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A variety of minerals can be found in the water we use and drink at home. The concentration of these minerals is what determines the water’s hardness. Water in the UK is generally categorised as either: Hard Water or Soft Water. The hardness of water varies depending on location and the source of the water supply. For instance, it’s more likely that people living in the north of England typically enjoy softer water than those people living in the south and east, who get hard water. There are of course exceptions for those people who have already chosen a water softener.
But what does “hard” or “soft” water actually mean?
What is Hard Water?
Hard water is determined by its high concentration of minerals, such as calcium and magnesium. Although rainwater is typically soft, as it travels through the ground in the south of the country it dissolves small amounts of the calcium and magnesium minerals held in the rocks it passes through. The concentration of these minerals is what determines the hardness of the water. The harder the water is (expressed in parts per million), the more damaging the water can be to your home, appliances, and body.
How hard is my Water?
Whilst the geological conditions of where the rain fell or was stored by nature will define the hardness of your locally supplied water, how do you find out how hard or soft your water really is? You can choose either of the following options to find out the hardness of your tap water.
- You can contact your local water company, and they should be able to provide you with the some basic information about the hardness of your water.
- 0 to 100 ppm (parts per million) as calcium carbonate is classified as soft
- 100 to 200 ppm as moderately hard
- 200 to 300 ppm as hard
- More than 300 ppm as very hard
- You can also purchase a hard water test kit from a company like BWT, which will allow you to check your water hardness almost instantly.
Problems with Hard Water?
Hard water can create problems, that can be costly, for homes and their residents. This is mainly due to limescale build up. When hard water is heated, it evaporates and leaves limescale. The limescale that is formed is then deposited in pipes and appliances, and can often be found on the heating elements of kettles, coffee makers and your central heating boiler. The damage caused by limescale build-up can be expensive to repair. It can also reduce the lifespan of these appliances and increase your home’s energy costs.
Limescale can be tiresome to clean, as it can form wherever hard water drips, stands or flows from. The limescale deposits and staining, predominately found on kitchen and bathroom surfaces, are often difficult to remove. As well as being visually unpleasant, limescale can also hide out of sight in our kitchen appliances, such as: steam ovens, coffee makers, washing machines and even dishwashers. Hard water can also cost you money in your wallet. Hard water often requires you to use more detergent, skin care and hair care products, often twice the amount you might use with soft water to obtain the same results.
Not only does hard water impact your home and household appliances, it can also significantly impact our bodies. In comparison to soft water, your hair can look dry and dull, and your laundry can feel rough and can lead to colours fading more quickly. In extreme cases, hard water can even irritate skin issues as the water can make skin tighten after showering and bathing.
The hardness of the water says nothing about the quality of the water. Though, your choice of hard or soft water has a significant impact on taste and aroma of drinks and food, your skin and hair, household items within the kitchen and bathroom, as well as the softness of your laundry.
What is Soft Water?
Soft water is our natural water source that we receive in form of rainwater. Rainwater is naturally soft before it moves through soil and picks up minerals, which can then turn it into hard water. Water naturally does not contain any noticeable dissolved minerals and has low amounts of calcium and magnesium. This explains why homes with soft water rarely see limescale build-up in appliances or excessive scum formation in bathrooms. As a result, homes with soft water generally do not experience issues with limescale build-up and may benefit from longer lasting appliances, heating, and plumbing systems.
How can you treat your Hard Water?
Whilst hard water is great to drink the limescale it leaves behind is not so desirable. An effective way of combatting the effects of hard water is to remove the excess minerals that make it hard in the first place. When the minerals are removed the water is artificially softened and takes on many of the attributes of naturally soft water. A water softener does exactly that by using the principle of ion exchange. This is only one of a handful of proven scientific water treatment solutions that have consistently been shown to solve hard water issues, such as limescale.
BWT water softeners work using the same principal of ion exchange, transforming hard water into silky softened water. Water that has no or very low amounts of calcium and magnesium, resulting in luxury water for you to enjoy all around the home. These water softeners come with an integrated resin vessel that sits at the heart of the device. The resin within the vessel then traps calcium and magnesium ions present in the water and replaces them with sodium ions. In order for water softeners to work efficiently, the resin beds need to be periodically regenerated by using a brine solution. This will then wash away the accumulated hardness ions and recharge the specialist resin.
