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What makes the water hard. The benefits and harms of hard water for humans. Processing with chemical and food reagents

Soften or leave as it is? The controversy about this does not subside, and at the moment there are two directly opposite opinions.

What to do if the water is too hard, everyone has the right to decide for themselves. But in order to correctly determine the choice, you must at least know what hardness is and what the consequences can be if its rate in water is exceeded.

So how do you know if the water is too hard, and then what to do? Some of the symptoms of high severity are:

  • household heating appliances regularly fail - an electric kettle, a boiler, a dishwasher and a washing machine;
  • white limescale deposits constantly form on taps and showerheads;
  • on freshly brewed tea, a thin white film can be observed on top;
  • after the water has stood in a glass jar for a while, a precipitate of white flakes is noticeable at its bottom;
  • during washing in the washing machine, it is necessary to additionally activate the re-rinsing mode, and at the same time it is still not possible to get rid of the presence of washing powder on the laundry and clothes;
  • the taps on the mixers are constantly leaking, because the gasket has become unusable again;
  • after washing, the skin peels off and itches unpleasantly.

And if you answered yes to at least three points, it means that your water is too hard and you need to do something to correct the situation.

So, what to do if the water is hard? It would seem that the answer is obvious - to install. But there are also pitfalls here. First of all, you need to know which system is suitable for this or that case, because the degree of water hardness is different. And if you take a device that is not very productive, then it will not cope with the task at hand. And if we take an installation that is too powerful, then it is irrational, since its full potential will not be used. Therefore, before doing something, it is advisable to consult with experts, and even better - to take the water for analysis to the laboratory, because it may be that, in addition to hardness, there is still a lot of undesirable substances in the water, which are not always useful, from which you will also have to get rid.

Why does the water get hard? The problem is that the rigidity does not depend on the state of the water supply system and the public water supply system. Basically, it is too hard, the natural features of the area, where the water comes from, that is, the condition of the soil, is to blame. Indeed, from how the water enters the water supply station, it passes through various rocks, which contain large quantities of various mineral elements, including magnesium and calcium. Water washes and dissolves them, as a result of which it becomes hard. And if in the area where you live, the soil contains a large amount of magnesium and calcium, the water in the tap will be hard, and you need to do something for it.

Some experts in the field advise not to do anything with hard water, because together with it the necessary vitamins and minerals enter our body. And if you delete them, then after a while we will experience a lack of them. In addition, installing water softeners is a waste of money.

Their opponents argue the opposite - if the water is too hard, then you need to do everything possible to soften it. And as for useful vitamins and minerals, they can be obtained with other products - after all, people do not eat the same water. But the harm from too hard water is much more than good. Therefore, to the question - what to do if the water is hard, the answer is obvious - of course, soften.

How to treat hard water? For the last 30-50 years, this issue has been discussed all over the world; every home must have some kind of drinking water purification system. There is no longer clean water in nature, due to vigorous human activity - modern technologies, harmful discharges from chemical plants, nuclear waste, etc. Therefore, today the situation is as follows, any source of water requires mandatory cleaning, be it an artesian well or a well near the house.

You can clean hard water, the main thing is to decide which one is right for your water. To do this, simply take a sample of water and contact the laboratory, according to the results of the analysis, select the desired purification system. At the present time, water softening has become very popular, in everyday life and at work they struggle with hard water. The presence of a large amount of magnesium and calcium salts in it makes it unsuitable for human consumption; moreover, when boiling it, scale forms, which quickly destroys the equipment. It is not always effective to deal with limescale, and it is also expensive, because descaler is not cheap. And that's not all, hard water increases the cost of detergents, due to the fact that it dissolves them poorly, so soap, powder and dishwashing detergent are consumed twice as much. To see the difference between hard and soft water, you just need to install a softener and this "catch up with two birds with one stone", that is, reduce financial costs and save your health.

You can clean hard water with softeners, removing excess hard salts from it. There are two main ways of softening hard water - reagent and reagentless, they are used only in production. The first method of water softening is carried out with the help of chemicals that increase the concentration of anions in the composition of water, creating poorly soluble salts with magnesium and calcium ions. The results of chemical reactions will safely settle in the sump and clarifier, after which the water will become softer. The reagent softening method is used in industry and power engineering.

