Compared to other parts of the country, Arizona has extremely hard water. Even the parts of the state with the least hard water still have a much higher-than-average concentration of dissolved minerals in the water supply. The biggest concern with hard water is that it can eventually clog up your pipes and potentially force you to have some of the water lines inside your house or even the main water line outside replaced. Here’s how mineral buildup from hard water can impact your pipes and ways to protect your plumbing system and avoid the need for hard water-related plumbing repairs.
How Mineral Buildup Affects a Plumbing System
Even in places with relatively soft water, some mineral deposits get left behind and collect inside pipes, faucets and showerheads. In places where the water is extremely hard, you end up with far more deposits and limescale building up. You’re likely already aware of how mineral buildup can quickly clog a showerhead and reduce both the water pressure and flow rate. The same sort of thing happens when there’s a large amount of mineral buildup and limescale inside pipes.
Over time, the buildup makes the inside of the pipe smaller and smaller. That means not as much water can flow through the pipe, resulting in a further decrease in the flow rate from a faucet or showerhead. The decrease in flow rate also means the water pressure won’t be as high as it should. The most serious issue is when your home’s main water service line starts accumulating excessive mineral buildup, as this will result in poor water pressure throughout your house. The only solution for overcoming this issue is to replace your service line, which is a major undertaking that can be expensive.
You’re also more likely to experience plumbing leaks if your home has hard water. As hard water moves through a pipe, the minerals can basically abrade or scrape against the inside of the pipe and weaken it over time. Many of the minerals may also cause metal pipes to corrode faster, which further increases the chances of plumbing leaks.
How Hard Water Impacts Your Appliances
Mineral buildup from hard water also negatively impacts certain appliances, namely dishwashers, washing machines, water heaters, coffee makers and ice makers. The main issue is that, once again, you end up with quite a bit of mineral deposits building up inside these appliances, which can eventually lead to gaskets and seals failing and the appliance starting to leak. This is why all of these appliances tend to have a shorter lifespan in areas with hard water.
Hard water is especially tough on both traditional and tankless water heaters, albeit for slightly different reasons. In a traditional tank water heater, some of the dissolved minerals essentially crystallize and solidify into small pieces of sediment that sink to the bottom of the tank. This sediment layer eventually starts making the water heater heat less effectively if you don’t flush the tank regularly to remove it. That’s because it ends up absorbing much of the heat the unit produces instead of the heat flowing directly into the water. As it absorbs heat, it can also create hot spots that weaken the tank over time and make it more likely to start leaking. The issue with a tankless water heater is that mineral deposits continually build up on its heat exchanger over time, which also reduces the unit’s effectiveness and makes it less energy efficient.
How to Overcome Hard Water Problems in Your Home
There are only two options for overcoming hard water and protecting your plumbing system and appliances — installing a traditional water softener or a water conditioner. Water conditioners are also commonly referred to as salt-free water softeners, but this name isn’t technically accurate.
Softening your water means filtering out or removing the minerals, which a water conditioner doesn’t do. Instead, water conditioning is a chemical process that alters the minerals so that they remain suspended in the water and don’t leave deposits behind.
The conditioning process isn’t 100% effective, meaning some mineral deposit buildup will still occur. Nonetheless, a water conditioner greatly reduces how many deposits are left behind, and this benefits the entire plumbing system. The fact that the minerals remain in the water means that a water conditioner won’t prevent your water from having an off-putting minerally taste. You’ll also still have issues with the minerals preventing soaps, shampoo, dishwashing liquid and laundry detergent from lathering as well as they normally do. Similarly, your skin may still feel itchy after showering, and the minerals may still dry your hair out a bit.
Traditional water softeners are the best option for overcoming all hard water issues since they greatly reduce the concentration of minerals in your water supply. The simplest explanation for how a water softener works is that it takes all of the minerals out and exchanges them with sodium or potassium salt. This happens naturally as the water flows down through the softener tank as a result of an ion-exchange process.
A water softener tank contains a filter consisting of small resin beads that grab onto the minerals. This can happen because the beads carry the opposite electrical charge to the minerals. The tank regularly gets flushed with a fairly substantial amount of water to wash out all of the minerals and then refilled with a salt brine. When this happens, the salt ions initially cling to the beads. Once the flushing process is complete and water again begins flowing through the tank, the calcium and magnesium in the water displace the salt molecules. The result is that most of the minerals get removed, and the salt gets released into the water.
While water softeners are extremely effective, they do have a couple of downsides. One is that your water bills will increase due to the amount of water it takes each time the unit goes through its flushing cycle. Another concern is the salt that a water softener adds to the water. While the amount of salt added is quite small, it can still potentially create issues for people with certain health problems. There is also some evidence that the salt can damage the environment. The salt from just a single water softener isn’t really a concern, but it can add up when many homes in one area all have a water softener. That’s why some places have begun taking steps to ban water softeners.
If you’re concerned about hard water in your home or dealing with any other type of plumbing issue, you can count on the plumbing services team at Goettl's High Desert Mechanical. We’ve been serving the Camp Verde area for over 30 years and are dedicated to providing reliable, personalized plumbing solutions. You can also trust our certified HVAC technicians when you need to have your heating or air conditioning serviced, repaired or replaced. If you need to schedule a service appointment or want to learn more about the water softeners and water conditioners we offer, contact Goettl's High Desert Mechanical today.
