention humans and animals require the basic minerals found in Hard Water such as Calcium and Magnesium, it’s a bit of a paradox as Hard Water damages plumbing systems and fixtures, but is essential for our wellbeing.

Do I have Hard Water?

The easiest way to determine if you have Hard Water or Soft Water is to take a look at your plumbing fixtures like lavatories, shower faucets, and other fixtures that supply water. A sign that you have Hard Water is often white residue/buildup on the plumbing fixtures, this is an indication that your water has high Calcium content. If you however have a Water Filtration system hooked up to your main Water Supply then you would have Soft Water as it cleans the water and removes the minerals and others and provides a more clean consumable water. Other then that you may also contact your local municipality using the phone number provided on your water bill and inquiry about what type of water they are supplying to your area.

Ways of Treating Hard Water

There are multiple chemical/cleaners on the market such as CLR, and aldo they do there job they are a temporary solution (think of them more like a Band-Aid). This products or solutions provided a temporary relief but the problem is bound to come back, forcing you to ones more spend money and keep spending, not only that but CLR damages certain plumbing fixture components like the shower head that has rubberish components.

The only real way to put an end to Hard Water and costly plumbing that comes from its destructive power is install a Water Softener system, modern Water Softener have significantly come down in pricing as well as became more compact and there amount on the market has increased as they are manufactured by more vendors this days.