As for the non-reagent, this process is carried out without chemical reactions, it is based on physical phenomena. If in production water treatment provides for reagent and non-reagent softeners, then they not only soften the water, but also remove all suspended matter - colloids.

How to treat hard water in everyday life in order to cook food or just take a shower, as well as not ditch ahead of time household appliances, the whiteness of the bathroom and your health, read on. To purify water from hardness salts is sometimes not as easy as it seems at first glance. It is best to consult a specialist, and not just one, but several at once "one head is good, but two is better."

And here are some tips from experts on drinking water purification:

  1. You can add sodium hypochlorite, chlorine or potassium permanganate to the water, according to the dosage listed on the package.
  2. It is possible to purify water from hardness salts with a special one.
  3. Sometimes aeration is used for deferrization; this is the method when air is forced into the water. After that, the oxidation process takes place and the calcium and magnesium salts are reduced by 3 times.
  4. Simple boiling of water in an ordinary kettle also leads to a decrease in water hardness, the main thing is that the boiling process lasts up to 5 minutes. After that, scale forms on the sides and bottom of the kettle.
  5. You can freeze the hardness salts from the water in the freezer, you just need to freeze and thaw 3-4 times, as a result of which the content of hardness salts will decrease, the water will become softer.
  6. You can quickly and efficiently clean hard water with reagents, but due to the fact that the chemicals remain in the water, you cannot drink it.
  7. You can purify water using an expensive installation, but not everyone can afford it, so it is better to boil it several times - the effect will be the same.

How to treat hard water You already know, but there is little to know, you still need to apply knowledge in business, that is, choose the most effective method and get clean, soft and harmless water. This troublesome event will preserve health and beauty, prolong life.

Hard water is high in minerals, most commonly calcium and magnesium. These minerals leave deposits that can clog drains and stain tiles, can prevent soap from foaming, and can leave marks on hair and skin. Research has found no health hazards from mineral deposits, and has not identified any medical reason for recommending hard water softening, but hard water is a nuisance nonetheless. Read this article to learn about some of the ways to soften hard water.

Steps

Determination of water hardness

    Find out if the water in your area is hard. Water is considered hard if it contains up to 6 mEq / L of salts in the USA, and 9 mEq / L in Russia. In almost all of the European part of Russia, the water is quite hard. This is especially true for the southern regions of the Black Earth Region, Moscow and St. Petersburg.

    • If you have an urban water supply, check the water hardness at the water supply company’s office.
    • Even if you have your own drinking water source, contact your local water company for rough information on water hardness. There they can tell you the general source of water, provide some results of the study of water, including the level of its hardness.
    • You can donate water for analysis to one of the laboratories in your city. You can also buy a water hardness test and do the analysis yourself.

  1. Pay attention to the degree of foaming of soap, toothpaste, dishwashing detergent, washing powder. If you add enough detergent to the water and there is little foam, your water is likely hard.

    Decide if you want to soften the water. If you have hard water, this does not mean that you need to soften it. The techniques used to soften hard water can have adverse effects that outweigh the hassles of hard water. If you can easily accept the presence of hard water, then you do not need to soften it, or try to fix the situation without drastic methods and without installing expensive hard water softening systems.

    Softening water before use

    1. Boil water before drinking. Boiled water can also be used to clean the kitchen and bathroom, brush your teeth, wash your face and wash your hair to increase the effectiveness of detergents.

      • After the water has boiled for a few minutes, let it cool down. Particles visible to the naked eye will form on the surface of the water. Remove the top layer of boiled water and discard it before drinking.
      • You can also let the water sit longer and the particles will settle to the bottom by themselves. Drain off the clean water carefully, taking care not to disturb the sediment at the bottom. Pour any remaining water and particles into a sink.

    2. Soften the water with baking soda or lime. Previously, housewives always softened water by pouring it into barrels and adding washing soda or lime. The water stood for several days, then it was drained and used.

      • This method is not used these days due to the fact that it takes too long.

    3. Add ammonia, borax, lye, or washing soda to the water. Add one of these to the wash water, soap or other detergent and it will do its job better. These products will not soften the water and will contribute to better foaming. Follow the directions and read the warnings on the packaging carefully.

