Hard water is a problem in many households, and most people live with it without realizing how it is affecting them. In truth, hard water contains chemicals that can adversely affect your health and your Lynnwood, WA, home’s plumbing. It can also damage appliances like coffee makers and dishwashers.
Fortunately, you don’t have to live with poor water quality. When you hire plumbers to address the problem, they will test your water and offer solutions for removing those chemicals from your tap water. You’ll immediately notice the difference in the taste and cleansing power of the filtered water in your home.
What Factors Affect Tap Water?
It’s not uncommon to find toxic chemicals in water since we draw our water from deep within the earth. As it flows through several layers of soil and sediment, fresh water collects chemicals from the earth. If the water isn’t properly filtered, this contaminated water, or hard water, will come through your Lynnwood, WA, faucets.
In addition to an unhealthy buildup of calcium, other compounds found in hard water include magnesium, iron, and zinc. Depending on your location, other dissolved metals may be present in your water, such as barium, aluminum, and copper.
While there are always some traces of these metals in tap water, higher concentrations will lead to harder water.
You can tell that your home has a water quality problem by looking for a white film on your shower walls and shower curtain. Look at your faucets for a light green sediment as well. If you still feel soapy after rinsing off in the shower, this is another indication that you have hard water.
These signs should prompt you to call plumbers in your area to test your home’s water for heavy metals.
What Are the Health Effects of Poor Water Quality?
When you have hard water flowing through your plumbing system, it will affect the quality of your personal hygiene practices.
For example, water with a high concentration of chemicals might cause your skin to become dry and leathery. If you experience itchiness, red blotches, and skin that appears aged, the problem may be with your Lynnwood, WA, home’s water quality.
Your hair may also be adversely affected by washing it in hard water. If your hair seems drier than usual, don’t immediately blame your shampoo. Dry hair with tough tangles may be the result of the chemicals in hard water removing the natural oils in your hair.
Once plumbers have added newer water filter services to your home’s plumbing, you’ll have a more pleasant experience when washing your hair.
While hard water may not taste as good as filtered water, there isn’t any research to suggest that it’s harmful to your health.
Even so, you can enjoy cleaner water that has a fresh taste when you ask plumbers to install point-of-use filtration devices. In addition to whole house filtration systems, a filter on each faucet will help remove more chemical compounds and sediment from your water.
How Does Poor Water Affect Your Lynnwood, WA, Home?
Even though the health effects of hard water are minimal, your plumbing system will be negatively impacted. In general, the chemicals found in hard water will cause corrosion in your home’s plumbing and appliances. A higher concentration of chemicals in your water will mean your plumbing will be affected more quickly.
Once you learn more about the specific ways hard water will affect your home, you will realize that getting better water filtration will save you money in the future.
Hard Water Scale Inhibits Water Flow
There are certain minerals in hard water (chalk, calcium, limestone, etc.) that are common in the tap water of most Lynnwood, WA, homes.
As these minerals build up and collect in the pipes, drains, and faucets of your home, you’ll see a light lime-colored sediment. This sediment will thicken over time, making it difficult for water to pass through screens and filters.
Check for sediment if you experience decreased water pressure in your shower or kitchen faucets. The screen on a sink faucet or the jets in the showerhead may be clogged with sediment.
If this is the case, you should have a plumber treat your home’s water before replacing or cleaning the fixtures. This will ensure the same thing won’t happen to your new faucet or showerhead.
Mineral Accumulation Leads to Clogged Pipes
Mineral deposits can get thick enough to block the small holes in a screen, but they won’t grow large enough to block an entire plumbing pipe. Water can still pass through these areas in your pipes even when minerals have accumulated along the walls of your pipes.
Unfortunately, those chemical deposits will still be significant enough to interact with soap as it flows through your pipes. This leads to the buildup of soap scum, which will be thick enough to trap hair, food particles, and anything else that’s flushed through your plumbing system.
When enough waste is trapped by the soap scum and minerals in your pipes, a blockage will form. If you frequently experience clogged pipes, call a plumber to help you resolve your hard water problems. Cleaner water will flush the soap and debris through your pipes more effectively.
Hard Water Affects Your Curb Appeal
You might also notice that mineral deposits can be seen in your sprinklers and garden hoses. If your sprinkler system sprays water onto your home, you’ll likely see a lime-colored film on your home’s siding, bricks, or stucco. Even though removing that film is simple, it won’t help if you don’t resolve your hard water problem first.
Using hard water in your yard can also have unwanted effects on your lawn, plants, and shrubbery. The high mineral content can cause your grass and plant life to dry up in much the same way that it dries out your skin and hair. This is why your grass may not be as green as it should be or why you find it hard to grow flowers or other plants.
How Can You Improve Your Lynnwood, WA, Home’s Water Quality?
While there is nothing you can do to change the quality of your water before it reaches your Lynnwood, WA, home, a plumbing service can help you treat the water before it comes out of your faucets.
There are a few different methods of treating your water to ensure the majority of unwanted chemical compounds are removed. Once your plumber evaluates your water, they may recommend some effective options.
Whole House Filter
A whole house filter consists of a carbon filter that removes minerals from the water before it enters your home’s plumbing system.
Your plumber will install the filter at the point where the main water line meets your home’s plumbing pipes. This ensures all of the water that you get through your faucets and showerheads will be properly filtered.
Point-of-Use Filter
A point-of-use filter is a more direct filtration system that is placed directly under a sink. As water is pulled through the plumbing pipes, it runs through the carbon filter before it’s deposited into a tank.
When you turn on your faucet, you will get filtered water from the reservoir tank. The reservoir tank will be large enough to ensure you have access to filtered water whenever you need it. You can filter 750 gallons of water before you need to have the filter cartridge replaced.
Reverse Osmosis Water Softener
Another type of water filter services uses a process of reverse osmosis to filter up to 98% of minerals out of the water. This ensures that heavy metals such as aluminum and copper are also filtered out of the water.
The water is diverted through a filtering tank from the main water line to go through the reverse osmosis process. Afterward, it is pushed out toward the home’s plumbing pipes for distribution through the faucets and showerheads.
The process involves running the water through a semipermeable membrane. The membrane separates ions and minerals from the water, holding those compounds back. The filtered water passes through and continues through the rest of the system.
A whole house reverse osmosis water filtration system also effectively removes most of the chlorine from drinking water. Although chlorine has positive benefits for health, too much chlorine can contribute to the erosion of your plumbing pipes.
If one of your primary reasons for eliminating hard water is to protect your home’s plumbing pipes, a whole house filter is the best way to go.
Although many minerals are unwanted, it’s important to note that some of them are needed for health. Calcium, magnesium, and other minerals are used by the body to strengthen bones, build muscle, and promote stronger immunity against disease.
If you are using a water filtering system, you should ensure you’re getting those nutrients from natural food sources.
Water Quality Evaluation
When you schedule an evaluation with Steve’s Plumbing, LLC, we will help you determine the quality of water in your home. We will offer solutions, such as improved water filter services, to help you enjoy a cleaner and fresher-tasting water.
Our team will also repair or replace any plumbing components that are causing you trouble. Call us today!