Your water hardness may not be readily apparent, especially if you don’t have an extreme level of hardness. However, you still need to know if you have hard water because the presence of minerals in the water causes several problems around your home. Find out how to conduct water hardness tests and how to fix the problem
Water Hardness Tests
You can conduct several water hardness tests of varying degrees of accuracy. One test that provides rough results does not require any special equipment. You just need liquid dishwashing soap, not dishwasher detergent, and a resealable jar or bottle. Add 10 drops of the soap to a cup of water in the container and shake for 10 seconds. More suds and clearer water mean that you have softer water than if your results produce few suds and cloudy water.
Another of the water hardness tests to conduct is with a test strip kit. These kits provide a numeric value for your water hardness, giving you a more precise result.
Lastly, you can let the municipal water treatment facility that supplies your water do the work for you. During their regular water quality tests, they will also measure the water hardness. Contact them to request the results of their tests to find out.
What the Results from the Water Hardness Tests Mean
Water hardness tests produce different results, depending on which method you used. If you used the soap method, you will have a general idea of your water’s performance. However, only with test kits or by contacting your water provider will you get a numeric value of the dissolved minerals in your water.
Values below 60 mg/L indicate soft water. Between 60 and 120, the water has a medium level of hardness. Dissolved minerals between 120 and 180 show hard water, and any higher numbers indicate very hard water.
Problems Caused by Water Hardness
If you conducted the soap test, you will see that hard water reduces the ability of soap to produce suds. You may use up to 50% more shampoo, soap, and other cleaning products in your home to compensate for this.
The added costs of using more soap are only a small part of the picture. You’ll find plumbing problems that range from nuisance limescale deposits reducing your shower flow to serious concerns such as pipe leaks and shorter appliance lifespans.
Fix Hard Water for Good with an Oceanus Whole-Home Water Softener
If your water hardness tests show that you have hard water, which is very likely in Southern California, you need to take action. The only way to prevent problems from hard water is to keep the minerals from going through your home’s plumbing in the first place. The solution is a whole-home water softener that treats water to remove hardness as soon as it comes in from the main supply. Contact us today at Oceanus for this solution with or without filtration as an option.
Sources
https://www.usgs.gov/special-topics/water-science-school/science/hardness-water#overview
https://www.thespruce.com/how-to-test-for-hard-water-1824904
https://besthomewatertreatmentsystems.com/products/water-softener/
https://besthomewatertreatmentsystems.com/contact-us
https://besthomewatertreatmentsystems.com/