      • Dissolve 450 grams of washing soda in 940 ml of boiling water. Store chilled ode in a closed bottle. Take 2 tablespoons of the solution in 3.5 liters of water when you do your home cleaning.
      • Dissolve 1/4 tablespoon of lye in one glass of water. Mix the solution with 3.5 liters of water.

    4. Use a filter pitcher to soften drinking water. You can buy it in many stores. Some filters help drinking water, coffee, tea, and other beverages retain their taste and aroma for longer.

    5. Almost all water softening methods require money, and these costs do not always pay off. Some water softening methods require upfront payments, some methods are included in recurring costs. However, you must remember that water softening saves money.

The culprits of the problem are magnesium and calcium salts, the so-called hardness salts. The scale they form can not only lead to breakdown of household appliances, but also significantly increase the energy consumption of water heating equipment, which leads to an increase in electricity bills. True, the problem can be fought.

Soft impact

You can really soften water only by removing hardness salts from it. For this, softeners with an ion-exchange resin containing sodium ions are used. Most of the softeners on the market include a resin tank, a salt tank, and a unit control unit that can change the operating mode automatically.

The size and appearance of units may vary. They also differ in performance. Rapid softening of large volumes of water is not always required. You can wash in softened water, use it for cooking (after cleaning it with a drinking filter). Nevertheless, softeners play the most important role in the preparation of water for water heating equipment - washing machines and dishwashers, boilers, EVN and others. Therefore, such an installation is often placed on a separate line that feeds household appliances. There must be mechanical cleaning filters in front of the device, otherwise dirt can damage it.

Chemistry lessons

When water enters the container with the resin, calcium and magnesium ions displace sodium ions, and they themselves remain in the resin. As a result, the salts that make the water hard are replaced by sodium salts, which are much more harmless, at least they do not fall out in the form of scale. After such treatment, the water becomes soft, sometimes even too soft. You can adjust the hardness of the outlet water by mixing ordinary water with softened water. Sooner or later, the sodium reserves in the resin are depleted, but it is capable of restoring its properties. For regeneration, the resin is poured with a concentrated solution of ordinary table salt, and the reverse process begins - the sodium ions contained in the "brine" displace the calcium and magnesium ions previously captured by the resin. The used solution is drained and the installation is ready for operation again. While regeneration is in progress, it is impossible to soften the water in the same container. This problem is solved in different ways. There are models in which the automation monitors the sodium level. If it becomes clear that the reserves will run out "tomorrow", she carries out the regeneration ahead of schedule (for example, at night). A more expensive option is a dual-tank unit with resin. While one is in a state of regeneration, the other softens the water.

There is one "but": the salt effluent generated during the regeneration of the resin must be disposed of. If the house is connected to a centralized sewage system, there are no problems, but you need to be very careful when draining the saline solution into the septic tank. According to the rules, this cannot be done. Practice shows that the majority do just that, claiming that such an "infusion" does not affect the work of aeroseptics, it is just that bacteria have to be added more often to biological treatment septic tanks.

"Unsalted" options

If for some reason it is difficult to use an ion exchange resin softener in your home, you can turn to alternative methods of protecting against scale. After all, so that salts do not form deposits on the heating elements, it is enough to convert them into compounds that do not precipitate. This can be achieved by adding chemicals to the water that bind hardness salts, or by acting on it with a magnetic field or electromagnetic radiation.

  • Dosing units that mix chemical reagents into water are inexpensive in themselves, but they require periodic filling with active substances. The dispenser looks like a flask covered with crystals or powder. It is better to install such installations on the cold water line supplying water for household appliances.
  • Magnetic transducers are also inexpensive. They are installed directly into the water supply system, and they do not affect the quality of drinking water, because they do not use any chemicals.
  • Electromagnetic devices are the most expensive, but the most efficient. They adapt well to different working conditions. The water treated by them is safe for health.

The binding of hardness salts does not completely solve the problem, but only partially - it protects water heaters from lime deposits. At the same time, the water does not become soft. Simply put, the scale will stop settling on the heating elements, but the soap will not wash better.

Hard water is dangerous for household appliances - this is a fact. What about a person? Hardness salts are compounds of calcium and magnesium that are beneficial to the body. We get most of these substances from food, but water also serves as a source of minerals. Therefore, you can drink hard water. But in using such water for water procedures there is little pleasant: a thin film is created on the skin and hair, which causes a feeling of dryness and discomfort.

