If you live in an area that is marked by hard water, you may have heard friends and family members who live nearby complain about it. You may even be able to taste it or see evidence of it, usually in the form of floating white elements in your kettle after boiling your tap water. While difficult or inconvenient to live with, hard water is more than just an aesthetic or taste problem. It can cause major issues for your home as well.
Hard water can damage anything it touches, and you likely have signs of it on your kitchen and bathroom surfaces and water taps, on utensils and cookware. It can leave behind a disgusting film that is difficult to remove, and in some cases. Some dish soap is designed to be used with hard water, and it may be effective at preventing the buildup that can be an eyesore or worse for your kitchen and bathroom taps. However, hard water also can impact other aspects of your home.
Just as hard water will build up on your dishes to leave behind visible evidence, it also can build up on your pipes and in water-based appliances, such as your ice maker, washing machine, and dishwasher, and damage the heating elements. This accumulation of sediment ultimately can cause blockages in your pipes. You cannot always tell if hard water is damaging your home, but you can rest assured that if sediment is building up on your dishes, it also is building up on your pipes and appliances.
Getting a Water Test
The surest way to determine whether you need to invest in a water softener to deal with hard water is to have the water tested. A water softener installation company or even a plumbing company may provide this test to you, and will tell you more about the elements present in your home's drinking and tap water.
Not every home needs a water softener, and some are lucky enough to be in an area not impacted by hard water. However, because hard water is prevalent in most parts of the UK, many homes would benefit from water testing. The homeowner at least would know whether a water softener is necessary, and then make a decision whether it is worth purchasing the water softening equipment.
