Hard Water Testing

Do you have limescale build up inside your pipes or on your water faucets and inside your shower? When you’re in your shower, does the shampoo not lather up? Are there spots left on your drinkware? Then you could be experiencing hard water in your home.

Hard water is water that has a high mineral content. It can leave deposits of calcium and magnesium, containing minerals like limestone and chalk. It comes from underground sources that collect minerals from rock.

Hard water in your home can cause limescale buildup in home appliances that use water, which can damage pipes with corrosion.

How to Test for Hard Water

Blain’s Farm & Fleet stores do free hard water testing at your convenience. Bring in a water sample into one of our Blain’s Farm & Fleet stores if you think you have hard water and a store associate will test it for free.

If you can not come into one of our locations follow these short steps to test your water at home:

1. Take a plastic water bottle, remove the cap and fill it halfway with water from the tap
2. Add a couple drops of dish washing soap
3. Put the cap back on and shake well
4. If the soap foams up you do not have hard water. If the water leaves a soapy film on the surface then you most likely have hard water.

How to Treat Hard Water

Water Softeners

The most popular way to soften your home’s water is by buying a water softener. A water softener can help improve your water’s softness in your home by minimizing limescale deposits in pipes and on your home appliances. The most popular type of whole house water softener is an ion exchange unit. It works by softening hard water by substituting sodium for hard minerals such as calcium, magnesium and iron.