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. |
