Hard Water

[canalsiderenovation]

We are unlucky to live in an area where we have terrible hard water. It's destroying our  bathroom taps which are all Bristan/Hudson Reed so not cheap ones (we have to descale the Quooker tap/boiler regularly and coffee machine). 

 

I have tended to clean the bathroom taps almost weekly with vinegar but this is one of them. The waterfall taps in our ensuite are even worse.

 

 

I don't want any sort of permanent softener as it causes problems with shampoo/hair washing stuff but at this rate we'll be replacing all the taps less in than 12 months! Is there anything I can do to get them looking good again/preventive measures? 

 

 

[tonyshouse]

Water softener or move to soft water area 

[SteamyTea]

This is the inside of my Mother's new kettle. Less than a year old.  She uses a water filter.

 

This is the basin tap, probably 15 years old. No one has ever mentioned it being changed.

 

 

And this is her water softener.

 

 

Edited October 21, 2021 by SteamyTea

[Russdl]

8 hours ago, canalsiderenovation said:

I don't want any sort of permanent softener as it causes problems with shampoo/hair washing stuff

What problem is that? Is not just more bubbles?
 

A water softener will sort your issues. 

[tonyshouse]

But do not drink artificially softened water

[canalsiderenovation]

I drink a lot of water but the Quooker tap/cube has a water filter for cold/sparkling water so I don't notice any bad taste with water rather it's the bathroom taps I am most worried about.

 

I'll look into options and up my cleaning schedule!

[SteamyTea]

1 minute ago, canalsiderenovation said:

I drink a lot of water

Why, are you diabetic?

 

The '8 glasses of water a day' is a total myth.

 

[canalsiderenovation]

10 hours ago, SteamyTea said:

Why, are you diabetic?

 

The '8 glasses of water a day' is a total myth.

 

 

I just do! I don't drink milk, coffee or pop/juice as I don't like it. So it's water, herbal tea (or gin)!

[Russdl]

Have you considered a Combimate?

 

We live in a very hard water area and all our water is softened except for the cold

supply to the Quooker. That single cold goes through the Combimate which is a water conditioner not a softener. We are the best part of a year on and there is no sign of scale on the Quooker tap itself, I’ve not opened up the Quooker to look inside yet. The Combimate may prevent your problem recurring once you’ve cleaned that tap up again. 
 

 

[SteamyTea]

8 minutes ago, Russdl said:

I’ve not opened up the Quooker to look inside yet

Be interesting as these water softeners, should really be called conditioners, add polyphosphates to change the chemistry.

I have often wondered how they react with a very hot electrical element.

To me, it is just another thing that may cause 'scale'.

[Russdl]

@SteamyTea. Yep. I described it as a ‘conditioner’ not a softener. 
 

(And I’ll update when I do take the Quooker to pieces)

Edited October 29, 2021 by Russdl

[hendriQ]

Considering the combimate mentioned above by @Russdl and comparing it to alternative to keep a boiling water tap running limescale free in a hard water area. One I'm looking at made by Intu which has fairly good reviews and is about half the price of a Quooker. One of the only bad reviews complains about the boiling unit starting to make a lot of noise after about 5 months of use. After a back and forth with the supplier which confirms the appliance is being used in a very hard water area, the supplier states that the noise is caused by excess limescale and that the user should descale the boiling water tank and replace the filter every 3 months to prevent too much limescale build up. The tap is about £550, but the replacement filter cartridges are £32 so that is £128 a year on filters. The Combimate is now £175, not sure how quickly I'd need to buy more of those magic phosphate balls, but surely significantly less than the excessive use of filters, though surely I'd still have to replace the filters occasionally, maybe twice a year.

 

So it's a toss up between phosphate in my tea and more use of filters. Query how much a filter can filter out limescale though.

 

[Russdl]

@hendriQ I can’t offer too much insight to the Combimate performance, save to say it’s been in a year now and:

 

There are no unusual noises coming from the Quooker (I’ve not opened it up yet to look inside, so it may just be well silenced). 
 

There is no limescale on the Quooker and we are in a very hard water area. 
 

Drinking water has no discernible taste to it. 

 

Finally, I haven’t changed the balls yet because it doesn’t seem like they need changing (based on no limescale anywhere). It only provides drinking water to the Quooker so it’s only a ‘half charge’ anyway. All the rest of our water goes through the water softener before it gets to any outlet. 

[Jilly]

7 hours ago, hendriQ said:

 

phosphate in my tea 

 

That's a seriously bad idea.

[puntloos]

Reviving an old one but here's a thought:

 

A conditioner temporarily prevents the scale from sticking to things. I believe it crystalizes it somewhat. If this water is exposed to open air it will start to scale thigns up again. 

-> Any water that gets swirled around in open air (kettles, dishwashers, drinking glasses, showers etc) will scale-ify your things.

 

A softener permanently de-scales your water, but in exchange makes it more salty, which might be a negative taste-wise, and I heard (anyone confirm?) that salty water might also affect devices negatively. It's certainly true that oceanwater is much more harmful to 'humanmade things' - boats, houses than eg rainwater.

 

So, would it perhaps make sense to do both?

-  Shower: softened

- Dishwasher: softened (a compromise)

- Kitchen (drinking) tap: conditioned 

- Washing machine.. 

 

Or is there no point in conditioning once you have a softener?

[Russdl]

That’s exactly what we do.
 

The whole House is on softened water with the exception of the kitchen tap. That has conditioned water from a Combimate.
 

It’s all working very well, no sign of limescale anywhere and we’re in a hard water area. 
 

Softened water isn’t salty by the way, maybe fractional more saly than un-softened water but imperceptibly so in my experience (teeth brushing for example).

[Adrian Walker]

On 21/10/2021 at 20:47, canalsiderenovation said:

 

I don't want any sort of permanent softener as it causes problems with shampoo/hair washing stuff 

 

 

It doesn't cause any problems with shampoo/hair, in fact, it will save you money because you will use a lot less.  Jeremey, who used to be on here, even did the calculations to show how much money he was saving per year.

[SteamyTea]

1 hour ago, Adrian Walker said:

Jeremey, who used to be on here, even did the calculations to show how much money he was saving per year.

Jeremy, like me, had a full head of hair.

Most on here are old and bald.