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How Water Softeners Prevent Plumbing Repair

Hard water is a condition that affects the water supply entering some homes through the municipal system. Hard water contains an excess of minerals, usually calcites and magnesium. This is rarely dangerous for your health, although it can reduce taste quality and make it difficult to form soap lather.

The major problem with hard water is what it can do to your plumbing and fixtures if left untreated. Installing a water softener in your home’s plumbing will counteract water hardness and help you avoid needless plumbing repair in Salt Lake City, UT. Contact Rentmeister Total Home Service for water treatment solutions that will help you with water softener installation.

How a water softener helps your home

The large amount of minerals inside hard water can cause numerous issues inside your plumbing. One sign that you have hard water is the appearance of off-white flaky substances along faucets and edges of drains. These are the calcite deposits from the minerals in the water. They are unpleasant to look at, but imagine what kind of problems they can pose for the inside of your pipes, where they will start to build up.

Excess calcite deposits inside a pipe will start to reduce the space within the pipe. Although it is extremely rare for these deposits to close off a pipe entirely, the lessened space in the pipe will cause a spike in water pressure. High water pressure will inflict damage throughout your plumbing and will lead to numerous leaks springing up along connection points. You can expect to call for many plumbing repairs to seal leaks when you have hard water.

Hard water is also a serious problem for your home’s water heater. The high temperature inside a water heater tank will turn the minerals in hard water into limescale that will develop along the interior of the tank. Limescale acts as an insulator, and this will cause an imbalance in the tank’s heat and create overheating. A water heater will need regular de-scaling to fix the problem… unless the hard water can be counteracted.

How does a water softener deal with hard water? This whole-house treatment system balances the minerals in hard water with salts. Calcium and magnesium ions in water will switch places with sodium ions. A water softener only needs to add a small amount of sodium (12.5 mg per 8 ozs.) to the water supply to make this switch, which is well below the minimum set by the Drug and Food Administration for “very low sodium” levels.

You need to have professionals handle installing a water softener. Call Rentmeister Total Home Service today to arrange an appointment to look at your home’s issues with hard water and come up with a solution. Should you need plumbing repair service in Salt Lake City, we are available 24 hours a day for emergency service.

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