Water Softener Solutions
The primary hard water minerals are magnesium and calcium, while iron and manganese (“the stainers”) can also be found in Lincoln water, mostly in private wells. 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 determine the best course of action.
Hard water interferes with many cleaning tasks, from doing the laundry to washing dishes to taking a shower. Washing your hair in hard water may leave it feeling sticky and dull. Dishes and glasses get spotted and a film may build up on shower doors, bathtubs, sinks and faucets. Clothes can look dingy and feel rough and scratchy. Hard water can also cause a residue to build-up in pipes that can lower water pressure.
High Efficiency Water Softener
Calcium and magnesium may have major affects on your home’s plumbing and your ability to clean, even though the EPA has no published limits on these. The maximum allowable level (per the Environmental Protection Agency) 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 damaging affects on your home’s water quality. Without a water softener, calcium and magnesium can have damaging affects on your home’s plumbing as well as your ability to clean, even though the EPA has no published limits on these. Hard water interferes with almost every cleaning task, from doing the laundry to washing dishes to taking a shower. 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.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 as a secondary contaminant. Small amounts of these minerals can have very noticeable, even devastating affects on your home’s water quality.
Damaging Scale
Water softeners vary, including up-flow versus down-flow which can make a big difference, particularly if there are elevated levels of iron or manganese in the water. In some cases where the water chemistry is more complicated, a different type of water filtration system may make more sense to remove iron or manganese.
Hard Water Scale
OTHER AFFECTS OF IRON, MANGANESE & HARD WATER
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 lawn irrigation, iron and manganese can cause major staining of walkways, siding and anyplace the water touches. See the link at lawn-irrigation/.
WHAT A WATER SOFTENER REMOVES
A water softener effectively removes dissolved forms of iron & manganese and hardness minerals from the water. To remove particulate iron or manganese, water filtration utilizing a cartridge filter with proper micron rating will be effective. Depending on the situation, this could require a series of filters with different size micron ratings to handle heavier levels of different sized particles in the water. Selecting an 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 about hard water, see the link at water.usgs.gov/edu/hardness.
Dissolved Iron Staining
Speak to a water treatment professional to review your water test results and decide which system is right for you.
