| Discovering whether your home water supply | | | | your water with the bottle, and then add the tablets |
| contains hard water minerals is vitally important if you | | | | to dissolve into the water. Again, there will be a |
| are looking to remove or reduce these minerals for | | | | colour change, this time of the water itself, which is |
| cleaner, purer water from your faucets. There are | | | | compared against a chart indicating how hard the |
| some excellent hard water testing kits available these | | | | water is. |
| days that will tell you exactly what your water | | | | Probably the most accurate way, however, is to use |
| contains, however, some methods are better than | | | | a test kit which uses liquid drops which are added to |
| others... | | | | the water sample. These have been proved to be |
| As a guide, 60% of the UK and 85% of the US | | | | most accurate when testing for hard water, and |
| population live in a hard water area. This is a big | | | | work time and again to reveal the true mineral |
| problem, as dealing with hard water costs | | | | content in a water supply. |
| homeowners hundreds of dollars in expensive heating | | | | If all of the above does not work, or you prefer to |
| bills, as well as the headache of dealing with water | | | | have someone do it for you, most water companies |
| deposits, and scale that forms around heating | | | | will be able to test your home water supply for you. |
| elements in kettles, dishwashers, boilers and in | | | | Give them a call and see what they can do for you. |
| pipework. | | | | Once you've tested your water supply, the hardness |
| The most common way to test is by using a hard | | | | of your water will be reported in grains per gallon, |
| water test strip, which is basically a small piece of | | | | milligrams per liter (mg/l) or parts per million (ppm). |
| specially treated paper that is dipped into the water | | | | One grain of hardness equals 17.1 mg/l or ppm of |
| to be tested, which then changes colour. This colour | | | | hardness. |
| change is compared against a chart, where the | | | | So, if you wish to determine the mineral content of |
| hardness of water is related to the corresponding | | | | your water there are plenty of easy ways to |
| colour which is affected by the mineral concentration | | | | accomplish it these days. Once, this has been done |
| in the water. | | | | you'll be in a better position to deal with hard water |
| A more accurate way is to use a use a hard water | | | | deposit removal and scale formation that could be |
| test kit which is usually a small bottle with specially | | | | costing you significant amount of money in |
| formulated tablets. The idea is to take a sample of | | | | unnecessary heating bills for your home. |