How to Tell if You Have Hard Water?

Have you ever wondered why your skin feels parched, your hair lacks luster or your clean dishes have spots? Before you actually test your water for hardness, these signs could indiciate that you are experiencing hard water. Hard water is mineral-laden and can cause various issues around the house.

Consequently, recognizing these signs can help you determine the nature of water in your home and your next course of action to resolve or reduce its severity.

Some Common Signs That You Have Hard Water

Soap Leaves Residue on Hands

Simply washing your hands can help you determine if you have hard water. When you wash with soap, there will be residue on your hands if the hardness of your water at home is high. Soap scum forms as soap reacts with calcium and gets slimy as a result, leaving residue behind.

Conversely, if you have soft water, the soap and water will produce a lather (frothy mass of bubbles).

Dry and Itchy Skin Troubles

Hard water in your home leads to skin conditions like psoriasis and eczema more often. Hardness is able to disrupt the delicate skin barrier causing dryness, clogged pores, itching, breakouts, flaking.

Dull and Flat Hair

A build-up of minerals from hard water can leave hair looking dull and lifeless. Therefore, instead of being shiny it becomes flat. In addition to that hard water has been known to cause drying out brittle hair hence prone to breaking off completely besides weighing hair down. Our shower head filter attachment is the simplest solution for this problem.

Spots on Clean Dishes and Glasses

In addition to depositing itself on our hands when we wash them, another symptom of hard-water related problems is spots on dishes and glassware. If after cleaning glasses they appear speckled or unclear this shows that there exists a severe case of hard water in the area.

Clothes feel harsh and faded

This means that fabrics washed in such deposits would feel harsh rather than smooth because their clothes stick into them due to mineral deposits which would ultimately make clothes become rough when touched by hand instead of feeling soft like they should. You may also notice your clothes changing colors or becoming dull, such as whites turning yellow or gray. Similarly, even the threads in your clothes are weakened by minerals in hard water thus tearing easily.

Residue Buildup in Shower

That filmy residue on your glass shower door and tiles is a sign of hard water. When the water from your shower evaporates, it leaves behind mineral deposits that eventually cover your once glistening clear doors and fixtures with water stains.

Plumbing Problems are Consistent

Mineral accumulation occurs on pipes and appliances that corrode as well as hamper water pressure when there is hardness in the incoming supply. For instance, you will see that your faucets and showerheads clog up more often than before or have reduced flow rates overall. Besides, it might reduce efficiency of laundry machines if they have to use hard or impure water.

Spike in Water Bills

The performance of your boiler and hot-water tank will be affected by scale buildup – heating times dragged out making energy consumption rise — thus resulting in increment of utility bills.

Conclusion

It is important to know the signs of hard water, as this will aid in finding ways to deal with it. Luckily, there are a few techniques through which hard water problems can be treated.