When water is hard, it contains more minerals, mainly magnesium and calcium, than ordinary water. If you wash your hands with such water, they feel slimy. In other words, you feel as if a film of residue is left on your hands. However, water can be softened using water softeners.
Where Does Hardness Come From?
One of the main solvents found in hard water is weak carbonic acid formed when carbon dioxide in the air combines with water. As water moves through rocks and soil, more minerals, especially calcium and magnesium, also dissolve. By the time this water gets into your house, it may contain different amounts of solvents, making it hard.
How Do You Tell if Water Is Hard?
You can always have your tap or well water tested for hardness. You can acquire a testing kit from a local store that sells water treatment equipment. Typically, water hardness is reported in milligrams per liter (Mg/L). According to the US Environmental Protection Agency, water is classified into these four main categories:
Even without testing, it is easy to tell if your tap water is hard. You need to observe the following signs when doing laundry, showering, or washing dishes:
Why Should You Use Water Softeners?
Water softeners help to remove ions that make water to be hard. Hard water interferes with your everyday cleaning tasks. If you wash clothes with hard water, they feel scratchy. If you look at your glasses and dishes, they have spots when dry. Hard water also causes a film on sinks, bathtubs, glass shower doors, and shower walls.
Hard water also affects the amount of detergents and soap you use during cleaning. When soap combines with magnesium and calcium solvents, it forms a sticky soap curd, producing little or no foam. When bathing, the sticky curd is left on your skin.
Hard water will also ruin your clothes. When soap curds lodge in fabric, your clothes become stiff and rough. Also, soap cannot completely remove stains, and your clothes gradually lose their brightness.
When you use hard water in industries, it clogs pipes. As lime builds up, pipes block, significantly affecting the efficiency of tanks and boilers.
Conclusion
Hard water is always harsh on your skin, hair, plumbing, and other industrial and domestic appliances. The only effective solution to hard water is always using water softeners.