Where Does Hard Water Come From?<\/h2>\n
SoCal gets some of its supply from well water, with calcium and magnesium along with other minerals coming from natural sources such as limestone and chalk.\u00a0 But most\u00a0is imported, primarily from the Colorado River.\u00a0 After leaching from natural sources evaporation concentrates the minerals, and agricultural and industrial run-off adds to the mix.<\/p>\n
Our various water districts each process and purify through several different water treatment plants.\u00a0 Although pre-treatment water quality can be bad, all plant outputs meet or exceed EPA standards for health, taste, odor, and color.\u00a0 But there’s no standards or treatment specifically for hardness.<\/p>\n
By The Numbers<\/span><\/h3>\nHardness is categorized\u00a0by the grains per gallon (grains\/gal), milligrams per liter (mg\/l), or parts per million (ppm) of calcium and magnesium based on the following table (a liter of water weighs 1000 grams so the last two measures have the same value).<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n\n\nCategory<\/strong><\/td>\nmg\/l or ppm<\/strong><\/td>\ngrains\/gal<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n\nsoft<\/td>\n 0-17.1<\/td>\n 0-1<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \nslightly hard<\/td>\n 17.1-60<\/td>\n 1-35<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \nmoderately hard<\/td>\n 60-120<\/td>\n 3.5-7<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \nhard<\/td>\n 120-180<\/td>\n 7-10.5<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \nvery hard<\/td>\n 180 up<\/td>\n 10.5 up<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n
\n<\/span>Water testing at the various plants serving Southern California show a typical range of 200 to 310 mg\/l with an average of around 295 — clearly very hard water!\u00a0 The average for the entire US is closer to 200.<\/span><\/p>\nWhat To Do About Hard Water<\/span><\/h3>\n![\"hard](\"https:\/\/www.asapdrainandplumbing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/hard-water-san-diego-300x200.jpg\")
You can have a water hardness test performed at your location, but the odds are you have very hard water.\u00a0 Most of today’s detergents include ingredients to counteract hard water, but there’s still the host of other problems.\u00a0 It’s especially important to protect your plumbing and appliances by installing a whole-house water softener.\u00a0 Without a water softener and annual maintenance scale buildup can reduce a water heater’s lifetime to just a few years.<\/p>\n
Softeners once worked by adding chemicals that combined with the minerals.\u00a0But even non-precipitating water softeners left water cloudy and still lead to deposits.\u00a0 Ion exchange water softeners are the most common technology used today. Most use a “bed” of special polystyrene beads.\u00a0 Calcium, magnesium, and other minerals attach to those beads and are later flushed out with salt water.<\/p>\n
Selecting a Water Softener<\/h3>\n
For most people it’s simply a matter of having their plumber select the right size of ion exchange water softener.\u00a0 Most units will also reduce the amount of iron in the water as well.\u00a0 Standard models usually have a time clock to schedule back flushing, but you may want to choose a controller that uses the number of gallons treated, or better still directly senses water hardness.<\/p>\n
Salt-Free Technologies<\/h4>\n
Some people are concerned about the small amounts of salt that makes it into your drinking water, especially\u00a0those on a low-sodium diet due to high blood pressure.\u00a0 Using potassium chloride (another type of salt) is one option.\u00a0 But in many areas the much higher quantities of salt that gets back flushed is a much bigger concern.\u00a0 That’s because it makes its way back into groundwater supplies and in turn into irrigation and water district wells.\u00a0 For these areas alternatives such as nano filtration membrane technologies are a great choice.<\/p>\n
ASAP Drain Guys & Plumbing<\/h4>\n
Softeners once worked by adding chemicals that combined with the minerals.\u00a0But even non-precipitating water softeners left water cloudy and still lead to deposits.\u00a0 Ion exchange water softeners are the most common technology used today. Most use a “bed” of special polystyrene beads.\u00a0 Calcium, magnesium, and other minerals attach to those beads and are later flushed out with salt water.<\/p>\n For most people it’s simply a matter of having their plumber select the right size of ion exchange water softener.\u00a0 Most units will also reduce the amount of iron in the water as well.\u00a0 Standard models usually have a time clock to schedule back flushing, but you may want to choose a controller that uses the number of gallons treated, or better still directly senses water hardness.<\/p>\n Some people are concerned about the small amounts of salt that makes it into your drinking water, especially\u00a0those on a low-sodium diet due to high blood pressure.\u00a0 Using potassium chloride (another type of salt) is one option.\u00a0 But in many areas the much higher quantities of salt that gets back flushed is a much bigger concern.\u00a0 That’s because it makes its way back into groundwater supplies and in turn into irrigation and water district wells.\u00a0 For these areas alternatives such as nano filtration membrane technologies are a great choice.<\/p>\n
\n<\/span>Water testing at the various plants serving Southern California show a typical range of 200 to 310 mg\/l with an average of around 295 — clearly very hard water!\u00a0 The average for the entire US is closer to 200.<\/span><\/p>\nWhat To Do About Hard Water<\/span><\/h3>\n
You can have a water hardness test performed at your location, but the odds are you have very hard water.\u00a0 Most of today’s detergents include ingredients to counteract hard water, but there’s still the host of other problems.\u00a0 It’s especially important to protect your plumbing and appliances by installing a whole-house water softener.\u00a0 Without a water softener and annual maintenance scale buildup can reduce a water heater’s lifetime to just a few years.<\/p>\nSelecting a Water Softener<\/h3>\n
Salt-Free Technologies<\/h4>\n
ASAP Drain Guys & Plumbing<\/h4>\n