After tossing your laundry into the washing machine, you would hope to get fresh-smelling, soft, and perfectly cleaned clothes. If you’re not getting what you expected, it might be time you sort out your laundry issues. No ordinary detergent can produce good cleaning if hard water runs through your household pipes.
Keep reading to learn more about hard water laundry problems and how to fix them.
What is Hard Water?
When water contains high levels of calcium and magnesium, it’s called hard water.
Most households in the United States have hard water. This kind of water is unsuitable for laundry because it reduces the effectiveness of most detergents and damages your fabrics.
The calcium and magnesium in hard water can leave residue on clothes. They could be damaging to your washing machine as well. Mineral deposits can build up inside your machine if you use hard water for laundry.
What Are The Laundry Problems Hard Water Can Cause?
These are some of the most common issues that hard water can pose whenever you do your laundry:
- Stains on clothes, bedsheets, towels, etc.
- Solid buildup on clothes that cannot be washed after
- Dingy and dirty looking cloths
- Washed clothes feel rough on the skin
- Powdery residue on washed cloths
- Weakened fabrics with tears and holes
- Clothes color fades after the wash
How to Select The Best Laundry Detergent for Hard Water?
Not all brands make detergents that work in hard water. Even the same brand might have different formulas with varieties of performance. The cleaning power of a detergent for hard water depends on what type of product you choose.
Use a high-performing detergent that has the power to minimize water hardness and able to dissolve the residues. An ideal laundry detergent can solve all your issues caused by hardness. Such as dealing with strains and dinginess. On the other hand, weak detergents are no better than plain water while washing clothes in hard water.
Avoid detergents in powdery form. Most of them get easily attached to the minerals present in the hard water. That’s how up to 30% of detergents get wasted on cleaning clothes.
You can wash clothes at high temperatures to make powder detergents work in hard water. Yes, the higher temperature might yield satisfactory results even with powdery products. But it can damage your clothes.
Added detergent and higher temperature mean more expense and high energy bills. Doesn’t it? We recommend using liquid laundry detergents to get satisfactory results without wasting a lot of extra detergents. You can also save energy spent on hot water.
Liquid laundry detergents contain surfactants that have nonionic charges. That means the product won’t precipitate and ruin your clothes. Moreover, heavy-duty detergents containing the most cleaning components are the best option.
What Is The Best Laundry Soap for Hard Water?
Are you looking for a soap that performs well in hard water? Sorry to disappoint, but there are none like that. Because soap never works well in hard water.
How to Make Hard Water Soft?
You can use borax as a water softener. Add ½ cup of laundry borax to your washing load along with your detergent. Laundry borax will produce a soluble calcium complex, preventing the calcium surfactant reaction. As a result, it’ll enhance the surfactant performance in the water.
You can also use a water softener system from RainSoft. This kind of softener can reduce water hardness and scale. You can install them in your water supply line.
This system increases the sodium or potassium content of the water and removes calcium, magnesium, and other minerals. Suppose any family member is on a strict sodium diet. You must consult a physician before installing a water softener system, especially when connecting drinking or cooking water supply lines.
Call RainSoft for Water Testing
Whether you use well water or a municipal system, testing the mineral content in water is necessary. Get help from RainSoft free of charge if you are in Jacksonville, FL. Schedule a free in-home analysis of your water and let a RainSoft water expert test your water’s mineral content.
Click here to contact RainSoft today!