Water softeners are a very efficient solution for homes. Softeners can help you maintain the shine of your kitchenware and prolong the life of your heating and plumbing systems. The addition of a water softener in your home can also make your clothes feel fluffier, skin feel softer and hair look shinier. Your household expenses can also be reduced as softened water requires you to buy fewer washing, cleaning, personal care products and less expensive harsh chemicals need to be used for cleaning. This also benefits the environment and our planet as the need for less also means less plastic waste to be recycled or worse sent to landfill.
BWT Water Softeners
BWT water softeners are highly sophisticated and are designed to adapt to your lifestyle making them both effective and efficient. Water softeners treat the water by removing the minerals that cause limescale such as calcium. Benefits from softened water include your skin feeling softer and hair looking shinier, the reduction of limescale deposits in the domestic water system, as well as protection for your appliances, ceramics, glassware and shiny surfaces. Softened water also helps you save money, as you require fewer cleaning and skincare products to get the same results. It also can help you save energy overtime as there is less limescale to impact the performance of your appliances.
BWT have a wide range of water softeners:
A) WS Range water softeners are a range of modern electronic water softeners that have been designed and developed specifically for the UK homes and plumbing systems. Fully automatic, efficient and beautifully made, each model can be easily installed and comes with smart water monitoring for even greater efficiency. BWT WS Range water softeners are available in 4 different sizes to cater for all household sizes and their distinct lifestyle.
B) Perla Silk water softeners are designed for a busy lifestyle and deliver abundant amounts of softened water with low levels of wastewater and salt consumption. They are available in 4 different sizes, making them suitable for any family size. The BWT Perla Silk also has the benefit of extended warranty packages for your complete peace of mind. They also offer battery back-up options for protected and non-mains operation, as well as our unique uniconnect all-in-one connector and bypass connection block. These models are also compatible with our smartphone app that can provide details about their performance, as well as offering you additional services such as scheduling a service or even being able to order more salt for your water softener.
BWT Perla Silk water softeners are also available with “BWT PERLA SILK WI-FI” smart features allow you to connect your softener to your phone via Wi-Fi helping you monitor your water softener system while on the go. The benefits of the Perla Silk range include:
• The Perla Silk uses an intelligent water monitoring system that learns your water usage and lifestyle patterns to help it to deliver an uninterrupted supply of softened water. By recognising your water usage patterns, the Perla Silk ensures it only regenerates when required – optimising your water and salt usage.
• They are easy to setup Its 3-step process allows you to set the time, water-hardness and its recharge time easily in any language through a symbol-based touch screen.
• It contains a brine check valve, designed to prevent over-filling your water softener for further peace of mind.
• Up to 6 years extended warranty.
• Uses a unique uniconnect all in one connection block and By-Pass.
• Offers you the flexibility of non mains operation and power cut protection.
• Smart App compatibility
• Available with and without Wi-Fi
C) Perla water softeners are BWT’s top of the range Luxury Water softeners. These are also equipped with many additional features. Unlike our other water softeners, they use a duplex system with two resin vessels connected in parallel which enables them to deliver an uninterrupted supply of softened water 24 hours a day. With a maximum peak water flow of up to 53 litres a minute they are ideally suited to busy multi-bathroom homes. Like the Perla Silk, these softeners are compatible with the BWT Smartphone app which allows you to connect your Perla water softener to your phone and for it to send you important notifications while you are on the go. It also comes with a AQA guard sensor which is designed to protect your home from water damage in the unlikely event of a leak from any surrounding plumbing.
AQA Guard floor sensors monitor the moisture on the floor when paired with AQA Stop (available separately at extra cost) the combined system gives you indispensable leak protection. AQA Watch alerts you when prolonged low flow rates are experienced.
BWT water softeners are all tested and fully compliant with the European standard 14743. Each component is also independently approved by WRAS in the UK. Also, for additional peace of mind, BWT offers free at home commissioning.
All of BWT domestic water softeners include free commissioning and bring a wealth of benefits to both installers and consumers. BWT’s fully trained engineers being present not only frees up installers time to focus on other aspects of the installation, but as a result consumers can be assured that their water softener will be set up to suit their specific requirements. The water conditions are also taken in account when optimising a new water softener. The home visit will also give consumers a chance to ask questions not just about their new purchase but also regarding water softeners in general.
BWT UK products all come with a minimum of a 12-month guarantee. The majority of BWT domestic water softeners are supplied with a warranty that can be extended using one of our extended warranty or service plans. Most of these can also be tailored to your specific needs, with each one offering an extended warranty and the practical benefits of a scheduled service plan. For full details please see the literature provided with your new BWT product or simply feel free to contact us for more details.