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It is no secret that hard water — unfiltered water with high mineral content — can adversely affect your skin and hair. But did you know that hard water can be detrimental to your home appliances, too? In some cases, hard water is the culprit why many appliances end up in the junkyard before their time.

How Hard Water Damages Your Appliances

Hard water causes calcium and magnesium buildup that decreases the flow rate or clogs the plumbing system in your home. Hard water may also erode your plumbing fixtures due to its high pH levels. These negative impacts extend to your water-consuming home appliances, such as:

  • Water Heater

One thing that lowers the efficiency of a water heater and drives up its operating costs is hard water. The minerals from hard water settle in the bottom of the water heater tank, creating an extra layer that heat has to pass through to produce warm water in your home. This layer of minerals grows over time, causing longer heating cycles or reducing the efficiency of the heater.

Of course, when your water heater works harder than it used to, it raises the home’s electricity bill. It also leads to your water heater breaking down earlier than expected, forcing you to spend money on costly repair costs or a new one.

  • Dishwasher

Do your glasses and silverware come out of the dishwasher spotty? Those white spots are mineral salts, left behind when the hard water evaporates from your dishes. The bigger problem, however, is that these mineral salts not only settle on your plates and utensils — they build up in every part of your dishwasher.

Over time, these salt buildups rust and damage the many metal parts of your dishwasher, including pumps and heating element parts. The average lifespan of dishwashers is 10 years, but when you have hard water at home, the life expectancy of your dishwasher lowers to seven years.

  • Washing Machine

Hard water leads to lime scale and other mineral buildups on your washing machine’s heating element. Over time, this buildup increases and causes the heating mechanism to fail. Limescale buildup also corrodes the pipes and hoses, resulting in the early breakdown of your machine (which is supposed to last for many years).

Indeed, hard water is hard on your water-consuming home appliances, including the high-efficiency ones. High-efficiency appliances are supposed to help you cut back on energy consumption and save money. If hard water enters those appliances, however, their efficiency will inevitably decrease as months and years go by. It means you will not receive the energy savings you should be getting.

If you want to ensure the efficiency of your water-using appliances, start by having your hard water at home filtered or treated. In that case, Superior Water Conditioners is here to help. We install residential water treatment systems in Fort Wayne. With our superior system, you can protect your plumbing network from limescale buildup and mineral deposits, as well as keep the life expectancy of your home appliances.

Contact us today to know more.