Have you ever noticed your hair and skin feel different after a shower in different areas of the country? Sometimes they feel softer and other times they are rough and you can’t get enough lotion for your skin or conditioner for your hair. These differences come from the differing hardness of the water.
Where Jamie, Lucy and I live, the water is very hard. Most people in our area have soft water machines. The Hardworking Husband and I did not have a water softener in the places we rented, but when we bought our house it came with a water softener. We were so thankful. We wanted to have a water softener and it was one less thing we had to buy when we bought the house. But if we had needed to buy one, we would have. It is so worth it to have a water softener.
For those of you who haven’t lived in an area with hard water, let me first explain what it is. As water falls to the earth and flows down through the layers of earth into the water aquifer, it picks up minerals that can cause the water to be hard. So depending on where you live, it can be picking up hard minerals or other minerals. This hard water can be tough on the pipes, fixtures, and appliances in your home.
How do you know you have hard water? Do you find that you always seem to have spots on your dishes when they come out of the dishwasher? Do you have build up on your water faucets or your shower heads? This could mean that you have hard water. The Morton Salt website has a form for you to fill out to to order a free test to help you know if you have hard water. I tested our water that is not softened. This is how our test turned out. As you can see we have HARD water.
If you’ve determined that you have hard water, what do you do about it? Water softeners are the solution. A water softener has resin beads in it. The water passes through and the hard minerals are attracted to the resin beads pulling it out of the water allowing the soft water to pass through. Salt is used to recharge the resin beads. You pour the salt into a tank and let the softener do its thing.
The same Morton Salt company that makes our table salt also makes salt for water softeners. We already trust them for our food. We can also trust them to provide us with the salt we need for our softeners.
They have created their bags so they are super easy to open. The corner tears off and then you just pour. The bags also have a handle that makes them easy to carry.
You may be wondering why you want to soften your water. Let’s talk about what hard water does to understand why you want to soften it. Hard water leaves those minerals on everything it touches. It leaves the minerals on your pipes as it flows through. It leaves them on your faucets and shower heads, in your dishwasher, on the dishes the dishwasher is cleaning, on your skin, on your hair and every where it touches.
As it leaves these minerals, they build up. After some time, the build up will restrict the water flow. It eventually causes you to have to replace your pipes, faucets, appliances, etc. Soft water does not have these minerals that deposit and build up. For the HH and I, the cost of soft water is completely worth it. It saves us a ton of money in home maintenance.
The HH manages car washes in our area. The hard water issue is a big deal in the car wash industry. He goes through about a pallet of salt (63 bags) in a month per car wash. Hard water leaves spots on your car as well. When you go to the car wash, you expect to leave without spots. So softening the water at our car washes is very important. If you live in an area where there is hard water, washing your car at home will also leave spots on your car. As those spots build up, it can be damaging to the paint on your car.
Are you curious about whether you have hard water or not? Visit the Morton Salt website to get a free test to find out if you have hard water.
Do you have hard water and are interested in softening it? A water softener is the way to go. This video will explain the way it works. It’s based on simple chemistry.
Go to the Morton Salt website and get your free test! It’s super easy to do and it will help you determine your need for a water softener.
I was selected for this opportunity as a member of Clever Girls and the content and opinions expressed here are all my own.
Reesa Lewandowski
Friday 1st of April 2016
I am interested to try this! We have hard water I am sure of it b/c of the marks water leaves in my sinks.
Jamie
Friday 1st of April 2016
We have a water softener, I'll have to check it out.
Healing Tomato
Thursday 31st of March 2016
I had no idea that Morton made the water softening salt. This is awesome. I love reading useful posts.
Charbel barker
Thursday 31st of March 2016
I will definitely have to check out this test. I am not sure if we have hard or soft water.
Kerry C
Friday 1st of April 2016
It's super easy to do.
foody schmoody
Thursday 31st of March 2016
We used to have an issue w/ hard water. Since we rebuilt, everything changed and we are no longer dealing w/ this issue, thankfully!
Kerry C
Friday 1st of April 2016
Interesting that you don't have a problem anymore. I don't think our hard water is going away ever.