Water Softener Options
WATER SOFTENER CONSIDERATIONS
A water softener will improve your water immensely if you have hard water minerals, iron, or manganese in your water. These contaminants can be removed with a water softener and/or a properly specified sediment filter depending on whether the contaminant’s form is in solution or particulate. The primary hard water minerals found are magnesium and calcium (the hardness minerals), while iron and manganese (“the stainers”) can also be found in Newton, MA water, mostly in private wells. If other impurities are confirmed in the water test, they can be removed with other types of water filtration systems. A water test and analysis will determine a course of action.
High Efficiency Water Softener
Hard water interferes with almost every cleaning task, from doing the laundry to washing dishes to taking a shower. Washing your hair in hard water may leave it feeling sticky and dull. Clothes can look dingy and feel rough and scratchy. Dishes and glasses get spotted and a film may build up on shower doors, bathtubs, sinks and faucets.
Hard Water Scale
Hard water can also cause a residue to build-up in pipes that can lower water pressure. Calcium and magnesium can have devastating affects on your home’s plumbing as well as your ability to clean, even though the EPA has no published limits on these. The EPA maximum allowable level for iron as a secondary contaminant is .3 parts per million and for manganese is .05 parts per million. Small amounts of these minerals can have very noticeable, even devastating affects on your home’s water quality.
The following chart identifies hard water levels. Compare your test data:
MORE AFFECTS FROM HARD WATER, IRON & MANGANESE
Scale from hard water can build-up inside water heaters insulating the temperature sensor inside the tank creating extra work to bring the temperature up to the set level. This reduces the life of your hot water heater and will likely require early replacement. Some other affects of these contaminants include corrosion and scaling inside pipes and major staining throughout the home’s showers, bathtubs, and sinks. For those using their well water for outside lawn irrigation, iron and manganese can cause major staining of outside walkways, house siding and anyplace the water touches. See the link at https://h2ocare.com/lawn-irrigation/. A water filtration specifically for this problem is effective in correcting this. For more information about hard water, see the link at Hard water defined.
Damaging Hard Water Scale Build-up
WHAT WILL A WATER SOFTENER DO?
A water softener is effective in removing hardness minerals and dissolved forms of iron & manganese. To remove particulate iron or manganese, water filtration utilizing a cartridge filter with proper micron rating will be effective. Depending on the specific situation, this could require a series of filters with different size micron ratings to handle heavier levels in the water. Selecting the appropriate micron rating and style of filter can be determined by a water treatment professional based on water test results and other symptoms. For more information on Iron and Manganese in water, see our published articles in Water Technology Magazine at the following link: https://h2ocare.com/publications/.
