4 Benefits of Removing Hard Water at Home
Put simply, hard water is what flows directly from your tap. Installing a water filtration system turns it into soft water. Hard water features distinct characteristics mainly due to high amounts of naturally occurring minerals like bicarbonates, oxidized ferrous iron, sulfates and chlorides. While you can use either form of water, soft water reigns supreme. Here are four great reasons why you should remove hard water from your home.
Soft Water is Great for Your Skin and Hair
Removing hard water at home dramatically reduces the levels of calcium and magnesium. Those two minerals often react with chemicals in your soap and shampoo and reduce their effectiveness. You'll require a decent amount of soap in order to lather.
Hard water also leaves traces of shampoo on your hair and scum on your skin. Over time, your hair becomes brittle and dry. You'll also suffer from a dry scalp and skin. Acne is another common problem that comes from hard water. If you want to improve your water quality, you can install a shower water filter to help your skin and scalp feel much better.
Soft Water Protects Your Appliances
Unlike hard water, soft water helps to preserve your home appliances. In fact, research shows that installing a water filtration system increases the efficiency of water heaters. The findings also showed that removing hard water from your home increases the life of water heaters — the average period being nine months.
Due to high mineral levels, hard water also clogs and corrodes other appliances, including:
Dishwashers
Washing machines
Air conditioners
Refrigerators
Clogging results from an accumulation of magnesium and calcium. It affects the efficiency of your appliances. With hard water, you can expect them to consume higher amounts of water in order to function optimally. Corrosion reduces their life span. The bottom line is that budgeting for frequent repairs and higher water bills becomes inevitable.
Soft Water Enhances the Taste of Your Food
An easy way to differentiate soft water from hard water is through their distinct taste. Magnesium is responsible for the metallic taste associated with tap water. Hard water features a milky taste due to higher calcium levels.
The combined effect of calcium and magnesium can often give your home-cooked food an unfavorable taste. You'll want to install a water filtration system for enjoyable moments in the kitchen. The minerals found in hard water often react with compounds in your ingredients.
Due to changes in the chemical composition of your food, cooking can be difficult. Pectin, for instance, is a starch found in vegetables, legumes and some fruits. In most cases, you'll experience the mentioned phenomena when cooking pectin-rich meals — like beans.
Removing hard water from your home purifies your tap water. You can be sure to enjoy tastier meals since soft water helps to preserve the natural flavors of food. It also significantly reduces the amount of cooking time.
Soft Water Preserves Your Dishes and Clothes
If you're looking for cleaner dishes and clothes, installing a water filtration system can help you achieve that. Unlike soft water, hard water often leaves scum that sticks on clothes and dishes. The residue can appear as a thin slimy film on your sink or it can look like noticeable spots on your clothes.
When you don’t use soft water, your dishes, clothes and other items look old and not as clean. With hard water you also need to use a lot more water to neutralize the effects of soap scum. That's pretty inconvenient and costly.
Feel Good with Soft Filtered Water
Improving the quality of your life can be as simple as removing hard water from your home. Water filters infuse healthy minerals into home water that other filters remove. They're also easy to install.
Built to last, they're highly sustainable and can be used instead of bottled water. Explore water pitchers, shower filters and hard water reducing components so you can feel and taste all of the benefits of having soft water at home.
Tess DiNapoli is an artist, freelance writer, and content strategist. She has a passion for yoga and often writes about health and wellness, but also enjoys covering the fashion industry and the world of fitness.
