WATER SOFTENERS – HARD WATER, IRON & MANGANESE
The hard water minerals 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. These minerals are often referred to as “the stainers”. Small amounts can create very noticeable, even devastating affects on your home’s water quality.
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. A water test and analysis will lead to the best course of action.
WATER SOFTENER SYSTEMS

High Efficiency Water Softener
OTHER AFFECTS OF HARD WATER, IRON & MANGANESE
Hard water scale (see photo below) 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 most 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 information on bad odors & tastes in water, see link https://h2ocare.com/bad-odor-taste/. For more on hard water, see hard water epa.
A water softener is effective in removing dissolved forms of iron & manganese and hardness minerals. To remove particulate iron or manganese, water filtration utilizing a cartridge filter with proper micron rating will be effective. 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/pub.

Dissolved Iron Staining