Hard Water Treatment

This site contains information on hard water, problems associated with hardwater, the benefits of soft water, and water treatment. It also contains reviews and comparisons of the various methods available to control water hardness.

Looking around the site, you will find reviews of packaged water treatment softeners (precipitating and non-precipitating), chemical water softeners, reverse osmosis water treatment filters, mechanical water treatment softeners and electro magnetic water treatment conditioners.

We have now also included some information on how water conditioners can be used to prevent limescale in solar heating systems.

What is hard water?

Water described as "hard" is high in dissolved minerals, specifically calcium and magnesium. Hard water is not a health risk, but a nuisance because of mineral buildup on fixtures and poor soap and/or detergent performance.

Water is a good solvent and picks up impurities easily. Pure water -- tasteless, colorless, and odorless -- is often called the universal solvent. When water is combined with carbon dioxide to form very weak carbonic acid, an even better solvent results.

As water moves through soil and rock, it dissolves very small amounts of minerals and holds them in solution. Calcium and magnesium dissolved in water are the two most common minerals that make water "hard." The degree of hardness becomes greater as the calcium and magnesium content increases.