If you have been putting off getting a water softener and have noticed a drop in your water pressure. It may be because of hardness building up in your home’s plumbing. Before you go and replace all of the plumbing in your home, get yourself a water softener and let the soft water gradually clear up the hardness in your pipes.
Having a water softener will remove hard mineral build-up in pipes because the softened water coming from the water softener will gradually absorb the minerals that have collected on the walls of your pipes, and can eventually leave them totally free of hard mineral build-up.
The same can be said for hardness build-up inside of a hot water furnace, but this is a slow process, and depending on how much build-up is present, it could take several months for the plumbing to be free of hardness.
How Does Having A Water Softener Remove Build-Up In Pipes?
It is important to understand that a water softener itself will not remove or reduce any hardness build-up within your plumbing. It is only the softened water that the water softener will produce that will run through the pipes, which will gradually remove the existing hardness.
Softened water flowing through your plumbing will slowly loosen mineral scaling in your plumbing allowing the scaling to break loose from the plumbing and be carried away in your water.
Over time, softened water will loosen and remove hard mineral scaling from your plumbing but each home and situation is different so the amount of time it will take to clear scaling from the plumbing of one home to another will vary.
Having A Water Softener Can Also Remove Iron And Maganese Build-Up In Pipes
Things like iron and manganese will cling to the plumbing in the home and can cause the same if not more problems than simple water hardness because of calcium.
A water softener can remove iron and manganese from the water and the softened water that is produced can gradually remove iron and manganese build-up in your plumbing over time.
How Does Hardness Build Up In Pipes Anyway?
The material that is used for the house’s plumbing makes a big difference. The build-up of hardness is far more noticeable in galvanized piping than in copper piping. For this reason, copper has been the preferred metal piping to use for quite some time now.
Copper piping has a very smooth surface which gives the hardness minerals in the water a less rough surface to attach to, therefore there is no starting point for a build-up of hardness to take place.
I have found that homes with copper piping and hard water will have minimal build-up within the pipes, even after decades of hard water flowing through them. This is because the smoothness of the copper piping has not been affected over the years.
How Long Does It Take For A Water Softener To Remove Hardness Scale From Plumbing?
The hardness scale that is found in a house’s plumbing has been building up over a very long time, often many years. So when the softened water is introduced into your pipes, it will likely take a long time for the problem to be corrected.
- Typically, you should notice an improvement in your home’s water pressure due to hardness build-up in the plumbing of your home after about 4 weeks of softened water flowing through them.
- After about 3 months, you should notice a significant improvement in water pressure if there was considerable scaling in your home’s plumbing.
- It could take a year or more for your plumbing to be free of scale depending on how much hardness was deposited originally and how much water has gone through your plumbing.
The key thing to removing build-up in your pipes and improving water pressure is getting a water softener to remove the hard minerals from your water to stop additional hardness within the plumbing.
Does Acidic Water Make Hard Water Build-Up Harder To Remove?
If the water used within the house is acidic, the acid will corrode the copper and create tiny etching in the copper which is a perfect spot for hardness to begin building up.
Also, improper grounding of a home’s plumbing can cause it to hold an electrical charge that will encourage minerals in the water to cling to the walls of the pipes.
If you are unsure about your plumbing is properly grounded, you should have it looked at by an experienced plumber to ensure that it is grounded correctly.
Are There Any Other Plumbing Options To Prevent Hardness Build-Up?
Yes, cross-linked polyethylene, better known as PEX, is plastic piping that is less likely to promote hardness build-up because of its smooth surface, and PEX is highly resistant to acid water, so it will not get corroded like a metal piping can.
PEX also does not need to be grounded like metal and is less likely to burst from freezing. Some people do not like PEX, as they see it as being made of plastic and therefore not as durable as metal piping, but it is quickly becoming the preferred material for most plumbing jobs.
Will soft water clear out my shower head?
Once soft water is flowing through your plumbing, it will be able to gradually remove hardness build-up on all of your fixtures including your shower head.
What Can You Do To Remove Hard Water Build-Up In Your Pipes Quicker?
A very simple way to remove hard water damage in your home, as well as clean hard water stains from the water fixtures in your home, is by using a hard mineral cleaner such as CLR as directed.
To Sum Up!
The soft water that is produced by a water softener can gradually remove hard water buildup in plumbing over a period of time.
Treating acid water that will cause corrosion of metal piping, will help to minimize hardness build-up and reduce the possibility of weakening the pipes.
Not all build-up in a home’s plumbing is because of hardness, and improper grounding of a house’s plumbing can cause a charge on metal pipes that can cause mineral build-up in pipes.
To quickly clean out your showerhead, soak the showerhead in a solution of C.L.R. or Lime Away cleaner.
