Saddleback Plumbing Heating & Air Blog: Posts Tagged ‘water softener’

“Where Is the Water Going?” Reasons for Those High Bills

Monday, August 10th, 2020
pipe-rupture

Nobody wants to waste water, because it shows up as high water bills. But it’s easy to slip into patterns of water use that are wasteful, such as luxuriating too long in the shower, or leaving the water in the sink running as you do some other cooking task.

But when you see water bills that are abnormally high, and you feel certain you’re observing at least decent water-conserving measures, it can be concerning. If the rise in cost isn’t because of a general rise in water prices, you may have a problem that will require the help of plumbing professionals in San Juan Capistrano, CA to fix. We’ll take a look at where the water waste is occurring, and where that water is going.

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How Hard Water Is a Problem for Your House

Monday, May 18th, 2020
Water-Softener-Salt-Tank-Filling

Hard water is common throughout Southern California, and Orange County is no exception. The hardness of our water averages about 300 per million or 18 grains per gallon. What does that mean? That’s already 10% of the recommended calcium for your daily diet contained within one glass of water. Sounds great if you’re looking to increase your calcium intake—but all that calcium and other minerals, like magnesium, are not good for your household plumbing or for your house.

This is why water softeners in Orange County, CA are often in demand, and why we install them. To help convince you to act to reduce the hardness of your home’s water, we’ve listed below how hard water creates household trouble.

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What Is Causing the Clogs in My Drains?

Monday, March 23rd, 2020
Drain

The clogged drain is almost the definition of “household nuisance.” We’ve all dealt with one before, we know we’ll deal with more in the future. The good news is that unclogging drains isn’t difficult—as long as you know the right steps. Use a plunger or a hand-cranked drain snake. If that doesn’t fix the clog, don’t use chemical drain cleaners. Instead, call us for professional plumbing in Ladera Ranch, CA and we will remove the clog, thoroughly, quickly, and without damaging the drainpipes.

But drain clogs aren’t a singular problem—they’re the result of different problems. “What is causing the clogs in my drains?” is the right question to ask, because it goes a long way toward prevention of clogs in the future. So we’ll guide you through the most common sources of drain clogs.

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You May Need to Install a Water Softener for Your House

Monday, November 18th, 2019

The freshwater sent to homes and commercial and industrial buildings throughout Orange County is overseen by the Orange County Water Department. The OCWD makes every effort to ensure the water that reaches your house is thoroughly treated to remove harmful impurities. In many cases, the water in Orange County is better quality water than what you can get from bottled water—and it’s much better for the environment to leave those water bottles aside and go with water from your taps.

However, there is an exception with our local water, which is its hardness. Water is considered “hard” if it has higher than 10 grains per gallon of hard water minerals. These minerals include magnesium, calcium, and gypsum. In many parts of Orange County, the water has more than 10 grains per gallon unless it comes from a well. The water hardness occurs because of mineral seepage through the groundwater and into the pipes carrying water to your home.

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Signs You Should Install a Water Treatment System?

Monday, December 3rd, 2018

showerhead-dripping-close-up“Do I need to have a whole-house water treatment system?”

This is a question many homeowners in Orange County ask themselves. Water quality is often in the news, and people are more concerned about the health conditions of the water they drink and cook with and bathe in. Simple filtration pitchers don’t seem like enough if there are high levels of impurities in the water entering a home through the water main.

We’re a plumber in Irvine, CA who handles water treatment system installation. We can provide guidance for whether putting in a water treatment system is a good idea. There are ways you can tell you have too many impurities in your household’s water.

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How to Choose the Water Softener That Is Right for You

Monday, July 18th, 2011

If hard water is a problem in your home, the solution may be simpler than you think. There are many water softeners out there, and some of them can be quite effective at treating the water coming into your home in order to remove the minerals that make the water hard. However, there are plenty of distinct differences between the various products on the market as well, so you should take a closer look at your options before you commit to one system over another.

The first thing you need to know when you start looking at water softeners is how hard your water actually is. If your water is very hard, you will need a heavy duty water softener. But if there are only moderate amounts of calcium and magnesium in your water, you may be able to opt for a less powerful model.

You should also be aware of how much water you go through on a daily basis. You want to get a water softener big enough to handle the demands of your household, and you will not be able to do that if you do not know how much water you typically use.

Another difference between the various water softener models on the market today is the type of regeneration cycle they employ. You can opt for a timer regenerated water softener that will complete the regeneration cycle as often as you set it to. These models tend to be cheaper initially, but they can also cost more to operate and maintain in the long run because they will regenerate when the time comes whether it is actually necessary or not.

There are also meter regenerated water softeners that only go through a regeneration cycle once a certain volume of water has passed through them. These water softeners are specifically calibrated to the amount of calcium and magnesium you have in your water so they only go through a regeneration cycle when it is absolutely necessary.

One concern that many people have about using water softeners is that the most common types use sodium as a regeneration agent. That means that they exchange sodium for the calcium and magnesium in the water. If you need to limit your sodium intake, you may not want to be adding even this small amount to your water. In that case, you can purchase a water softener that uses potassium rather than sodium which can be just as effective at removing other minerals.

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How a Water Softener Works

Wednesday, March 9th, 2011

You use water for many things. It is necessary for bathing, cooking, washing clothes and for drinking. But the water we use in our homes is not pure. It has plenty of other minerals and additives suspended inside. While some of these, like fluoride, are intentionally added to the water supplies in certain areas, some others get in by chance.

Aside from actual pollutants, the additives you may be the most concerned about finding in your water are calcium and magnesium. These minerals are picked up by water as it moves through the ground, and the more of them that get into your home water supply, the harder that water will be.

The term hard water is used to describe water with high levels of calcium and magnesium present. These minerals are not actually dangerous to us, but they can cause all sorts of problems for your indoor plumbing and other household systems. For instance, hard water will leave deposits of these minerals on the insides of pipes and on sinks, faucets and bathtubs.

Residue will also build up in appliances like coffee makers, dish washers and washing machines. Over time these buildups can become a real problem and you may have to pay for costly repairs or need to replace large appliances.

In order to avoid these types of complications, your best bet is to have a water softener installed. These systems can be connected directly to your home water source and they are able to remove excess calcium and magnesium from the water before it ever reaches any of your indoor plumbing or appliances.

Water softeners generally remove these minerals by attracting the positively charged calcium and magnesium particles with a tank full of negatively charged polystyrene particles. In this system, the calcium and magnesium are replaced by sodium ions as they move through the water softener, thereby maintaining the overall balanced composition of the water. Once the water has passed through and the calcium and magnesium have been left behind, the water softener will flush them out and prepare to absorb another wave of hard water minerals.

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