Everybody has heard the terms hard water and soft water. Many people spend a lot of money to make their water less hard using a variety of water purification devices and techniques. Hard water has dissolved metals in it like calcium and magnesium from local limestone primarily from local dolomite. Depending on your location, you could also have metals like iron and aluminum. While minerals in your water are not generally bad for you, there have been extensive studies indicated that aluminum is not good to ingest over long periods of time. That is why aluminum cookware is no longer produced by most manufacturers. The bottom line is that while hard water is not generally bad for you to drink, it can cause problems with your plumbing and virtually prevents the formation of soap sudswith most detergents.
Inconveniences of Having Hard Water
Since soap does not dissolve as well in hard water as it does in soft water, your laundry may not get as clean as you would like. There are detergents made for people with hard water, but some people just add more of their regular detergent to get more suds. The problem is that the residual soap may not be thoroughly rinsed from your laundry and may cause some people to experience skin irritation. You will have to do some research for what works best in your water, but the good news is that your neighbors most likely have the same water source as you.
Dishes are washed at a much higher heat than your clothes. Unfortunately, the minerals dissolved in your hard water are released from the water more readily at hightemperatures. While some people have to spot remover solution in their dishwasher for automatic release, you will always have spots on your glasses if your water has an extremely high level of dissolved minerals.
Bathing can be the most troublesome though. Since hard water doesn't dissolve the soap as well, you will have that feeling of a film or residue being left on your skin and on your bathtub as a ring. Again, there is some soap that works better in this kind of water, but people with highly sensitive skin types will always have difficulties bathing in hard water. Laundry and dishwashing liquids with bad water are just inconveniences compared to bathing in it. If you have water problems and your spouse is scratching like they have fleas, you might want to give serious consideration to awater purification system that will make you feel like a new person.
Damage Caused by Hard Water
Your clothes will simply not last as long as if you washed them in soft water. And if you have the correct washing machine and know the technique for washing silk, it will do you no good if your clothes only last half as long before wearing out.
Hard water is like cholesterol. It will clog your pipes like cholesterol clogs your arteries. But, unlike your arteries, you can replace plumbing pipes. It forms on the stairs inside of everything that carries water in your house. Everything from the main pipes of your house to your appliances will be affected. And just like your body, clogged pipes will make your systems work harder and expend more energy. More energy means higherutility bills.
Solar heating systems providers may not inform you that your pool system will start costing you more to run when the electrical pump starts working harder because the small solar tubing starts to accumulate runs. Consult your local pool company before you install a water purification system in any solar pool heating loop.
The Problems Caused by Hard Water
