Extend the Life of Your Appliances: How Water Softeners Can Prevent Appliance Damage

In our everyday lives, we all rely on appliances such as dishwashers, water heaters, washing machines and dryers to get household work done. While we use them carefully, we often forget about the risks they face due to our home’s water quality.

In homes with a hard water supply, the efficiency of appliances can be reduced and they can also get damaged. Let’s understand how a water softener can help solve these issues.

The Problem with Hard Water

• Scale Build-up and Reduced Efficiency - Hard water contains many minerals such as calcium and magnesium in large quantities. These minerals form deposits and cause clogs to develop inside the pipes and appliances, this causes reduced water flow, decreased efficiency and premature failure of water using appliances.

In washing machines soap fights with the hard water causing a soap scum or curd to develop. This “scum” will not completely wash off from clothes and on drying clothes it can become stiff. It also causes scale build-up inside dishwashers so their cleaning power is reduced and causes premature failure of the pump.

• Increased Energy Consumption - Due to scale build-up inside the water heaters, more amount of energy gets used for heating water. A university study showed hard water required on average 27% more energy to heat the same amount of water as compared to soft water. This leads to higher energy bills and also puts more strain on the water heater to function. Both gas and electric water heaters fail prematurely when working in hard water.
  
• Frequent Repairs and Maintenance - Electrical appliances that are affected by hard water require more frequent repairs and maintenance. For instance, washing machines and dishwashers may require more frequent descaling for mineral deposit removal and may even need part replacements due to the abrasive nature of the mineral deposits. Premature failure leads to more cost to repair as well as a shorter life and needing replacement.

How Water Softeners Help

Water softeners can help with hard water issues in various ways:

• Preventing Scale Build-up - Water softeners convert hard water into soft water. They work by removing calcium and magnesium ions from the hard water and exchanging them with sodium and potassium ions which do not cause any scale build up. This helps in keeping the pipes and appliances free of limescale deposits.
  
• Improving Appliance Efficiency - With soft water all electrical appliances such as dishwashers, water heaters, washing machines and dryers operate more smoothly and efficiently. Dishwashers clean utensils better because soap dissolves well in softened water, washing machines also wash clothes better and require less detergent. Many times one can use 50% of the cleaning products to clean clothes, dishes and skin & hair and along with improved efficiency, energy bills also reduce quite a bit. Saving you money and easier on the environment are real benefits of having soft water.
  
• Less Repairs & Longer Lifespan - By reducing scale build-up in the pipes and appliances, you can save on maintenance and repair costs. Even the lifespan and durability of your appliances increases.
  
  For example, your water heater might last for 8-12 years if you use hard water but with softened water, its lifespan becomes much longer.

Choosing the Right Water Softener

With so many options available in the market, selecting the right water softener can be quite confusing. However, your search ends here with Gordon Water Systems. We are a leading water conditioning company, serving West Michigan since 1973.

We provide comprehensive water treatment solutions along with consultation services to ensure that you get the best water treatment solutions based on your specific needs. So contact us for the qualitywater softeners in Kalamazoo, MI.