The quality of water in your home can impact everything from the plumbing to your health
Sponsored by Berkeys Air Conditioning and Plumbing
Written by Jeff Sims, Plumbing Manager, Berkeys
The quality of your home's water can have a lasting impact,brnot only on your plumbing, but also your appliances, dishes, clothes and evenbryour health. Let's explore some of the common issues related to poor waterbrquality, what causes them and steps you can take to treat them.
What is Water Quality?
Water Quality is measured by taking a sample of the waterbrcoming into your house and determining the amount of dissolved and presentbrsolids. Dissolved solids can be things like rust, lead and dirt, whilebrun-dissolved solids are usually calcium, which will make your water appearbrmilky or foggy. It is the city's job to measure water quality and adhere to abrset of standards defined by the EPA that dictates allowed amounts of dissolvedbrand un-dissolved solids in your water. However, by the time water reaches yourbrhouse, a lot can influence that quality. This includes old or corroded piping,brleaks in underground water mains and faulty connections between pipe segments.
How Water Quality is managed
If water is high in lead due to an older water distributionbrsystem or water tower, some municipalities will add caustic soda (SodiumbrHydroxide) to the water to raise its pH level, or corrosive qualities. Anotherbrtechnique is to add lime to the water to build up a calcium carbonate layer onbrpipes to act as a barrier between the pipe and water flow. All city waterbrcontains a certain level of calcium, but too much of it can cause one of thebrmost common water quality problems: HardbrWater.
Hard Water
Hard Water is defined as water that contains mineral salts (suchbras calcium and magnesium ions) that limit the formation of lather with soap.brWhen you have hard water in your home you may notice it takes longer to washbryour hands or your hair since hard water destroys the ability for soap to “sud”bror make bubbles. While the World Health Organization has conducted researchbrthat does not indicate any immediate health risks to humans from hard drinkingbrwater, it can still have an impact on your skin and hair. Hard water is heavybrin calcium and magnesium and can cause issues for people with sensitive scalpbrand skin or auto-immune diseases such as psoriasis or exzema.
Hard water will also leave calcium deposits in your pipes,bryour shower walls and your dishes. You'll notice this when you have foggybrglassware and spots on your silverware. In some cases we've even seen plasticbrutensils such as black spatulas and whisks turn gray after a dishwasher cycle!
Because hard water reduces the lathering ability of soaps,bryou may also find yourself using more laundry soap and / or running multiplebrdishwasher cycles.
How can you treat the water in your home?
If you know you have hard water or the city's water qualitybris known to be bad, it's usually best to have a licensed professional install a waterbrsoftener or conditioner and whole house filtration system for you.
Water Softener:Uses salts and potassium to “soften” the water in your home. Usually installedbreither at the water source in your home or in the front yard.
Water Conditioner:Similar to a water softener, but does not use salt or potassium to soften water. Recommended for people whobrneed to keep their sodium intake in check. At Berkeyswe recommend a cutting edge system called Flow-Tech that uses very little spacebrand less energy than a night light.
Whole HousebrFiltration: These can range from a series of filters installed at yourbrhome’s water source and faucets, to a complete filtration tank. A Berkeys technician can recommend the mostbreffective and cost-saving solution for your home.
To wrap up…
Check your home using a store bought test, or have one ofbrour technicians come out to test your water for you. Water quality changes bybrlocation and is almost never consistent. In rural areas, for example, you maybrhave constantly changing water quality, while in larger cities you could havebrwater odor or other quality issues. The important thing is to know what's inbryour water and then find a solution that suits your home, health and of coursebryour wallet.
About Berkeys
Berkeys is an awardbrwinning home service company, providing quality plumbing, air conditioning, andbrheating services to homeowners in the Dallas / Fort Worth metroplex for over 35bryears.
All of ourbrtechnicians, are background-checked, drug tested and have passed rigorous statebrexaminations and are licensed by the State of Texas; they understand thebrcomplexity of state codes all the way down to local requirements.
Berkeys maintains anbrA+ rating with the Better Business Bureau (BBB) and has led the field in areabrnewspapers' readers' favorite polls.
Visit Berkeys for more information or call 877-BERKEYS.