Hard water is water that has a high level of minerals suspended in it, principally magnesium and calcium. This isn’t harmful for drinking; after all, these minerals are found in food. However, those minerals are not good for the plumbing in a home, and they also affect the ability to keep both the house and people in it properly clean. (Soap doesn’t dissolve well in hard water, leaving to filmy deposits, itchy skin, flat hair, and more.)
Hard water is a common problem in Santa Barbara, but it’s often easy for people to ignore when they don’t see the major negative effects. We strongly recommend our local customers to find out if they’ve got hard water and to have a water softener installed if they do. There are plenty of reasons to do this, but we want to focus on one of biggest in this post—hard water can ruin your water heater.
Because we enjoy mild winters in Santa Barbara and Ventura County, we don’t place too much emphasis on our household heating systems. But there is a heating system in your home that works all around the year. It’s your water heater, and fall is as good a time as any to consider the future of your current water heating system. No water heater lasts forever, and at some point you’ll need to arrange to have it replaced.
Most of us can relate with the feeling of the hot water shutting off on us during a shower. If you’re using a tank water heater, then you know that you’ve simply used up all the water and will have to wait for some more.
Your water heater is acting strangely… does this mean it’s time for replacement? Well, it could, but this time, we only want to talk about problems that aren’t nearly as drastic as they seem. So relax! That doesn’t mean these problems are completely harmless, of course, but we won’t leave you in the dark on how to proceed. Here are some minor plumbing problems that you should be on the lookout for.