Common Water Problems
Hard Water: Scaling on faucets, shower-heads, as well as spotting on the dishes and glass shower doors. Over time hard water can damage plumbing and shorten the lifespan of appliances.
Iron: Orange or brownish tint to the water and staining. Iron can stain clothing as well as toilets, sinks.
Chlorine: Chlorine is used to disinfect the water and can cause both odors and taste issues with your bathing and drinking water. Chlorine can also fade laundry and dry out skin and hair. Although necessary, it is recommended to filter it out before using.
Hydrogen Sulfide and Sulfates: A rotten egg or sulfur smell can be an indicator. (Note: If the smell is only at one sink, it could be bacteria growth in the drain. If the smell is only on the hot water side, it could be from Anode rod in your water heater).
Nitrates: These occur naturally as organic matter decomposes and are often raised by the use of fertilizers in both residential and agricultural practices. Nitrates usually pose the greatest risk to infants and pregnant women as it can hinder the oxygen carrying capabilities of the blood.
Arsenic: Naturally occurring from the erosion of deposits in the bedrock. Long term exposure can have negative health impacts.
Tastes/Smell Issues: These can be caused by a variety of chemicals such as Chlorine, Herbicides, Pesticides, as well as chemicals used to treat the water at treatment facilities
Lead: Can be caused by the use of lead pipes, solder, and other plumbing material typically used in older plumbing.
Haleocitic Acids/Chlorites/ Total Trimethlazynes: These can be caused as a byproduct of drinking water disinfection.
Not sure how to fix these problems? Have one of our technicians come out to test your water and take care of answering all your questions.
Terms and Definitions
Activated carbon: A porous, granular material useful in water treatment as a filtration material to bond or adsorb organic matter and certain dissolved gases.
Anion exchange: In demineralization, bicarbonate, chloride and sulfate anions are exchanged for hydroxide anions from the anion exchange resin.
Arsenic: A toxic, odorless, tasteless element which has been used in paints and pesticides. Arsenic is can be hazardous at high levels
Automatic water softener: Timered water softener which regenerates based on number of days rather than actual water usage or need to regenerate.
Backwash: Part of the regeneration or cleaning cycle of water treatment equipment. The backwash pushes water in the opposite direction of normal flow to clean the filtration media of material collected during its normal operation.
Bypass: A connection which allows the water treatment equipment to be circumvented during cleaning cycles, maintenance, or any other customer driven times like coating the garage floor.
Calcium: An element which when present in water can build up in the plumbing and appliances. It also becomes obvious when looking at faucets and showerheads. Calcium is one of the causes of Hard Water.
Calcium carbonate: Found in limestone which when water percolates through it picks up and increases the hardness of the water.
Cation: A positively-charged ion such as calcium, magnesium or sodium which, in an electrolyte solution, is attracted to a cathode via a difference in electrical potential. Cation resin is used in salt or potassium based softeners to remove the calcium (hardness) from the water.
Hardness: The level of calcium carbonate equivalent in grains per gallon. It causes scale formation in and on pipes, fixtures and water heaters, reducing their efficiency, appearance and lifespan. Read more about fixing your water’s hardness here.
Hard water: Water containing total hardness of one grain per gallon or more. The hardness levels can go from hard water to extremely hard. Have one of our technician’s test your water so you know what you are up against.
Heavy metals: Things such as lead, mercury, chromium, cadmium and arsenic which have undesirable and unhealthy effects.
Ion exchange: A reversible chemical process in which ions from a permanent medium, such as ion exchange resin, are exchanged for ions in a solution or fluid mixture. In water softening this is the process of exchanging calcium (hard ion) for either a sodium chloride or potassium chloride (soft ion).
Nitrate: A nitrogen compound, NO3, commonly found in ground water or surface water as the result of runoff from fertilizers, which can be harmful in high concentrations, especially to young infants.
Potassium chloride: A potassium based salt used to regenerate the Cation ion resin.
Radon: A colorless, odorless, tasteless radioactive gas, Rn, occurring naturally from the decay of radium, considered carcinogenic when inhaled by humans. It can be effectively removed from water by aeration or filtration through activated carbon.
Regeneration: Restoration of the capacity of ion exchange or catalyst media for further use, also called recharging or rejuvenation
Resin: Synthetic ion exchange beads used in water softeners.
Reverse osmosis: A water treatment process that removes ionized salts, colloids, and organic molecules by forcing water through a semi-permeable membrane against the natural direction of osmosis, that is, from a more concentrated solution of impurities in water to a less concentrated solution, cleaner water.
Scale: A deposit of mineral solids on and in water pipes, containers, fixtures and appliances through contact with water containing carbonates or bicarbonates of calcium and magnesium, especially when the water is heated.
Sodium chloride: Common salt used in the regeneration of ion exchange water softeners.
Soft water: Water which contains less than 1 grain per gallon, or 17.1 milligrams per liter of hardness minerals, expressed as calcium carbonate equivalent.
Solar salt: Sodium chloride which is produced using evaporation.
Water softener: A devise utilizing a bed of ion exchange media, trading calcium and magnesium ions for sodium or potassium ions, producing softened water, which is more desirable for consumption as well as cooking, bathing, laundry and cleaning, or a chemical used in such a devise
Water softening: The process by which calcium and magnesium ions are removed from water, typically via the use of an ion exchange medium.