Hard water can affect just about any home in Newmarket or Barrie—essentially, hard water is a kind of water that flows through plumbing systems or inside water heater tanks that have a high concentration of minerals like calcium, magnesium, or iron. This can often affect the quality of the water that you drink or use within the house, and it could take a toll on the plumbing itself, which is why many people choose to call on a reliable Newmarket or Barrie plumber for water softeners and other solutions.
Calcium and Magnesium
She Knows writer Nina Spitzer discusses how accumulated calcium or magnesium can affect the water that you use:
Even though other minerals exist in hard water, it’s the calcium and magnesium that create problems. When heated, these minerals precipitate out of water and encrust themselves onto items as “scale” or mineral deposits, affecting the performance of household appliances. These scale mineral deposits are unsightly in bathrooms and kitchens, and they’re challenging to remove. Soaps and detergents lather poorly in hard water, so we tend to use more, resulting in a soapy film or scum residue.
Iron
Another mineral that could wreak havoc in your water supply is iron. While it isn’t exactly hazardous to your health, if you ingest iron-heavy water, the sediments could not only accumulate in your plumbing but also in your clothes when you do laundry, causing them to turn a rusty colour. Iron may also be carriers of dangerous bacteria.
Softening
To deal with hard water and the effects of its impurities, plumbing companies like Harris Plumbing Inc. recommend the use of water softeners and filters. The basic principle behind this is that using lime or passing it over an ion exchange resin removes the minerals in one way or the other. As water flows over the resin, sodium or other minerals get dissolved.
Softener Facts
Commercially available softeners typically come in several sizes and types, including automatic, semi-automatic, and manual modes. Your home’s water softener size will depend on the amount of hardness as well as the daily volume of water the household uses. For instance, a softener that can take 20,000 grains of hardness will be able to soften up to 1,000 gallons of water with a 20-grain hardness.
If you’re worried about the mineral content of your home’s water supply, trust your reliable Newmarket plumber to install an efficient softener or other water conditioning systems for your use.
(Source: Living with hard water, She Knows)
