Hidden Minerals in Your Water that Are Costing You Money

You may be familiar with scale, the white, hard substance that forms inside water pipes and boilers [see sidebar]. If not, your operations manager certainly is.

Scale is a major source of problems like:

• Excessive wear & tear on boilers, hot water heaters, steamers, dishwashers, washing machines, and other equipment and appliances.
• Considerable loss of energy due to poor heat transfer in boilers and heaters as scale builds up inside them.
• Costly piping replacement issues when scale causes blockages or pinholes in pipes.
• Scale buildup makes it difficult, expensive, and time consuming to clean and/or replace toilet internals, shower heads, aerators, sinks, etc.
• Scale breeds bio lm, the leading growth spot for bacteria such as legionella.

What is Scale?

Scale is a hard, whitish coating that builds up on surfaces that come into contact with hard water. Scale is caused by hard water, which contains calcium carbonate (lime) and other minerals that stick to pipes and water heaters/boilers. As scale accumulates inside pipes, boilers, and other appliances, it reduces equipment life and energy efficiency.

In addition to Scale Buildup, Hard Water Causes Many Other Problems:

• Calcium deposits leave ugly stains on dishes, counters and bathroom fixtures
• Hard water uses up to twice as much dish soap and laundry detergent than soft water
• Hard water compromises effectiveness of laundry chemicals and shortens laundry life
• Hard water leaves hair and skin feeling coarse