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What is hard
water?
Hard water is the most common problem found
in the average home. Hard water is water that contains dissolved hardness
minerals above 1 GPG.
What are hardness minerals?
Calcium, manganese and magnesium are the
most common.
How do you Measure Hardness?
Parts per million or grains per gallon
are the most common. One part per million (PPM) is just what it says:
out of one million units, one unit. Grains, or grains per gallon (GPG)
is a weight measurement taken from the Egyptians; one dry grain of wheat,
or about 1/7000 of a pound. It takes 17.1 PPM to equal 1 GPG.
Why Should Hard Water Concern
Me?
For many uses, it would not matter. For
instance, to put out fires, water your lawn, wash the mud off the streets
or float your boat, water would have to be pretty hard to cause a problem.
But for bathing, washing dishes and clothes, shaving, washing your car
and many other uses of water, hard water is not as efficient or convenient
as "soft water." For instance:
- you use only 1/2 as much soap cleaning
with soft water.
- because hard water and soap combine
to form "soap scum" that can't be rinsed off, forming a 'bathtub ring'
on all surfaces and drys leaving unsightly spots on your dishes.
- when hard water is heated, the hardness
minerals are re-crystallized to form hardness scale. This scale can
plug your pipes and hot water heater, causing premature failure, necessitating
costly replacement.
- the soap scum remains on your skin even
after rinsing, clogging the pores of your skin and coating every hair
on your body. This crud can serve as a home for bacteria, causing diaper
rash, minor skin irritation and skin that continually itches.
- for many industrial uses, the hardness
minerals interfere with the process, causing inferior product.
Who Will Test My Water for Hardness?
If you are connected to a municipal supply,
call the water Superintendent, or City Hall. They can either provide the
answer, or direct you to the proper individual. Remember the conversion
factor: it takes 17.1 PPM to equal 1 GPG. In other words, if your water
has 171 PPM calcium in it, divide 171 by 17.1 to get the answer in grains.
This example would be 10 grains, or GPG.
If you are on a private supply, you could contact your county extension
agent: collect a sample in an approved container and send to the city
or state health department for testing: find a testing lab (try the yellow
pages): call a water conditioning company. By the way, if you are on a
private well, YOU, AND YOU ALONE are responsible for the safety of the
water you and your family drink. You should test your supply for bacteria
at least once per year and other contaminants at least every three years
-- more under certain conditions.
My Water is Hard. Now What?
If your water tests over 3 GPG hard, you
should mechanically soften it. Softening water that is less than 3 GPG,
while it makes your shaving and bathing more comfortable, is considered
a luxury due to the fact that the cost is more than your savings. Over
3 GPG, you will save enough to pay for the cost and maintenance of a water
conditioner.
As of this writing, the most economical way for you to soften your household
water is with an ion exchange water softener. This unit uses sodium chloride
(salt) to recharge man made plastic like beads that exchange hardness
minerals for sodium. As the hard water passes through and around the plastic
like beads, the hardness minerals (ions) attach themselves to the bead,
dislodging the sodium ions. This process is called "ion exchange". When
the plastic bead, called Resin, has no sodium ions left, it is exhausted,
and can soften no more water. The resin is recharged by flushing with
salt water. The sodium ions force the hardness ions off the resin beads;
then the excess sodium is rinsed away, and the resin is ready to start
the process all over again. This cycle can be repeated many, many time
before the resin loses it's ability to react to these forces.
Which Water Conditioning Company
should I call?
As in any purchase, talk to your friends
and neighbors -- who do they use? Are they happy with them? Check with
the Better Business Bureau for complaints. The BBB can't prevent shady
business, but they can and do keep a file of complaints filed by people
who have had dealings with them.
Ask at least two to come to your home to look at your plumbing and then
give you a quote on their equipment. Have them explain all the features
of the unit, as well as the warranty.
What Should I look for in a Water
Conditioner?
Make sure the unit has enough resin to
treat all the water you and your family will use. As of this writing,
the average usage per day, per person (including children), for inside
the house is 87 gallons. You should also be shown two or three ways to
initiate recharging the unit.
The oldest way is by a timeclock, ie, your water usage is calculated and
the frequency of recharging programmed into the timer. On the appointed
day, at the appointed hour, the unit recharges. If all went as calculated,
ok. If you were gone -- too bad -- you just wasted salt and water. If
you had extra company -- too bad -- you ran out of soft water. You must
pick a unit that will treat one days supply of water and still have about
40% of the resin in the recharged state. This will provide you with the
most efficiency for salt and regeneration water.
A second way to initiate recharge is by electronic sensing. By electronically
checking the resin, these units can determine when the resin needs to
be recharged -- this is a great help when your water hardness changes,
when you have extra company or when you are gone for a few days. These
'sensor' units can save you up to 42% of your salt and recharge water
as well as keep you in soft water when you have extra guests.
A third way to initiate recharge is by using a meter. These units have
a meter installed in the water line and simply measure how many gallons
of water you actually used. The unit is set according to your water hardness,
and will recharge when the gallons used approach exhaustion of the resin
bed, saving you a high percentage of your recharge salt and water.
Many variations of these methods are on the market. Some use computers
to calculate in advance, when to recharge the unit; some have two resin
beds (tanks), and switch back and forth between the two, keeping you in
soft water all the time, at the highest efficiency. These systems are
most effective in high-hardness waters, ie, over 10-12 GPG, and over 4
people in the family. Low hardness water and smaller families do not require
the extra expense of these options.
I Have a Water Conditioner, Now
my Water Feels "Slimy"
When the hardness minerals are removed,
soap no longer forms a soap curd, or "bathtub ring" on your skin, plugging
your pores, clinging to every strand of hair. You are now truly clean.
That slick, slimy feeling you feel is your natural body oils -- without
the soap scum. The old saying that you get "squeaky clean" is a myth;
that feeling was caused by the soap scum on your skin. By the way, that
soap scum provided an excellent place for bacteria to hide and grow, causing
numerous minor skin ailments.
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