The majority of UK households have hard water in their homes. While many simply put up with it – an often overlooked effect of it is that it can be tough on laundry.
How hard water affects your clothes
Hard water wears out clothing fibres more quickly and reduces the efficiency and lifespan of your washing machine. Calcium deposits from hard water can build up in the fibres of your clothing, causing a less pleasant feel and potentially aggravating skin conditions such as eczema. Often people use excessive fabric softener to try and deal with this, without realising that it causes wear to clothing and also reduces it’s ability to absorb moisture.
The solution
Softening your water completely resolves this issue and eliminates any need for fabric softener. Your clothes will be softer than if you had bathed them in fabric conditioner as well as cleaner, brighter and more vibrant.
In a hard water area it can be hard to achieve a thorough wash. Adding more detergent into the water will soften it, but it is costly and contributes to water pollution. Setting your washing at the highest temperature along with higher levels of detergent and conditioner will resolve the hard water issues, but is not good for your clothes.
Rather than going to all this trouble, it’s easier and better for the environment to fit a water softener to your supply. Soft water lets washing powders work at maximum efficiency and eliminates the limescale build-up in your washing machine. It will even descale existing scale damage over time. Your whites will come out fresher and brighter, while you can reduce the temperature of your washing cycles and the amount of detergent with soft water, cutting down on your bills.
If you have hard water in your home, the build-up of limescale could shorten the life of your household appliances. Water softeners remove minerals from your water supply and drastically reduce the amount of limescale in your home.
Learn how our water softeners work and find the right model for you (explore our full range, which includes the new HarveyArc, the HVX, or the Big Blue).
