In this 8-part series, you’ll learn about how the scale-forming minerals in your water can affect your everyday life. You’ll also learn about how EasyWater can save you time and money on home maintenance, how EasyWater works, and the differences between EasyWater and a traditional water softener. Subscribe via email to receive notification when the next video in the series is posted!

Watch other videos in this series:

Let’s Talk Water, part 1: Calcium and Magnesium in Your Water

1. Scale build-up in pipes

Natural minerals in water will eventually build up and coat the insides of pipes, especially your hot water pipes, if left untreated. Over time, this mineral (scale) build-up will continue to form, and your pipes will continue to narrow. The amount of build-up present in your hot water pipes will depend on three main factors: the age of your home, the hardness of your water, and the temperature of your hot water. If you live in a very hard water area, or if your home is more than 30 years old, you might want to consider speaking with a licensed plumber to determine if your low water pressure problem is due to limescale build-up. Many plumbers will recommend the replacement of your pipes, but EasyWater will actually remove this build-up over a period of several weeks to several months.

2. Poorly performing or old water filter or softener

Water treatment equipment that is not sized correctly for your home, or that has old or worn out media, can contribute to low water pressure in your home. To test this, simply place your water softener or filter on “bypass.” If you have a cartridge-type filter, replace the cartridge. You might find that this simple change is enough to increase your water pressure to an acceptable level. You can then install a water treatment system more suited to your needs. The EasyWater No-Salt Conditioner is a great option, as it will not reduce water pressure at all.

3. New plumbing features

Have you recently replaced a plumbing fixture, or added something new to your plumbing system? It’s possible that your plumbing system might not be big enough to handle your increased flow rate needs. If you suspect that a new plumbing feature might have caused low water pressure, contact a licensed plumber to discuss your options.

4. Water shut-off valves are not fully in the “Open” position

If you have recently turned off your water supply due to a vacation or because of having plumbing work done, it’s possible that your water supply valves are not fully open. It is possible to experience drastic reductions in water pressure or flow rate, even if the valve is closed by as little as a quarter-turn. Start by checking the valve next to the water meter, then any main water line valves. If your flow rate issue is limited to just one or two sinks, make sure that the point-of-use valves in these areas are fully open.

5. Fixture is clogged

Sediment or limescale can build up in faucet aerator screens and behind showerheads. Simply unscrew the faucet aerator or showerhead and soak in vinegar overnight, then scrub with a small brush. Installing EasyWater will remove existing limescale, and ensure that it no longer builds up in these areas.

6. Broken pressure regulator / relief valve

Pressure regulators are bell-shaped devices located near the main shut-off valve or at the water meter. You can test your pressure regulator by installing a pressure gauge after the pressure regulator. If the gauge reads lower than the pressure that you have set on the regulator, you might have a faulty pressure regulator. Contact a licensed plumber to help you replace it.

7. You have a leak

A leak anywhere in your home’s plumbing lines will result in a reduced flow rate to your faucets and showers. A simple way to test for leaks is to commit to keeping all of the faucets in your home off for a period of 3 hours. Check your water meter at the beginning of the 3 hours, and again at the end. If the water meter moves at all, you will know that you have a leak. A licensed plumber will be able to find and repair the leak.

If you have questions or comments, please share them with us!

In this 8-part series, you’ll learn about how the scale-forming minerals in your water can affect your everyday life. You’ll also learn about how EasyWater can save you time and money on home maintenance, how EasyWater works, and the differences between EasyWater and a traditional water softener. Subscribe via email to receive notification when the next video in the series is posted!

Watch other videos in this series:

Let’s Talk Water, part 2: Why Do We Have Hard Water?

1. First and foremost, EasyWater doesn’t remove minerals from water. This means that where water is allowed to evaporate from a surface there will be a whitish mineral spot left behind. This is called evaporative mineral, and this blog post will tell you more about how evaporative mineral differs from scale. Lemi Shine is a natural product that enables evaporative mineral water spots to rinse cleanly off your dishes.

2. In the summer of 2010, many states chose to ban phosphates from dishwasher detergent. As a result, some manufacturers of detergent voluntarily chose to change their formulation to remove phosphates. This means that no matter where you live, the formulation of your favorite brand of detergent has likely changed. Phosphates bind calcium in water, so their absence from dishwashing detergent means that you will have more water spots than you have had in the past. The addition of Lemi Shine to the detergent cup will provide the boost that the new formulations of detergent need to get your dishes clean.

