Although tap water is often crystal clear, there is a significant difference between hard and soft water that most homeowners don’t get to understand. Water contains dissolved minerals, and their concentration is what creates the hardness or softness of water.
Hard water contains a significant amount of dissolved minerals and metals, including lead, calcium, and magnesium, among others.
On the other hand, soft water is treated to eliminate the excess mineral and metal deposits in hard water.
Hard water possesses a variety of real hassles for homeowners that you might be unfamiliar with. Let’s look into some of the top risks of using hard water in your home. Read more.
Your Tap Water Tastes Salty and Funny
A salty taste and funny odor is one clue that the water you are using at home is hard. It is also a sure sign that your water might be contaminated by some sort of bacterial contaminant. The salty taste often results from excessive dissolved calcium, magnesium, and lead.
In other instances, your water might have an unpleasant metallic taste, which often results from excessive iron deposits. If your water tastes like dirt, it’s a sure sign that your pipes are clogged with mineral scale up from hard water.
No one likes this funny unpleasant taste in their water, but it is a sure sign that you are using hard water at home and you need a water softener.
Your Bathtub and Shower Tap Having Scummy Residue
Chemicals in soaps and detergents react with calcium concentrated in hard water to form an insoluble residue that sticks to your bathtub. Even after cleaning the bathtub, the stains formed during these reactions make it look dull and unattractive.
On the other hand, the excessive concentration of metals and minerals in hard water makes your taps, especially your shower tap look rusty. This scummy residue can also stick to tiles, shower curtains, and bathtub surrounds after using hard water to clean.
Your Plumbing System Often Gets Clogged
Another risk of using hard water is that you constantly get pipe bursts and clogging in your plumbing system. Excess deposits of metal and minerals cause a scummy build-up in the pipes, which reduces water flow and sometimes pipe bursts.
This results in high costs while repairing your home’s plumbing system due to blocked and narrowed pipes. The clogging can also affect home appliances that use water, such as dishwashers and cloth washing machines. This is another sure sign that you need a water softener in Salt Lake City.
Your Clothes Get Stained
Lastly, hard water makes it hard to use soap and causes yellow-like stains on your clothes. This is mostly due to magnesium and calcium deposits in hard water that causes soap to have difficulty being rinsed off.
Hard water makes clothes appear dingy and stained due to the iron content in hard water. This is often a sure sign that you need a water softener in Salt Lake City.