Across the UK, there are various soft and hard water areas. Due to ideal geology conditions such as chalk and limestone, roughly 60% of the UK suffers from hard water, with the South and East of England being the worst off. Take a look at our hard water map to determine if you live in a hard water area.
What Is Hard Water?
Hard water contains a high mineral content with significant quantities of calcium and magnesium. Although drinking hard water can have some benefits, the overall effects on your body and home are often unwanted! We go into more detail about what hard water is and what you can do about it in our other blog, what to do if you live in a hard water area.
Is Hard Water Bad For You?
Although hard water does not pose a threat to health, living in a hard water area can come with many undesired side effects, like dry and itchy skin, limescale build-up, eczema, and many more, which we’ll go into detail. Our water softeners provide the perfect solution to those battling hard water entering their homes in many parts of the country by softening hard water through an ion exchange process. This is where calcium and magnesium minerals are removed and flushed away, reducing those unwanted consequences.
Signs You Have Hard Water In Your Home
Dealing with hard water in your home can be a real struggle. We’ll break down some major giveaway signs that your water system could benefit from one of our water softeners.
1. Skin Irritation
It’s common to blame skin conditions like eczema and dandruff on genetics. But hard water can trigger symptoms of skin irritation due to the mineral build-up reacting with your shower products.
While it’s vital that we get enough mineral ions in our body, the excessive amounts of calcium in hard water prevent soap from dissolving entirely, which can cause a range of uncomfortable issues. Next time you find yourself, or someone you know, dealing with any of these skin irritations, just think, it might be your water triggering or amplifying any of the below:
- Dry or itchy skin
- Dermatitis
- Acne
- Stiff or tight skin
- Psoriasis
- Sensitive skin
2. Dry and Weak Hair
Do you want smooth hair that isn’t dry and weak? I’m afraid hard water might make that difficult for you to achieve! The minerals in hard water can cause a build-up on your scalp, which prevents your delicate hair follicles from absorbing essential nutrients. This can leave your hair feeling dry and coarse, eventually causing it to become weak and stunting growth. Hard water can also contribute to thinning hair, baldness, frizziness, faded colour, and breakage.
3. Limescale
Image Credit: Richard Lewis under CC BY-SA 2.5
Limescale, or soap scum, is probably the most obvious sign of hard water. This yellow/whiteish chalk-like deposit will build up on taps, pipes, inside kettles, boilers, and other areas of your home where water is heated or comes into contact.
4. Stiff Clothes
If your clothes have a rigid and scratchy feeling after a wash, it’s most likely caused by hard water. The minerals calcium and magnesium stay on your clothes whilst they dry, making them feel stiff. Hard water can ruin your laundry in many other ways, like fading the colour and impacting the smell of your clothes, which isn’t ideal! You can find out more in our blog does hard water ruin clothes?
5. Appliances Don’t Work As Well As They Use To
Unfortunately, the side effects of hard water don’t stop there. The deposits that form from calcium carbonate can clog some pipes, making it difficult for water to pass through and negatively affecting the performance of appliances.
Limescale may also form on the heating elements of appliances, like kettles, making them use more energy to function, or can wear out appliances faster than expected.
6. Dirty Dishes
You probably know by now that minerals in hard water are the main culprits for many undesired side effects. These mineral salts can leave a cloudy residue on your glass and silverware, making them look dirty even after being washed.
Our water softeners can significantly reduce the side effects experienced from hard water, as they decrease the amount of minerals responsible for the issues above with our innovative technology.
Having softer water can help treat skin conditions, improve the efficiency of your appliances, reduce bad hair days, allow for cleaner dishes, tastier drinking water, and much more. If you’re interested in creating a home with better water, then visit Kinetico to find out more about our water softeners.
