Hard Water is Harder on Your Appliances Than You Think
Chances are you’ve come in contact with hard water; that white-encrusted faucet, dull hair, or spotted dishes and glasses.
Hard water isn’t hard to find. But what is it exactly? Soft water is free of minerals. For example, rain is soft water. When it falls and passes through rock, sand and soil it picks up minerals. While it’s generally not harmful to your health, the same can’t be said for your appliances.
The minerals in hard water that you should be most aware of are calcium and magnesium. When these are heated up, they leave the water and encrust on your shower head as a mineral deposit.
Not only is it an eye-sore, but it can slow the efficiency of your appliances. For example, the hard water buildup in your water heater is a poor conductor of heat, making it much harder to heat the water. Hard water can also wear your appliances faster. These problems continue into your pipes. Hard water builds up and can create clogs, reduce flow, or increase stress on pipes and fixtures.
If you have a problem with any of your appliances, Complete Appliance Repair is here to help you get your dishwasher, microwave, dryer and more into tip-top shape. But there are also small things you can do to avoid unnecessary repairs. You can start by treating for hard water.
Vinegar
Vinegar is one way to remove some of the hard water build up you may have. Hard water is mostly made of calcium, which is highly reactive with acids like vinegar. Soaking faucets or other fixtures in hot, natural vinegar will dissolve calcium deposits in about an hour. Distilled vinegar will also clean your dishes and remove that white film or spots.
Other cleaning solutions
There are products available made specifically to remove hard water deposits. Lemi-Shine is one for example, and used to keep your glasses spot free. Soap and hard water build up are a bad combination, and can lead to tough-to-remove soap scum. To remove this, try one-part apple cider vinegar and three parts filtered water to remove.
Remove pipe buildup
It’s also important to remove buildup in your pipes to avoid slow water flow or draining issues. You can do this yourself with a few simple steps. First you’ll want to fill pots of water, shut off your water, and empty your pipes. Then you can use a chemicals treatment or a mixture of vinegar and baking soda to clean buildup from your pipes. Wait for the solution to do its job, then pour boiling water down each drain. You can find detailed step by step instructions for this.
A more permanent solution
While the above mentioned methods are effective, they are anything but long-lasting. If you have a hard water problem, you may want to consider installing a water treatment system. A whole-home softening system is the only way to completely eliminate hard water from your home and keep your appliances running more effectively and without build-up. For any of your installation needs, don’t forget to get in touch with the professionals at Complete Appliance Repair.