Why You Need A Water Softener
There are a number of benefits to having soft water. Below is a complete list of all of the benefits. The greatest benefits of having soft water is saved time, better skin health, better hair health and cost savings. If you are not sure if you have hard water or soft water in your home read to the bottom of this article where there is a quick video showing how to test and determine if you have hard water or soft water. Chances are if you are located in North America you have hard water as about 85% of homes have hard water. Want to learn more about the benefits of soft water, give us a call and we would be happy to explain them further.
To Save Time
By switching from hard water in your home to soft water you will see a significant reduction in the amount of time you spend cleaning. With soft water you won't have any mineral build up in your sinks, showers or toilets that can take considerable amounts of time to scrub off. Instead with soft water you will just need to clean the dirt, not dirt and the mineral buildups from your water. In addition soft water will save you time as you will have to spend less time calling your plumber. To understand this further, continue reading below.
So You Never Have To Scrub Hard Water And Soap Scum From Your Shower
If you are having a hard time scrubbing of soap scum or film from your shower, it is most likely a result of hard water. By moving to hard water you can make cleaning your shower incredibly faster and require less frequent cleaning. Hard water prevents soap from cleaning and dissolving completely. Instead, the soap bonds with the minerals in the water to form a film that sticks to everything, which is the film that you currently are struggling to clean from your shower.
To Protect Your Clothes
As you can see from the above video using soft water to clean your laundry will reduce the amount of detergent you use significantly. Each amount of soap you use on your clothes slowly breaks down the material of your clothes. Therefore if you are using significantly less soap each time you wash your clothes it will prolong the life of your clothes. In addition, the minerals themselves in hard water can speed up the deterioration of your clothes or cause them to go greyish in colour, yellowish in colour or obtain white or grey streaks on coloured clothes.
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So You Do Not Have Film Spots On Your Clean Dishes
What is the cause of white spots forming on your clean dishes after they dry or from the dishwasher is the calcium in your hard water. You may notice that the dishes from your dishwasher have even more spots than the ones you wash by hand, this is most likely not because your dishwasher is doing a poor job but because of the hard water.
With hard water, the hotter the water is the more calcium spots there will be on the dishes. Given dishwashers usually clean dishes with hotter water than what is comfortable to hand wash with this often causes dishwasher dishes to have many more film spots. By moving to soft water you can fully remove the calcium that is in your water and causing the spots to form on your clean dishes after they dry.
To Avoid Calcium & Limestone Buildup In Your Plubming, On Taps Or Kettles
The minerals in hard water will build up on the inside of your pipes and plumbing if you have hard water. Over time this build up will become thicker harder to remove, eventually causing a blockage and preventing water from passing through a certain section of pipe.
Reduced Water Heating Bills
Hard water will cause your water heater to build up with mineral deposits making the heat exchanger less efficient. As the heat exchanger becomes less efficient, so will your water heater and your water heating bill will rise.
To Protect Your Appliances
Hard water can damage many household appliances including fridges, dish washers, laundry machines and water heaters. What happens is that the hard water o leaves deposits that can clog pipes and mechanical systems within the appliances.
The deposits alter how well appliances function and how long they last before needing replacing. These build ups can also slow the flow of water making the appliances work hard, causing them to wear out faster. The worst case scenario is always that do to the deposits there becomes a complete blockage that then causes a leak and costly water damage to your home.
Better Health For Your Skin
Using hard water to shower or bath will require more soap. In addition using hard water to clean your clothes will require more determine to get your clothes clean. From the higher levels of determent in your clothes and soap used in showering you will have a higher degree of soap and detergent that come in contact with your skin. This can result in drying out your skin or causing it to become irritated. In addition the calcium in hard water can clog the pores in your skin which can cause pimples, blackheads or acne.
To Prevent Dandruff & Hair Loss
The calcium in hard water does two things most people don't like....creates dandruff and can block hair growth. How calcium causes dandruff is that it builds up on the scalp and causes skin-calcium flaking. This calcium buildup on the scalp can also clog the hair at the mouth of the follicle, causing the hair to break off, and may coat the scalp, blocking further hair growth.
To Make Your Hair Feel Softer
When using hard water to shower, it dries out your hair leaving if feeling dull, heavy and hard. This is because the calcium and other minerals in the water will create a thin layer on your hair giving it this feeling. By removing the minerals from the water by using a water softener, you can get softer, healthier looking hair.
To Save Costs
Using hard water significantly increases many costs in your home. Using hard water will increase the amount of dish soap, hand soap, shampoo and body soap you use in your home Hard water will also increase your plumbing costs and you will have quicker deterioration in your plumbing, quicker deterioration in taps and faucets and more blockages requiring plumber services.
Hard water also increases the costs of your home appliances as it will cause your dish washer and laundry machines to wear out and need replacing in a shorter amount of time than normal. With hard water your razor blades also lasting longer. With hard water, something like liquid concrete hardens on the blade causing the shaver to feel like it is dull causing tearing and irritating your skin. Finally hard water will reduce the efficiency of your water heater increasing the costs of your water heating bill by up to 50%.
Resources On How Water Softeners Work
http://www.popularmechanics.com/home/interior-projects/how-to/a150/1275126/
Other Sources:
http://colinsbeautypages.co.uk/soft-water-better-for-skin/
http://www.ovpw.net/news/The-Benefits-of-Soft-Water-for-Your-Hair-and-Skin_AE5.html
http://www.problemwater.com/h_whySoften.htm
http://edspumps.com/_docs/Hard%20water%20is%20a%20problem%20in%20many%20Canadian%20householdsx.pdf
http://www.reddiplumbingwichita.com/blog/general/problems-and-solutions-for-hard-water-buildup
http://www.esalon.com/blog/hard-vs-soft-water/
https://www.harveywatersofteners.co.uk/blog/healthy-hair-soft-water/
http://www.sheknows.com/home-and-gardening/articles/809742/hard-water-facts-and-solutions
