Water Softener Solutions
Water softening will greatly improve your water quality if you have hard water minerals, iron or manganese in your water. Both particulate and dissolved forms of these common contaminants can be removed. A water softener will remove the dissolved forms and a properly specified sediment filter will remove particulate. There are different types of water softeners recommended based on the water test results and estimated volume usage. Also, high efficiency water softeners use much less salt and water in the self cleaning or regeneration cycle.
See hard water measurement chart below for comparison to your test results:
Even though the EPA has no published limits on calcium and magnesium, these minerals can have devastating affects on your home’s plumbing. It can also affect your ability to clean. Hard water interferes with almost every cleaning task, from doing the laundry to washing dishes to taking a shower. Clothing 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. Washing your hair in hard water may leave it feeling sticky and dull. Hard water can also cause a residue to build-up in pipes that can lower water pressure throughout the house. The EPA maximum allowable levels 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.
High Efficiency Water Softener
OTHER AFFECTS OF HARD WATER, IRON AND MANGANESE
Hard water scale can build-up inside hot water heaters insulating the temperature sensor inside the tank. This can create much extra work to bring the temperature up to the set level. It may reduce the life of your hot water heater and likely require early replacement. Some other affects include corrosion and scaling inside pipes, major staining throughout the home’s showers, bathtubs, and sinks. For more information on hard water, see the link at usgs.gov/edu/hardness.html. For those using their well water for outside lawn irrigation, iron and manganese can cause major staining of outside walkways. It can also stain house siding and anyplace the water touches. See the link at https://h2ocare.com/lawn-irrigation/.
Damaging scale
WHAT A WATER SOFTENER WILL REMOVE
A water softener is effective in removing dissolved forms of iron, manganese and hardness minerals (magnesium & calcium). To remove particulate iron or manganese, 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. For more information on Iron and Manganese in water, see our published articles in Water Technology Magazine at the following link: /h2ocare.com/publications/.
Dissolved Iron Staining
For more information about the town water in Fitchburg, see the link at https://www.fitchburgma.gov/Archive.aspx?AMID=110
