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Water is considered hard if it has at least 61 milligrams of minerals such as calcium and magnesium per litre of water. It is actually a mixed blessing because hard water supports heart health and also tastes good. Yet, it can wreak havoc on the plumbing and water-dependent fixtures in your home. Here are five signs that you have hard water.

1. Soap Scum Around Your Plumbing Fixtures

When hard water splashes onto plumbing fixtures and then dries, it leaves behind a white, gray, or brown film that’s hard to get rid of. Eventually, the film builds up and becomes even harder to remove. Not only this, it can throttle the flow of water and even cause it to squirt from the fixture at odd angles. This residue is soap scum and it forms when soap and dirt mix with the calcium and magnesium in hard water. A simple way to make sure soap scum doesn’t build up is to towel dry your fixtures every time they’re used, a routine that’s hard to keep up. Hiring a company to install a water softener can also resolve the problem of hard water. Water softeners in Calgary can replace the calcium and magnesium ions with those of sodium, preventing the build-up of soap scum.

2. Spots on Glasses

You’ll also notice spots on your glassware when you take it out of the dishwasher. If you wash your dishes by hand they appear cloudy even though you’re sure you’ve thoroughly washed them. Though your glasses may be perfectly sanitary, the spots or cloudiness may make you not want to drink out of them or use them to serve drinks to your friends or family. The discolorations occur because they’re what’s left behind when hard water dries. A lot of scrubbing could probably remove the cloudiness or spots, but it’s temporary.

Cloudiness isn’t just confined to drinkware. You’ll also see it on your glass shower enclosure. The problem is even thornier here because the residue etches the surface of the glass with every shower. Again, the answer to this and spotty glassware is a water softener.

3. Limescale in Appliances

Limescale and soap scum are often mistaken for each other. Though both can appear on your plumbing fixtures, soap scum is more of a film and is found not only on fixtures but objects found near them such as tile and even shower curtains. Limescale is a chalky, whitish crust that forms in appliances that use hot water such as your kettle, your hot water heater or your boiler. Because it’s not mixed with soap, it is hard. One way to keep limescale in control is to descale your kettle or coffee maker or drain your hot water heater pretty frequently, but this is impractical. Again, the best solution is a water softener.

4. Dry Skin, Lusterless Hair, and Dull Laundry

Hard water leaves your skin and hair dry because the minerals in it reduce the amount of water that gets to them. This is especially problematic for young children who suffer from such skin conditions as eczema. Hard water also leaves minerals in your hair after you shampoo it, leaving it dry and lusterless. Eventually, this promotes frizzies and dandruff. Even your hands feel as if there’s a film on them even after you wash them. Indeed, if you wash your hands in warm, hard, soapy water, it will most likely leave soap scum behind. 

Laundry that’s washed in hot, hard water suffers from the same problem as skin and hair. When it’s pulled out of the laundry it is dull and scratchy. The laundry also needs more soap, so you’ll find those jugs of detergent being used up faster than normal. The limescale deposited by hard water can also shorten the life of your washing machine.

5. Water Dependent Appliances Don’t Work as Well as They Should 

Limescale that builds up in your appliances causes them to work that much harder and shortens their lifespan. If it builds up in your pipes, you may need to replace them sooner than you’d expect to as limescale can cause them to leak. All of this means higher energy bills and money needed to repipe your plumbing and replace your appliances.

Conclusion

If you have hard water, you don’t need to let it destroy your plumbing or your water-dependent appliances. Consider a water softener that can be installed at the point of entry, where it can soften all the water that comes into your home, or at the point of use to serve one or two fixtures.

Author Bio: Stephanie Snyder

Stephanie Caroline Snyder graduated from The University of Florida in 2018; she majored in Communications with a minor in mass media. Currently, she is an Author and a Freelance Internet Writer, and a Blogger.