In our testing, we have found that when water is treated with EasyWater, a combination of 1 tbsp Cascade Complete + 1 tbsp Lemi Shine is the most effective way to get dishes clean in the dishwasher. Your results might be different, however, depending on the hardness of your water and the brand of detergent you use. If your glasses are cloudy out of the dishwasher with this combination, try cutting back on the amount of detergent used.

Have you found a ratio that has worked for you? If so, leave us a comment with your city and state, and the amount and brand of detergent you use!

According to Cascade’s website, phosphates were originally included in detergent formulations in order to aid in the removal of food and grease from dishes and glassware. They are powerful cleaning agents, but that power comes at a big cost to the environment. In addition to their role as cleaning agents, phosphates also help plants grow (phosphorous is the “P” in N-P-K on a bag of fertilizer.) Wastewater treatment plants do not remove all of the phosphates before wastewater is discharged to waterways, so this excess phosphorous has lead to algal blooms in local bodies of water. These algal blooms pollute lakes and streams, and also kill fish by depleting oxygen from the water.

As much as we love sparkling dishes, we are absolutely passionate about clean water. That’s why we create water treatment products designed to work without the use of salt or chemicals, and with minimal impact to our environment. We consider the removal of phosphates from dishwasher detergent a step in the right direction, but we will all have to be a little bit more intentional about getting dishes clean in the short term, until detergent manufacturers have had a chance to perfect new formulations. In the meantime, you might want to try one or more of the tips below.

1. Try a well-known brand of eco-friendly detergent. These detergent brands have been phosphate-free for years, and have had more time to perfect their formulations.

2. Pour 1 cup of white vinegar into the bottom of the dishwasher prior to running a load. The vinegar will help remove water spots, but will typically not aid in food removal.

3. Use 1 tbsp Lemi Shine in the detergent cup of the dishwasher. Lemi Shine is a natural product designed to make glassware sparkle.

4. Experiment with different amounts of detergent. If your dishes are coming out of the dishwasher with food residue, increase your detergent use. If you are seeing a filmy haze on your dishes, decrease the amount of detergent you use.

5. Scrape the food off of your dishes, then rinse them, prior to loading the dishwasher. It’s best not to completely clean your dishes prior to loading them into the dishwasher or you might experience issues with detergent haze.

6. If you’re not happy with the results you see from commercial dishwasher detergents, try making your own! There are many recipes available online that use ingredients that are natural and readily available.

1. Know where your water comes from

City water supplies can come from local or remote surface waters such as lakes or streams, from deep wells, or from a combination of these sources. The water quality in many cities will change over the course of the year as water is sourced from different locations during the dry summer months. Knowing where your water comes from will both take the mystery out of water quality changes, and give you a deeper respect for your local bodies of water.

2. Learn about challenges affecting your water system

Reading your water quality report can provide you with answers for things that you notice but can’t explain. Periodic bouts of discolored water, strange odors, or water pressure issues are often explained in the consumer confidence report.

3. Be informed about improvements to your water system

It’s good to know where your tax dollars are going, right? Reading your water quality report will often keep you up to date on any new or planned improvements to your water system, so you’ll know when new water wells have been dug, when repairs are being planned, or if a new disinfection process is in use.

4. Learn helpful tips for saving water and protecting your water supply

Your water company is in the unique position of being able to provide you with region-specific tips on water conservation. Water companies in some arid areas of the country will request that your lawn go without water during the summer months to conserve water. Others are more concerned about how accidental backflow, stormdrain dumping or fertilizer run-off affect the water that will eventually reach your tap. Reading the enclosed pamphlets in your water bill will teach you how to be a good steward of the natural resources in your area.

5. Know how your city treats your water supply

In addition to disinfection processes that are meant to keep water safe, many cities will treat water for things such as iron, sulfur and hardness minerals. Knowing how your city treats your water will help you make the best decision on the type of water treatment you’d like to use in your own home.

6. Know your water plant’s contact information

Water quality reports will never answer every question. Keeping your water quality report handy will give you immediate access to your water company’s customer service line, billing department and emergency service, should the need ever arise.

If you haven’t received your water quality report and you’re not sure where your water comes from, visit this great online EPA resource that will help you and in many cases provide you with an electronic copy of your water quality report. If your city has not listed their water quality report, their contact information will be listed so you can contact them directly. After you get your questions answered, encourage your city to make their Consumer Confidence Report public!

