Not every water treatment system treats hard water. Many simply remove pollutants such as arsenic, chlorine, or nitrates from the water without doing much about calcium and magnesium. Because of this, over time, the calcium and magnesium build up a sort of crust called limescale. Limescale can clog plumbing pipes and shorten the lives of water-dependent appliances such as your dishwasher, washing machine, and water treatment systems.

Scaling in Water Treatment Membranes

Scaling is the term for hard water minerals affecting the filters in your water treatment system. As the hard water passes through the filter’s membranes, the minerals are trapped and start to build up. In the end, this clogs the membranes and shortens their lifespan.

Lowered Efficiency

When minerals build up on the membranes of the water treatment system, it makes the system less efficient. It can’t filter out contaminants and pollutants as well, and it makes the system work harder than it should. If it’s powered by electricity, that means your energy bills rise.

Lower Water Quality

Hard water can impact your water treatment system to the point where you notice that the quality of your water is suffering. It may have a smell, an off-putting taste, or even have a noticeable color. This lets you know that your water treatment system simply isn’t working the way it should.

What Can Be Done

The best way to prevent hard water from affecting your water treatment system is to install a water softener at the point where fresh water comes into your house. A water softener passes hard water through a tank full of brine and resin balls to take away the hard minerals and replace them with sodium. This cleansed water passes to your water treatment system, which gets rid of other impurities.

If you don’t want to install a water softener, you can use an antiscalant in your system, or upgrade your usual water treatment system to one that’s better designed to resist hard water. These types of systems often have their own water softeners. Other than this, you can stay on top of hard water problems by having your water treatment system checked and cleaned more frequently than usual.

Call Us to Learn More About Water Treatment

Hard water can shorten the working life of your plumbing and your water-dependent appliances. If you want to learn more about water treatment or need water treatment services, give our professionals a call at JW’s Plumbing of Indianapolis, IN.