Think about all of the different ways you use water in a single day. A cool glass from the tap. A steamy shower, washing your clothes, running your dishwasher.

As essential as water is to your daily life, you may not actually know much about your water. And we don’t mean fun facts like it takes 100 gallons of water to grow a single watermelon either.

We mean crucial facts about the chemicals or minerals in your water that could be drying out your skin, ruining your clothes and even costing you thousands of dollars in broken appliances.

Read on to learn about the most common “extras” in your water and the benefits of water conditioning.

What else is in my water?

  • Chlorine – Chlorine is found in everyone’s water and that’s by design. Chlorine is added to the municipal water supply to kill dangerous waterborne germs that cause illnesses such as Cholera, Dysentery, and Typhoid. That’s something we’re all thankful for but that doesn’t mean chlorine is 100% good for you. Since the levels of chlorine in public water fluctuate, you’ll smell and taste it from time to time. When you condition water to remove chlorine, the chemical still does its important job of killing pathogens, but it doesn’t make it into contact with you.
  • “Hard” minerals – Primarily calcium and magnesium, hard minerals in your water supply classifies your water as hard water. Even though both of those minerals are beneficial to the human body, you’re better off taking a multivitamin instead and cutting out of hard water. You can tell if you have hard water from the white spots it leaves on your dishes and in your shower.

What is water conditioning?

Water conditioning is the process of changing the water that comes into your house to make it cleaner, better tasting, healthier, and safer.

When done by a professional, water conditioning is process that is created uniquely to your home and your water.

Water conditioning includes:

  • Water filtration
  • Water softening
  • De-scaling
  • And more

Benefits of water conditioning

Whether you want to remove chlorine or minerals or both, the whole house solutions exist. Essentially the benefits you want dictate the water conditioning solution you need.

Let’s dig in.

1. Better tasting water

Both chlorine and hard water alter the taste of drinking water— not in a pleasant way. When you condition your water you’ll be able to drink filtered water that tastes as good as the bottle — right from your sink.

If you ever taken a dip in a swimming pool, you’ll recognize the distinct flavor of chlorine. Hard water’s taste is less obvious but still detectable. Most people describe it tasting like metal or minerals.

2. No more stains on your glasses, dishes, and silverware

The minerals in hard water stay behind on anything they touch. That includes your kitchenware. Keep your dishes looking good by conditioning the hardness OUT of your water.

3. Better looking hair

After you take a dip in a chlorinated pool, your hair looks dry and lifeless. To a lesser extent, the same thing happens when you have chlorine in your water. Block the chlorine and appreciate how much better you look.

Hard water has a similar drying effect on hair. The hard minerals in the water leech the natural oils from your hair. Beauty bloggers even discuss ways to combat hard water hair. Wonder what they would think of water conditioning?

4. Keep clothes in better shape

Got a nice wardrobe? Unless you use the dry cleaner for everything, you wash your clothes in washer, a washer hooked up to public water. Both chlorine and hard water can age new clothes quickly. In particular, hard water inhibits the effectiveness of detergents, meaning even freshly washed clothes look dingy and worn out.

Condition your water to keep new clothes looking new longer.

5. Protect your appliances

Remember how hard water leaves deposits on your dishes? Along those lines, hard water also leaves deposits inside the sensitive components of water using appliances.

While it just makes glasses and silverware look gross, hard water breaks your appliances. Appliances connected to hard water have their lifespan cut by one third.

Appliances at risk:

  • Dishwasher
  • Washing machine
  • Hot water heater

All of those appliances have their lifespan reduced by one third. You pay full price but only get two thirds of the performance — the opposite of a discount.

Protect ALL of your water-using appliances with whole house water conditioning.

6. Fight back against dry skin

Dry skin is both a cosmetic and quality of life issue. It looks unpleasant and feels worse. Dry skin is annoying, itchy, and sore.

When you take a shower in water with chlorine or hard water, you unknowingly aggravate your already dry skin. When you’re suffering from dry skin, you think a shower might provide temporary relief to the itch — but it only makes it worse.

Dermatologists may recommend water conditioning to patients to relieve one of the causes of dry skin or eczema.

Whole house water conditioning: wrap-up

If these problems frustrate you, know this: there are solutions to remove chlorine and hard water—safely and conveniently.

Whether you want better tasting water, healthier skin and hair, or to protect your investment in your appliances, you want whole house water conditioning. The first step is bring out a plumber to perform a professional water analysis.

A Benjamin Franklin plumber will be able to detect the exact levels of chlorine and minerals in your water. When you know the facts, you and the friendly Benjamin Franklin plumber can create a water conditioning solution for your house. The benefits you want, dictate the water conditioning solution you need.

Contact us to bring out a Benjamin Franklin plumber for a water analysis and water conditioning.