Problems with hard water at new home?

Question

I'm hoping someone can offer either advice on how to handle hard water in our home or shed some light on a good place to go first for help. We moved into our new home about 2 years ago now. We didn't notice it at first, but now we are seeing buildup around our faucets, our dishes come out of the washer with hardwater stains, and even our dogs water bowl is showing rings that are proving impossible to clean!!

Can anyone else relate to this problem and maybe give suggestions on what to do? Does a water softener help this? Does hard water pose any health issues?

Thanks for your help!

Answer 1

Your water source, well or city, has a lot of minerals in it. Thus you have the buildups.

You need a water softener. You can get one for about $400-$600, and then about a bag of salt a month at $5 to maintain having soft water. Places like Sears or Home Depot will install the water softener, or you could have anyone that is handy with tools do the job, as it's pretty simple.

Once you get and use a water softener, you'll notice the difference immediately. The deposits/buildups will stop, your water will taste better, showers/baths will feel better, and your laundried clothes will look better.

A water softener will be much cheaper to maintain ($5 month) than whole house or faucet filters.

Answer 2

Hard water means there are too many minerals in the water, it is not healthy, it wears out the pipes and plumbing fixtures, is energy inefficient, makes the clothes harder to clean, etc.. The cheap way to remove the contaminants is a whole house filter and faucet filters, but you must be diligent about changing them, mark the dates on all filter installations and never exceed the manufacturers recommendations for changing them. However, if you have a well, a softener probably is the only answer. Whole house filter at home depot about 40. with filters about 7., Brita is the best faucet filter, cheap at Amazon. Inline filters for ice maker and dishwasher about 12., these are all simple installations you can do. Good Luck. Edit; go to www.waterfiltercomparisons.com, for information on removing excess minerals from your water by filtration. The statement that filters do little to remove minerals is totally unfactual. For example the Brita faucet filter removes 99 per cent of lead. You must also consider that a water softener will add considerable sodium to your families food and drinking water, not a good thing, especially for sodium restricted people. You should have your water tested by the states testing facility to find out how severe the mineral problem is; You make the call.

Answer 3

I have the same problem i have so much iron in my water I splashed some on my face and it knocked me out. First get a pur water filter for your faucet for drinking water and coffee,ect.. Two when you run your dishwasher if it has two rince cycles put a cup of white vinagar in the first. Don't use bleach in your wash it will leave rust marks,whites should be done at laundrymat they will turn out dingy. My water is fine but you might want to have yours testedby the county

Answer 4

I highly recommend a whole house softener.The filters will do little if anything to remove the minerals in your water.The minerals are not harmful just a nuisance.If you have rust then you will have to filter that out seperately. You can use CLR cleaner to remove the deposits.Vinegar works very well also.Good Luck