Term. What does it mean? What does it depend on? Let's figure it out - after all, this data can really come in handy, and in many areas: from washing and dishwashing, to cleanliness in the house, saving on electricity and gas, and many others.

So, you pour water into the kettle. Boil. And so fifty times. What forms on the teapot wall? Limescale forms. Such a strong plaque that you can scrape off with a knife (with great difficulty) or pour citric acid and hear a hiss (gas is released).

Limescale is a consequence of hard water. And it manifests itself not only on teapots, but also on any other heating elements that come into contact with hot water. For example, on batteries. Because of what, the operation of the battery as a heating device deteriorates significantly. This means more costs for heating water, and many other problems associated with hard water.

Have you seen the inscriptions on the packaging for washing powders: if the water is less than 20 d, then pour in 1 measuring spoon; if the water is more than 20 d, then one and a half or two. These 20 d are the units for measuring the hardness of water. In many urban apartments, this figure is higher than 20 d. Accordingly, the powder consumption is 1.5-2 times higher than in soft water. By the way, for very soft water, the powder requires tens of times less than usual. Isn't it saving?

Well, in the end, sometimes when you drink good water from a good spring or from a deep well, it tastes much tastier than regular tap water. Why? Because there are few salts in it, in particular, the low hardness of the water.

The hardness of water is a rather harmful thing. What is it?

Water hardness is dissolved in water calcium and magnesium salts... Calcium, magnesium and carbonates (carbon dioxide salts) precipitate when heated and form scale. Or, in other words, salts of calcium, magnesium and carbonates, when heated, form a new chemical compound - chalk. Chalk, limestone, marble, scale are essentially the same substance, calcium and magnesium carbonates, in different states.

Due to the fact that calcium and magnesium salts determine the hardness of water, they are called hardness salts... And since calcium and magnesium carbonates precipitate when heated, the water becomes less hard (and softer), and calcium and magnesium carbonates are called temporary rigidity... Temporary - because it is removed by boiling.

However, the variety of hardness salts does not end there. There is one more group of hardness salts - which, when heated, do not form a precipitate or scale. Therefore (because they do not precipitate when heated), these salts form a group constant stiffness.

For household appliances, pipes, kettles, shower nozzles and faucet aerators, etc. only temporary rigidity is dangerous... That is, calcium and magnesium carbonates. Why? Because these devices deal with hot water - and in the presence of salts of temporary hardness, they precipitate, forming a crust of scale. Due to which numerous problems subsequently arise. Accordingly, constant stiffness is not dangerous for this group of devices.

Therefore, ATTENTION - pay attention to the analysis of your water for temporary hardness

You may have done a water test and found that your water is very hard. That is, opposite to the indicator "Total hardness"there is some tremendous value. Or just a value, even a small one - now it does not matter. The important thing is that it general rigidity. And the overall rigidity is sum permanent and temporary rigidity. And there is a possibility that all (or most) of the hard water is not temporary, but permanent. That is, it does not harm (or does very little harm) to your technical devices.

How can you see not only the total hardness, but also the temporary hardness using water analysis? Very simple. In the analysis of water, which is done, in particular, by the Sanitary and Epidemiological Station, there is such an indicator as alkalinity... So, it is numerically equal to the temporary hardness of water. The alkalinity can exceed the total hardness - but that only means that ALL the total hardness is temporary. Plus, free hydrocarbons remain in the water.

But we are more interested in another option - when the alkalinity of the water is less than the total hardness. In this case, it is guaranteed to say which part of the hardness is temporary - that is, the most dangerous and harmful, which must be dealt with with the help of a softener.

AND IF the alkalinity (that is, temporary hardness) is less than 1-2 mEq / L, then you have nothing to worry about.

Is that about a sudden and unpredictable change in the composition of water (which, by the way, does not happen as rarely as it seems). If the temporary hardness of water is less than one, then the processes of scale formation occur rather slowly. Limescale builds up, but it slowly destroys heat exchangers or tendencies. What can be neglected if desired. And if the alkalinity is less than 0.5, then, in principle, you can forget about softeners.

You can also find out, figure out what comes from where - and why.

Therefore, BEFORE choosing a softener, be sure to analyze the water for alkalinity and water hardness to determine if hard water is really dangerous for you.

Based on materials from http://calmat.com.ua/hard-water.shtml