When it comes to making home renovations and improvements, the kitchen and bathroom is always a good place to start. But when it comes to having hard water and limescale – your investments could go to waste in a matter of months. Find out here, how you can protect your home from long term damage and leave your kitchen and bathrooms looking brand new for years to come.
Limescale is a white and chalky build up, which may notice in your home, around your taps and shower, on your surfaces, inside your home appliances and even on your cutlery and glassware. It mainly consists of calcium carbonate and is caused by having hard water.
Hard water in your home can cause both visible and invisible long term damage. For example, limescale can block shower heads and taps and damage common home appliances, such as the kettle, dishwasher and washing machine. Scale build up also internally blocks water pipes in the home, causing damage to boilers, home heating and water systems.
Hard water is a common problem in the UK, but the good news is there is a long term and permanent way to protect and future proof your home – a water softener.
The only way to remove hard water and limescale from your home is with a water softener. A water softener is a whole house filtration system that effectively removes hard minerals from your water. To do this, the system intersects the incoming mains water supply, and filters the water through an internal resin – softening the water as it enters the home. The end result is a constant flow of soft water throughout the home – and no limescale! The units themselves are compact and need to be installed by a stop tap – which is generally underneath your kitchen sink.
Water softening systems are low maintenance and require little upkeep. The internal resin inside automatically regenerates and cleans itself using a brine solution made with salt and block salt. All that is required from you is to replace the salt as it runs out!
When it comes to choosing a water softener, there are many different brands, types and sizes to choose from and prices can range from £650 – £2000. The best designs to buy are generally non-electric and twin tank systems.
A twin tank design provides a high flow rate and a constant and uninterrupted supply of soft water in the home. Non-electric systems are ideal for all homes; they do not need an electrical outlet and requires no manual settings or controls. These designs automatically calibrate, depending on your water usage – easy!
It is recommended to avoid electric systems and single tank systems, because they are inefficient and unless you live in a very small home with 1 bathroom – the low flow rate of a single tank system, will result in a noticeable reduction in water pressure.
When it comes to purchasing a water softener – there are two main brands to watch out for: Harvey and Kinetico. These two brands are the best you can buy, delivering products which have amazing efficiency and are high quality. In fact, Harvey and Kinetico products are only sold within an exclusive dealership network – meaning only specific companies are allowed to sell them. For that reason, they are hard to come by online – you can find them here at https://newatersofteners.co.uk/. The two latest models and best water softeners of 2021 are The Harvey TwinTec S4 and Kinetico Premier Compact.
A softener system should be seen as a long term home investment that can protect your home, fixtures and fittings from limescale damage. When buying a softener you get what you pay for and a well priced system you can expect to last anything between 10-20 years!