Hardness
What is Hard Water?
Hardness is a common problem with water that contains dissolved compounds of calcium, magnesium and sometimes other divalent and trivalent metallic elements. The term hardness was originally applied to waters that were hard to wash in, referring to the soap wasting properties of hard water.
The Effects of Hardness in your Water
Hardness prevents soap from lathering by causing the development of an insoluble curdy precipitate in the water; hardness typically causes the buildup of hardness scale (such as seen in cooking pans). Dissolved calcium and magnesium salts are primarily responsible for most scaling in pipes and water heaters and cause numerous problems in laundry, kitchens, and bathrooms. Just as it builds up on things in the home it also builds up on your skin and hair. Hardness is usually expressed in grains per gallon (or gpg) as calcium carbonate.