When you live in York Region, hard water is a reality that needs to be taken into account. Considering the 17 grains per gallon (gpg) of water in Aurora and the 10.5 gpg in Newmarket, the water in both towns are considered hard water. With that level of hardness, you’ll need to take some special measures to soften the water entering your home.
Why the need for water softeners? Hard water can affect a lot of aspects in your life negatively. For example, your clothing would have a shorter lifespan, as Wisegeek points out:
Some of the effects of hard water can be witnessed when doing laundry. Despite washing, clothes may not seem to be getting clean enough because hard water often results in dinginess. It can also change the feel of apparel by making it seem rough, harsh, and scratchy. Changes to the fabric are not imaginary. It is believed that hard water significantly reduces the lifespan of garments.
Aside from washing clothes, taking a bath also feels different if you use hard water. It’s quite difficult to work up a lather with your soap, as hard water has high mineral content. The water also causes soap scum to be produced, which sticks to your hair and skin. Moreover, hard water can damage your hair by making it dry and more tangled, adding difficulty to the job of cleaning it.
Most of the damage caused by hard water, however, is in your plumbing. The dissolved calcium and magnesium in the liquid could build up in various parts of your plumbing system and fixtures, including pipes, heating tanks, and others. When mineral buildup occurs in the pipes, it reduces the flow of water and eventually blocks the pipes. Additionally, water heaters would find it more difficult to raise water temperatures, making the process longer, and causing your energy bills to increase.
When hard water becomes a major problem in your area, hire our plumbers serving Newmarket and Aurora to have a water softener installed. Water softeners work on the principle that the hard calcium and magnesium ions in water can be switched with sodium ions, which don’t clog your pipes nor make it difficult to shower. Ion switching can be done with a tank full of polystyrene beads that have been soaked in salt water.
Once hard water passes through it, the minerals in the water would disappear, replaced by the sodium. Although you’ll have to refresh and clean the beads after some time, a water softener is still one of the better methods to ensure you can enjoy soft water in the York area.
For more information, learn about our water softeners and iron filters services.
(Source: What Are the Effects of Hard Water?, Wise Geek)
