Is Hard Water Bad for You Living in Florida?

If you think you might have hard water, there's one question that's pressing on your mind: is hard water bad for you?

The answer is a bit more complicated than you might imagine. Hard water, in and of itself, is not harmful. You can drink it and bathe in it safely. Hard water is simply water with an overabundance of calcium and magnesium, two minerals that are completely safe to ingest.

However, these minerals do sometimes have effects on your home and the products you use with water that can have very negative consequences. Even though hard water is safe to drink, mineral buildup on your appliances and reduced effectiveness of cleaning products could very well be reason enough for you to consider having your water softened. Here are some of the most common problems Floridians can come across when they have hard water.

Damaged Appliances

The calcium and magnesium in hard water don't typically build up in pipes, but they can build up on your appliances and force you to replace them. Hard water buildup on your shower head will, over time, slow the water flow in your shower to a trickle. The same can go for your faucets as well.

Hard water can also build up in your fridge's water dispenser system, giving each glass of water a concentrated burst of minerals which can affect its taste, all the while slowing the water flow down and eventually perhaps demanding a repair.

Inefficient Heating

The minerals in hard water settle at the bottom of your water heater's tank. Over time, this can significantly affect your water heater's effectiveness; a heating tank that is full of minerals can't heat the water as efficiently, and the mineral buildup can slow the flow of water in and out of the tank. The harder your tank has to work to heat your water, the more energy it consumes in the process, which can drive up your bills. Although you can clean your water heater's tank, you can also prevent the problem from occurring in the first place by softening your water.

Skin and Hair Problems

This is where hard water from being a nuisance to becoming a real problem. Now, you might be wondering: how can hard water have bad effects on your hair and skin if it's safe to drink? Well, it's not the hard water itself that causes the hair and skin problems. In hard water, soap and shampoo don't dissolve and lather completely. When you wash them off, they leave behind a film that sticks to your hair and skin afterwards. This soapy film can turn your hair into a mess of split ends, leave your scalp covered in dandruff, and irritate your skin in a myriad of ways.

Additionally, because soap doesn't lather easily in hard water, you might end up having to scrub longer, harder to get clean, which can also irritate the skin. Lastly, laundry detergent can also have the soap film effect in hard water, leaving behind a residue on clothing that can cause irritation for those with sensitive skin

Although hard water itself isn't bad for you, it can cause enough problems to not be worth dealing with. Luckily there is a solution to these hard water problems: a complete home water refiner. By removing the hardness, chemicals, odors and tastes from your entire home’s water supply, these systems can keep appliances working longer and more efficient and reduce the damage to your family’s skin and hair. Schedule a free, in-home water quality test to see how a Guardian water refiner can make the Florida water cleaner than natural spring water!