Thanks to the Internet, most people know about the potential dangers of hard water. The minerals and contaminants in hard water dry out your skin, are bad for your hair, and are unhealthy to ingest. However, did you know that hard water also wreaks havoc on your plumbing pipes?
Minerals, including magnesium, calcium, and copper, all of which are beneficial in certain situations, are terrible for your plumbing pipes and system. They can corrode your pipes from the inside out, resulting in leaks, dirty water, contaminated drinking water, and more.
To find out more about how and why hard water is bad for your plumbing pipes, keep reading. We'll also discuss what you need to do to ensure that hard water doesn't damage your pipes and things you can do to avoid it.
What Exactly is Hard Water?
Hard water doesn't mean that your water feels physically hard. Instead, it refers to the ingredients within your water, which can make it feel soft or hard. In its natural state as rain, water is naturally soft. However, as it falls through the atmosphere and after it falls onto the ground, rain becomes hard, thanks to the minerals and contaminants it combines with.
While calcium, magnesium, and copper are the main culprits, manganese, iron, zinc, barium, aluminum, and others can make soft water hard.
How to Tell if You Have Hard Water
As a general rule, unless you have a water softener installed in your home or business, you have hard water. Most water sources, including city and well water, naturally have minerals and other contaminants in them. Therefore, unless you do something to soften it actively, the water will be hard.
To double-check whether or not you have hard water, however, here's what you can do.
•Check your hands and skin after showering or washing your hands and check for dryness and residue.
•You have itchy and dry hair or skin.
•Dirty water is coming out of your faucets.
•Your dishes have spots on them, even after a thorough washing and drying.
While each of these are signs of hard water, the best way to test the softness of your water is with a hard water test. Here's how it works:
- Purchase a hard water test kit.
- The kit will contain test strips that you dip in your water and remove.
- If the test strip reveals a high "water hardness score," you have hard water.
- Hard water test strips typically use a color or numerical system to indicate how hard your water is.
- Follow the directions on your specific tests to know your results.
How Does Hard Water Damage Your Plumbing Pipes?
Now that you know more about what hard water is and what it contains, let's look at how it affects your plumbing pipes.
Rust and Corrosion
The main way that hard water affects your pipes is by causing rust and corrosion. This is especially true with older plumbing pipes that are made of cast iron, steel, and metal. The minerals and contaminants in hard water eat away at the inside of the pipes and cause them to rust from the inside out. This, in turn, leads to many of the other problems common with hard water.
Premature Breakdown and Leaks
As hard water eats away at your plumbing pipes from the inside out, it causes them to break down. In addition to eating away at the insides of the pipes, hard water also eats away at the threads and seams where your pipes connect. Once these parts start corroding, it can lead to water leaks, which creates more corrosion and complicates the problem.
Slow Water Flow
As your plumbing pipes are breaking down from the inside out, small pieces of the pipe break away and get lodged on the inside of the pipe. This can slow down the flow of water as it travels to its destination.
Clogged Pipes
When enough of the pipe breaks down and gets stuck to the insides of the pipe, it can get completely clogged. When this happens, you will need to either repair or replace the damaged part of the system or the entire system. This is the worst-case scenario in terms of how hard water affects your plumbing pipes.
Higher Water Bills
The harder that water has to work to make it to its destination, the harder your water pump will work to get it there. When this happens, you will have higher water bills, especially when you factor in leaks and potential repairs.
Water Heater and Other Appliances
In addition to damaging your water pipes, hard water hurts other parts of your plumbing system. The most common of these problems is that it will significantly shorten the lifespan of your water heater. If your water is hard enough, it can also cause irreparable damage to your washing machine, dishwasher, toilets, and other appliances.
Can I Fix the Damages That Hard Water Causes?
If hard water damages your plumbing pipes, you have two options. First, you can either make temporary repairs and fix clogs, leaks, and other issues. Or, you can upgrade your plumbing pipes to those that are immune to the effects of hard water. These pipes include PVC, CPVC, and Pex pipes because they don't have metal or iron inside of them. As such, hard water flows through them seamlessly without causing any issues or breakdowns.
How to Make My Water Softer
If you don't want to upgrade your entire plumbing system and replace all your pipes, you also have the option of addressing the problem directly - hard water. Several options include boiling your water to remove contaminants or installing a water filter to get rid of some of the contaminants.
However, the best way to make your water softer is by installing a whole-house water softener. Water softeners use a variety of methods, including ion exchange, salt, or even electricity, to soften water.
They do this by having hard water pass through them so they can filter out minerals and contaminants. When these minerals and contaminants are removed, the water is no longer hard and poses no threat to your plumbing pipes, appliances, or health.