Stop Hard Water Spots in Your Home with Water Softening Systems
Hate seeing those hard water spots on your dishes, sinks, countertops, and shower doors? If so, get in touch for a free water test from our experts.
We take time to perform a thorough water test so we know exactly what’s in your water and how to treat it. This helps us remove contaminants like hard minerals, chlorine, and other impurities that affect your home.
What Causes Hard Water Spots?
If you see white spots on your dishes after a wash cycle, on your sinks after washing your hands, or on your glass shower doors after enjoying a nice, relaxing shower, then they are probably hard water spots. Hard water spots are due to hard minerals like calcium and magnesium in your water.
When water droplets stay on a surface, the water eventually evaporates away. However, if those droplets contain hard minerals, those get left behind, causing those unsightly spots you know and hate.
What’s worse, when left on a surface for too long, these spots may become incredibly difficult to clean, as they can turn into hard limescale buildup that can require harsh chemicals and abrasive tools to remove, which might damage your home and belongings.
Hard water spots are easy to prevent, though. All you need is a water softening system. Water softening systems remove hard minerals from your water, exchanging the calcium and magnesium for sodium or potassium ions. The result is that you won’t have to deal with those pesky hard water spots (not to mention appliance breakdowns and dry skin).
Our team provides custom solutions for all your water softening needs. Get started with a free water test so we can recommend the right system for your home and family!
How to Remove Hard Water Spots
If you already have hard water spots in your home, there are ways to remove them. After installing a water softening system, generally the soft water will take care of any limescale inside your plumbing or appliances over time, slowly chipping away at those hard minerals.
However, if you have visible hard water spots, removing them will need some elbow grease. Since hard water spots are so stubborn, you will need some heavy duty cleaners to help.
Hard water spot removal usually requires acidic cleaners, so it’s typically best to start with vinegar. Vinegar can usually dissolve the minerals in hard water spots and works well for water spots on surfaces like counters, sinks, and glass doors.
Vinegar can also work well on dishes but might make your food and drinks taste like vinegar later. So, instead, we recommend washing them in the dishwasher once you have your water softening system installed to get rid of any hard water spots. The other alternative is to dry them with a soft cloth immediately so the water doesn’t stay on the surface.
If you have extremely hard-to-remove water spots, then you might need to break out chemicals like CLR or Lime Away. These are quite harsh but do generally remove hard water spots and limescale well.
Still Seeing Spots with a Water Softening System?
What if you have a water softening system and you start seeing water spots? If this happens, there are likely a few reasons why.
One reason is that your water softener needs maintenance or repair and therefore can’t remove all the hard minerals from your water. For instance, if your water softening system runs out of salt for the brine tank, it may not work properly.
Another common reason for seeing water spots with a water softening system is if you have high levels of dissolved solids in your water. The water softener removes hard minerals, but it won’t do anything for dissolved solids like sediment, which can leave spots behind that look a lot like hard water spots. If this is the case, then you likely need a water filtration system to remove the dissolved solids from your water. This way, you know the water in your home is healthy and clean.