An interesting thing happens, too, when we drink water softened with a traditional salt-type softener. Because salt-type water softeners work by replacing hardness mineral ions with sodium ions through a process called “ion exchange,” the hardness of your water will affect the level of sodium in water. Using the standard calculation of

Sodium added (mg) = liters of water you drink x hardness removed (gpg) x 8 mg/l/gpg**,

you can see that if you live in Phoenix, AZ which has an average water hardness of 18 gpg, you’re adding 144 mg/l of sodium to your diet through softened water alone. Now, add back in the sodium that’s naturally present in your water, and multiply by the amount of water you drink in a day, and it becomes clear how much sodium you’re really drinking. In Phoenix, drinking 2 liters of softened water per day means that you have consumed 520 mg of sodium through your drinking water alone.

Sodium added (mg) = 2 liters of drinking water (18 gpg of hardness x 8 mg/l/gpg + 116 mg/l naturally present sodium)

Sodium added = 520 mg

If you’re on a sodium-restricted diet and drinking salt-softened water in Phoenix, you have not only far surpassed the  recommendation of no more than 10% of sodium from water, but you’ve consumed more than your 500 mg maximum for the day! In the map below, you can see the calculated sodium levels for each city when a traditional softener is used to treat the water. If you live in one of these cities, you can multiply this number by the amount of water you drink in a day to see how this might affect your diet. If you’d like help determining how much sodium is in your city’s water, give us a call at 1(877)708.3338. If possible, try to have your city’s water quality report handy.

Many states mandate that salt-type water softeners be installed to bypass the kitchen sink in order to prevent residents from drinking salt-softened water. If this isn’t the case in your home, consider installing a reverse-osmosis filter to remove the added sodium from your drinking water, or finding another source for drinking water. Or, if you’re considering going salt-free, give us a call at 1(877)708.3338. Our residential specialists will help talk through your water problems, and determine if EasyWater will be a great fit for you!

**Source: Michael H. Bradshaw and G. Morgan Powell, Sodium in Drinking Water, Kansas State University, October 2002.

For those of you who already have a tankless water heater, you’ll see the best results when you hire a licensed plumbing contractor to perform a little bit of maintenance on your tankless heater prior to installing EasyWater. Most manufacturers of tankless heaters will recommend performing a vinegar flush in order to remove scale, and this process typically involves circulating vinegar through the heating coil of your water heater for about 45 minutes. This will help a little, but vinegar is a mild acid and after a few minutes of reacting with the scale in your water heater it will be neutralized. Instead, we recommend having the plumber perform a vinegar flush with at least 10-15 or more gallons of vinegar, depending on the amount of existing scale, using just a few gallons at a time. The plumber will allow it to cycle for about 5 minutes with each batch of vinegar, or until they see no more reaction with the scale. The used vineger should then be drained, and the process started over with a new batch. When a new batch of vinegar is started and there is no reaction, the cleaning is complete.

In most cases the EasyWater system will remove the existing scale buildup over time. However, because of the constant heating and cooling of the coil everytime the heater turns on and off, the coil expands and contracts, which can cause scale to pop off in little pieces as we are removing it. For this reason, you will see the best results when you start off with a completely clean coil.

1. Watering plants with water that’s high in sodium can lead to a deficiency of oxygen in soil. Plant roots must have oxygen in order to breathe, and if the roots can’t breathe they will eventually decay, stunting plant growth or causing the plant to die.

2. Plants will expend more energy than they should have to in order to draw the water they need from the soil. For older established plants, this will result in reduced growth. For new plants or seedlings, soil salinity will delay or even prevent germination.

3. Much like how a weed will compete for space in your garden, the sodium in soil will compete with plant-essential nutrients. For instance, a plant will absorb the non-essential (and damaging) sodium before it will absorb the very essential potassium (the “K” in N-P-K.)

For these reasons, it’s recommended to never water your inside or outside plants with water that has been softened with a traditional “salt” softener. Instead, bypass your softener when it’s time to water your plants, or use an outside spigot that isn’t treated.

If you’re ready to make a change in your water treatment, an EasyWater system might be the perfect choice for you – EasyWater systems are no salt water conditioners, and not water softening systems. EasyWater treats water without using sodium, so it’s perfectly safe for your home’s plants, landscaping and soil!