Your water softening system should filter out the excessive minerals in your home’s water supply. Water softeners reduce your water heater’s energy consumption, protect your appliances that use hot water, and make it easier to shower and clean.
But if your water softener isn’t working, your system needs attention. Know the signs your water softener isn’t working properly.
1. Diminished Lather
Hard water minerals react chemically to soaps and shampoos, making it harder for you to clean with these products. In soft water, your soap, body wash, and shampoo will lather better and last longer. You’ll get cleaner with less product. If you notice your bath and shower products aren’t lathering well, it could mean your water is too hard and your softener isn’t filtering as it should.
2. Scratchy, Stiff, and Grayed Laundered Fabric
If your freshly washed laundry is scratchy, stiff, or grayed, these issues can indicate your water softener isn’t working correctly. Hard water interferes with laundry detergent’s ability to clean fabrics.
On top of that, hard water can leave residue that attracts and traps things like dirt, oil, and sweat. All of this makes these fabrics wear out faster. If you notice this problem, let a technician check out your water softening system.
3. Limescale
When hard water evaporates, it leaves behind a chalky white residue because the minerals don’t evaporate either. You might see these hard water spots on your shower’s glass doors, on your glassware and dishes, on faucets, or in your bathtubs. You can’t simply wash these spots away with water because the water itself causes them.
Limescale might build up on your faucet’s openings, on your showerheads, or in your pipes. When this happens, it becomes a hard, chalky substance made of mainly calcium carbonate. It looks bad and makes your waterflow inefficient.
4. Water Doesn’t Feel Softened
Another indicator that something is wrong with your water softening system is that your water doesn’t feel softened. Soft water has a silky feeling. Water softeners filter out calcium and magnesium ions, then replace these with sodium ions that give soft water a slippery feeling. If your water doesn’t feel silky, it probably still has calcium and magnesium ions rather than the sodium ions it should have.
Let Good Water Company Check Your System
If you suspect your water softening system isn’t working properly, let Good Water Company check it out. We’re professional water softening equipment suppliers in Colorado and New Mexico. We’ll use our expertise in water softening systems to inspect, assess, and repair your system. Call us today.