Living with hard water

[hexsnidgett]

I've just moved to an area with hard water, what do I need know?
Any tips appreciated.

Do you have a septic tank because this will impact the advice I would give?

Nope mains sewerage, also I should say the house is rented so we cannot change that much.

Kilrok
Viakal
Get a water filter
Wish you lived somewhere else!!!

Be prepared to descale your kettle frequently.

Buy shares in Cilit Bang and Black Harpic loo cleaner.

Hmm, not keen on tons of chemicals. Aesthetics aren't a big concern, but I want to avoid the kettle and washing machine being ruined.

Vats of white vinegar if you want to avoid tons of chemicals.

Accept your kettle will be ruined. If it's precious buy a cheap one.

Add some white vinegar to every wash it cuts through the minerals. Monthly do a maintenance wash with a bottle of vinegar and as hot as it goes for the washing machine.

It also kills irons.

I have a Phox water filter and then on top of that I
i treat the kettle with lemon every couple of months (boil water and add half a lemon).

add Calgon / cheaper supermarket own brand to each laundry load.

toilet is tough to keep on top of

I have a metal limescale collector/descaler in my kettle. It collects the limescale that would end up all over my kettle. I randomly take it out of the kettle, knock out the collected limescale, rinse it and pop it back in the kettle. It saves me having to descale the kettle. I got mine from Wilko years ago.

In regards to cleaning the bathroom you need to use something with a mild abrasive e.g. cif weekly to minimise the amount of limescale that collects on taps and tiles around wet areas.

If you iron use cooled pre-boiled water in it. (I only iron in summer.) This is one reason why I don't exactly measure out water for cups of coffee/herbal tea as I can use the excess cooled for the iron or watering some of my plants that don't like minerals.

I’ve always lived in hard water area, I didn’t even know it was a big thing. You don’t need those chemical products - Citric acid is great for the kettle, and i run washing machine on wash cycle with white vinegar, same for dishwasher. Get a squeegee for the shower.

I remember my Mum having one of those wire ball things in the kettle.

White vinegar! You get get extra strong white vinegar in 10 litre bottles from Amazon.

Add it to the washing machine, the dishwasher.

Before you go on holiday put some in ziplock bags and attach them over the taps with elastics so the bottom of the tap is sitting in vinegar. Leave white vinegar in the loo too.

Sweedgie the shower glass after every shower and then spray with white vinegar and a couple of drops of washing up liquid ( helps it stick) and let it sit for a bit before cleaning.

Your kettle will get destroyed if you don’t clean out the limescale often so boil it with water and a bit of white vinegar and let it sit overnight from time to time.

As PP said use cooler boiled water for the iron.

We use a hob kettle. It gets scaly, but is easy to clean with a bit of vinegar and does not have any parts to ruin.
Koh cleaner and their black sponge is excellent for removing lime scale from sinks etc. Vinegar does a great job, otherwise.

I only use filtered water in my kettle but it still needs regular descaling. It's not just inside the kettle, the outside gets scale too where water spills down outside etc Right pain in the bum!
White vinegar in washing machine.
Coffee machine also needs regular descaling. Box of citric acid granuals from Wilko is useful for descaling.
Extra salt for the dishwasher to prevent steaks, and stringent machine maintenance.
I haven't done it but I've heard apple cider vinegar rinse for your hair is also useful if you have hard water to help shine.

We also bought a house in a hardwater area. We very quickly had a Kinetico water softener installed. Never looked back, no hardwater build up in the hotwater tank, kettles, fridge water dispenser etc. Ass the water is softer we use less washing machine powder etc, we also do not need to fill the dishwasher with salt. Harvey / Kinetico and some others do not use a time clock they regenerate after a metered number of litres of water have passed through, so go on holiday or have visitors and the machine responds.

Other makes of metered softener are available now that use less water to back flush.

A good spend of money IMHO.

If you have a combi boiler take advice some can cope with a softener others can't.

Buy lots of white vinegar for cleaning your bath, shower, shower door...

Cut your losses and get a water softener installed.

1/4 cup of white vinegar in your loo overnight every so often, then a quick scrub with the loo brush in the morning. My toilet is 70 years old and doesn’t have any limescale build up in it.
Get a filter tap for filling the kettle. Brita do one. It’s easier and tidier than having a stand-alone filter, and stops you from getting a scummy layer on top of your tea. Makes the tea taste better too.
Accept that your shower screen will always look dirty.

I've just moved somewhere with hard water too OP and I notice it every bloody day. Helpful to read some of the responses here as so far I've just been getting on with it. Most noticeably is the impact on my hair 😭😭

Get a water softener, it's made a huge difference to our water. Cost around £90 a year to run, but saves more in detergent and time. eco water.com. It send you an email when it needs a top up, around 3-4 months.

You can buy a really cheap thing like a thimble made of wire wool to keep in your kettle. It really stops the limescale build up (no idea how).

I made the mistake of buying a glass kettle. Do not and I repeat DO NOT buy a glass kettle.

Thanks for all the ideas, I'll keep the more permanent ones in reserve for when we buy somewhere.
The kettle we have is a cheap emergency purchase anyway so will leave off replacing it.
Not sure about using vinegar in the washing machine, where does it go and how much?
The tea tastes fine to me.

I’m in a really hard water area and it’s not that much of a problem. The kettle is ten years old and still fine, but we only use filtered water, ditto the iron. The coffee machine does seem to suffer though.

If you install a water softener you still need to keep an unsoftened drinking water tap (usually the kitchen cold tap).
Limescale is good for your bones. Contains calcium.
It coats the inside of lead pipework creating a barrier between the toxic lead and your water.

We have such hard water. Citric acid is good. The kettle and the flipping toilet are the bane of my life. Even taking several measures, I need an abrasive cleaner 3 times a week to keep the toilet clear. Oh and the taps 😭

My dad has an inflammatory bladder disease and has to filter his water obsessively because the hard water really affects him. He gets a horrible sediment build up and without filtering, ends up needing catheterisation.